At 7:40, I saw a buck 150 yards in front of us walking a ditch bank, slowly working away from us. I debated whether or not to shoot him, as he was what looked like a 6 point in the rain. I kept whispering to my Grandpa, “Do you think I should shoot him? I know it’s a long shot, but he looks like he might be big enough…”. (I was hoping for a bigger buck, because we knew there were a couple of them in the area.) My Grandpa replied, “I don’t know, yeah, let’s shoot him.” I promptly brought up the gun, and made the shot (at 170 yards) as he was walking towards the neighbors property.
Scouting took on the progression to shooting things. Jordan has built an arsenal of K’Nex guns, including semi automatics, shot guns, pistols, rifles, and even a potato gun and hand grenades (the potato gun is pvc, and the hand grenades are K’Nex). When he is up north he can be found searching for the perfect branch with which to make a bow and arrow set.
Now Justin, my nine year old is definitely the enthusiastic one. It’s all or none with him. We finally had the perfect day, wind, temperature, location, and most of all, luck. Or so we thought. We were positioned in a double ground blind that I had recently purchased just waiting for the parade of deer to present themselves. Watching my normally constantly moving Justin try to hold still for an hour was extremely entertaining. Then it happened. A beautiful doe appeared in front at 20 yds. Easy shot for him. I could hear his heart pumping loud and fast. He took careful aim and “BAM”, I knew the venison was as good as in the freezer and all that was left were high fives and photos.
Dejected, I walked back to my truck where I saw the landowner mowing the lawn. He told me that I was leaving at the perfect time to see deer. I told him I had been winded and wouldn’t see anything else. He quickly redirected my attention to my 6 o’clock where a doe and button buck were standing in my watermelons. I grabbed my bow (with the arrow still at the ready) out of my truck and started to stalk as stealthily as a 6’1″ 294 lb. man can do. I knew where they were going so I took the long way around some brush and dead cars to head them off at the pass.
Emily (my 12 yr old daughter) and I hit the timber at 2:15 pm. I had her all set up and comfortable by 2:25 pm. At 2:28 pm I decided that things were a little too slow. After all, we had been sitting silently (except for the occasional sniffle, and some light conversation) for 3 minutes. I stood up and told Em that I was going for a walk. I would try and scare some deer her way. We had a layer of ice on the snow, and every step I took made it sound like an elephant was walking in my shoes. I tried to make my steps sound like an overgrown squirrel by scampering a few steps at a time and then pausing, sometimes for up to 5 minutes.
