My 13 Yr Old Son's First Trad Encounter

[Tsalt]

I've taken my son Nathan hunting with me since he was 3 years old, but Saturday morning he had his first encounter with deer while hunting with his longbow.  It was a heart pounder for both of us...

 

Here's the story...

We got him a 40lb Dryad Phoenix last year… sweet little bow.  

 

He’s been practicing all summer and has improved greatly, especially as deer season has approached and he knew he needed to be shooting consistent for me to let him hunt.  

We are hunting a beautiful 800 acer farm just minutes from our house.  It's owned by a friend who has been very generous!   The property has it all… hardwood hills, creek bottoms, crop fields, foot plots and feeders.   Huge blessing!

 

And one of Nate’s favorite part of the hunt… he gets to drive once we’re on the property!

 

Anyway, Saturday was Nate’s first Day to hunt.  That morning we had storms rolling through with much cooler temps behind them!  Awesome!  We had to wait out the last wave in the truck.  When it passed we got out, got dressed and headed for the stand.

[Tsalt]

On the walk to the stand we encountered a family of skunks!  Apparently they were waiting for the rain to pass as well.   We quickly navigated past one and all the sudden there was another… and then a third!   Nate asked if he could shoot one!  Haha  I said, “not a good idea bud!”      

Our stand is on a food plot overlooking a corn feeder.  It’s a clover plot and it’s just starting to come up.  Definitely needed the rain.   Our two stands are in a big pecan tree.  It’s a great spot… we have pics of deer, hogs and turkey coming in to the feeder.

 

We got settled in about 7:30.    Nate was ready and pumped…

 


In 15 short minutes I see a deer off to our right about 50 yards.  It’s a nice 8 point .   He walks up on a pond bank, mills around a bit then walks into the woods away from us.  Good start!

Another 15 minutes goes by and a doe and fawn enter the foot plot to our right, near where the buck was.  As soon as they enter the plot, the fawn is running around like a hyper puppy.  It was hilarious!   Here is how it played out…

 

[Tsalt]

As you could see, he never shot.   The deer were really nervous and jumpy but he had a couple of windows where he could have shot.  I figured he just didn’t feel comfortable and was waiting for them to settle down a little.   After they left he looks up at me and said, “I could have drilled her… why didn’t you tell me to shoot?”       My bad!  I should have talked all that through with him.   I’m usually right next to him and I’m able to talk him through shots (with rifle and compound previously), but in this stand set,  I’m a good six feet above him because of a fork in the tree.    I feared if I spoke they would hear me because they were so close.    

I felt really bad.  That was a coaching error on my part.  Lesson learned.  I told him next time to take the shot when he feels confident he can make it.  He’s ready for that, I just failed to talk it through in advance.  

I don’t know if you could see, but when those deer were right under him at the end of the video, his arrow was bouncing because he was shaking so hard!!  It was awesome!   I was shaking too!  A deer to our left got our wind, she blew and it was all over.  

Not long after that Nate was cold and hungry and a little bummed that he missed the opportunity…. So we headed to the house.  

Our next outing was Sunday night...

[NittanyRider]

Great video and even better experience for your son!  Looks like he got a little shaky towards the end there... can't say I would have handled it any differently than he did.      

[JAG]

           

[johnnyk71]

funny to see that arrow shaking towards the end. i still feel that way too after all these years!

[FerretWYO]

I love it very cool

[Pheonixarcher]

That's awesome! Great job dad! Hopefully the good lord will bless you both with a great and successful season.

[Wannabe1]

One of the best videos I've seen in a while! Congrats on getting your son out there and enjoying the experiences.  

[elkken]

I could feel his excitement, look forward to more stories you two                      

[JEFF B]

       

[Cyclic-Rivers]

That was too cool!

[Gen273]

That is great!  

[Rob W.]

Good stuff!

[Big Ed]

That is awesome to say the least!!

[Bonebuster]

Oh I REMEBER those days!!!!!

Simply awesome!!!!

Go Nathan!  

[VictoryHunter]

It will happen soon for him.  

[Tsalt]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Our next outing was Sunday afternoon.  Before leaving the house Nate got in some practice shots.  I had him stand on top of my truck to practice shooting down.  (The neighbors are used to it!       )  He was shooting great!

It was beautiful weather… blue skies and mid-70s.  We headed to the same stand as the previous morning.  

 

We were settled into the stand by 4 and then it hit me… we were there really early!  The feeder wouldn’t go off till 6:30 and shooting light would last till 7:30.   Despite asking me what time it was every 10 minutes,  Nathan was actually really patient.  He stood every 20 minutes and pulled back his bow…

 

We also had a visitor in the tree with us… Nate about freeked out when he saw this guy by his elbow!

 


Finally about 6 pm, a doe showed up out of no where.  Nate was standing pulling back his bow when he saw her.  I think she may have picked up his movement as she appeared to suddenly veer behind us rather than coming in to the feeder.  That was all we saw of her.

At 6:25 a group of does entered the north end of the food plot… the same place they entered the previous morning.  I’m pretty sure it was the same group.  They grazed on the plot and every few seconds they would snap their heads up and look in our direction.  It’s as if they were waiting for that feeder to dispense the golden nuggets they love!   I thought, “this is perfect… the feeder is going to go off and they are going to walk over when it does. “    Well, 6:30 came and went and the feeder never fired off.  And the does walked right back in to the woods they came from.  

Hum!   Battery must be dead I thought.  After waiting another 30 min with no action, Nate was pretty antsy to get home and eat so we climbed down.  I discovered that the battery was fine…. the spinner had just gotten stuck!   Oh well.  

We walked out to an incredible sight as the final glow of the setting sun lit the horizon and a crescent moon hung in the clear sky.   Man I love this stuff!  And to be able to experience it with my son who loves it too... priceless!  Thank you Lord!

 

Nathan is chomping at the bit to go again.  Probably will be Saturday... I’ll update this thread with his future hunts.