My hunting experience this week would make a great Mastercard commercial. It would go like this...
Dedicated hunter tag...$175...
gas and groceries...$300...
taking my 6 year old son deer hunting for the first time with me and my dad...priceless...
I remember when I was six and my dad took me on my first deer hunt. That's when I got hooked on hunting and look forward to the deer hunt more than Christmas each year. I've never once not had a good time deer hunting. So when I get the chance to take my boys out for their first time it takes me back and makes me appreciate my dad for taking me out and now I get to do the same.
We were muzz hunting this weekend in a LE elk area. We made the three mile hike in great time. As we were walking along I would stop to rest mainly for my boy. Then he looked up at me and said "dad, why do we keep stopping"? I replied "so you can rest son" then he said "this is a piece of cake, in fact it's two pieces of cake". I laughed and put him to the test. He did great, but as we got to the top he began to get tired and fall back and admitted he was a little tired.
On the way up we jumped a mature 5pt. bull and a couple of does. My boy would pull up his $10 8x20 binos and scope them out just like his dad did. Then when we went over the saddle into the heart of the area it was like somebody upstairs was watching and said lets make this the best day possible for this first timer. There were bugling bulls everywhere. We sat down on a rocky point and just watched the show. The opening act was a 365" monster 6x6 80 yds. below us defending his cows and pushing them along. Then a small spiker came within 30 yds. of us and my boy said "dad call him in" I said "he pretty much is in son" A few minutes later another herd of about 40 head came over the top. There were 5-6 bulls working these cows. It took about 15 minutes for them to work within a hundred yards of us. All in all there were at least 20 bulls with in 500 yds of us and they were all screaming. I videoed my boy and said to him "what are we looking for"? He said "bucks" I said "what are we finding"? He replied "bulls".
The elk eventually worked into the cedars and the show was over. We opened up my backpack and had a ham and cheese sandwich with some Doritos, just like what I ate with my dad thirty years ago when I was six. We headed back down the hill without seeing a buck, but having a great time together.
Tonight as I tucked my 6 year old in I was laying there with him and out of the blue he looked at me and said "dad my favorite thing to do is go deer hunting and camping with you and grandpa".
Bottom line I've hunted over 20 days this year and my boy was there for only two of them. We didn't see any bucks in those two days, but it was the best two days of the year for me. My boy is hooked on hunting like I was at age six and to me that is priceless.
I just wanted to share this priceless time I had and challenge everyone to take their children out with them as hard as it is sometimes and hope you have a similar experience.
Dedicated hunter tag...$175...
gas and groceries...$300...
taking my 6 year old son deer hunting for the first time with me and my dad...priceless...
I remember when I was six and my dad took me on my first deer hunt. That's when I got hooked on hunting and look forward to the deer hunt more than Christmas each year. I've never once not had a good time deer hunting. So when I get the chance to take my boys out for their first time it takes me back and makes me appreciate my dad for taking me out and now I get to do the same.
We were muzz hunting this weekend in a LE elk area. We made the three mile hike in great time. As we were walking along I would stop to rest mainly for my boy. Then he looked up at me and said "dad, why do we keep stopping"? I replied "so you can rest son" then he said "this is a piece of cake, in fact it's two pieces of cake". I laughed and put him to the test. He did great, but as we got to the top he began to get tired and fall back and admitted he was a little tired.
On the way up we jumped a mature 5pt. bull and a couple of does. My boy would pull up his $10 8x20 binos and scope them out just like his dad did. Then when we went over the saddle into the heart of the area it was like somebody upstairs was watching and said lets make this the best day possible for this first timer. There were bugling bulls everywhere. We sat down on a rocky point and just watched the show. The opening act was a 365" monster 6x6 80 yds. below us defending his cows and pushing them along. Then a small spiker came within 30 yds. of us and my boy said "dad call him in" I said "he pretty much is in son" A few minutes later another herd of about 40 head came over the top. There were 5-6 bulls working these cows. It took about 15 minutes for them to work within a hundred yards of us. All in all there were at least 20 bulls with in 500 yds of us and they were all screaming. I videoed my boy and said to him "what are we looking for"? He said "bucks" I said "what are we finding"? He replied "bulls".
The elk eventually worked into the cedars and the show was over. We opened up my backpack and had a ham and cheese sandwich with some Doritos, just like what I ate with my dad thirty years ago when I was six. We headed back down the hill without seeing a buck, but having a great time together.
Tonight as I tucked my 6 year old in I was laying there with him and out of the blue he looked at me and said "dad my favorite thing to do is go deer hunting and camping with you and grandpa".
Bottom line I've hunted over 20 days this year and my boy was there for only two of them. We didn't see any bucks in those two days, but it was the best two days of the year for me. My boy is hooked on hunting like I was at age six and to me that is priceless.
I just wanted to share this priceless time I had and challenge everyone to take their children out with them as hard as it is sometimes and hope you have a similar experience.
