As a guy that grew up living to take my stick and string or a rifle into the woods and chase deer around, I dreamed of the day I’d someday hunt with my own kids. A few years back, I took my oldest son Hunter out in the woods, but he was clearly too young. He shot his BB gun at everything that moved. This past Saturday, however, it all changed. Thanks to my good pal Michael who let us hit his farm, we had a place to crash and a good spot to hunt, all within an hour of home. How awesome is that?
From the moment we pulled out of the driveway and headed west to Saline, anticipation was high. Hunter was loaded with all sorts of questions and wanted to know the game plan. He also was ensuring that this was a real guys’ trip where rules other than safety were thrown out.
His questions included:
Dad, can we eat whatever we want?
Dad, can we drink Coke or at least Sprite?
Dad, can we stay up late and watch the new Ghostbusters movie together?
Dad, can we get the non-organic yogurts with the M&Ms?
Dad, can we do whatever we want?”
To these, I answered as any dad on a real guys’ trip would answer. “YUP!”
The morning hunt was chilly (rocking 38 degrees) but the covered blind and the seven weeks’ worth of hunting gear I schlepped to Saline and then to the blind with us came in handy and kept us warm enough. Both the morning and evening sits provided plenty of deer sightings, many within proximity, yet we didn’t see The One.
Having made a deal with Hunter midway through the evening sit that if we shot a big buck, we could spend the night again; he was on his A game and iPad time was down to a minimum. He was all eyes and ears in it. Many times, I welled up with a tear of happiness and pride. Here I was, father and son in the blind, just as I’d dreamed about for so many years.
As darkness was nearing, we had about 12 does in the field in front of us. Hunter whispers to me “Dad, we should shoot one of the does. We have a tag, you said, for one so let’s just do it and then we can hang here for the night.” I put my arm around him and said: “Buddy, I’m so happy you love this, someday soon we can do it again. That said, this is why they call it hunting, my man. You don’t get one every time and sometimes it’s just about this right here.” He looked at me with his tired little face and said: “Okay dad, thanks for making it awesome.”
And this, folks, is what I call the best hunt of my life!
Hunter asleep at deer camp.
