Beginner's Luck (Deer Post)
Not a muskie post, sorry. Just a proud father rambling.
Pretty exciting day. My son, junior member Luke VanGorder, went hunting for the first time and got his very first deer. My friend and neighbor graciously gave Luke permission to hunt some private land close to the house adjacent to Alum Creek Park, but asked us to only take a doe because his son had not had a chance at a buck yet. Luke (11 yrs old) took hunter safety this summer and has been working hard on his archery and crossbow marksmanship (I'm a gun hunter so this has been fun to learn with him). So we set out on a doe hunt this afternoon. After getting a pop-up blind, ranges and shooting lanes all set-up, it was time to hunt. I wanted something from the truck so I left Luke in the blind. When I returned about 10 minutes later, he couldn't wait for me to get in the blind as he was already watching two deer walking towards us. I loaded his crossbow, and we watched them walk to within 20 yards. They knew something wasn't right and stayed facing the blind. Finally, after what seemed like an extremely long 3-4 minutes, one of them turned giving Luke a clean shot. Despite the fact that he was shaking with excitement, he made a perfect shot that put the doe down within 30 yards of the impact. With the commotion, the eight pointer traveling with the two does showed himself to us as well, and we enjoyed watching him.
After some high fives, we've both been pumped all evening.
So about 10 minutes of hunting, one shot and one deer. Like the guy you hear about who catches a monster muskie on his first trip, I'm not sure if he's ruined for life. But I know he is excited about hunting and looking forward to our next adventure. I told him he's got to wait now while Dad chases his buck next week during gun season.
Happy Thanksgiving, Go Bucks, and whether you are still fishing or hitting the woods next week, be careful and good luck.
Rob
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