Hunting with Children

It's a little like cooking with children, things are a little more messy and it adds an interesting twist.

Let me back up a little. A few years ago I gave up hunting, it was...boring. You sat in the woods and watched for animals that didn't appear. It's times like that, that you begin to think about all the other things you could be doing. Things that don't include getting cold or wet.

Now fast forward a few years, a few of my friends introduced me to a different method of hunting called "driving". This included crazy things like stomping through briars and swamps while a few of your friends watched for deer. When you get to your "standers" (if you find them) you swap stories about near misses (or hits) and on the odd occasion you watch someone else gut a deer. There was camaraderie and action, it was not boring...hard work but not boring.

Then it happened 2 years ago, I got something, a buck, not big but it wasn't boring. Then last year I got something else, a bear, not big but it sure wasn't boring.

This year I was introduced to a new aspect of hunting, hunting with my children. Me and my group of friends was not nearly as successful as some years and so I attempted to remedy the situation on my own. I also purchased a mentor license for my son, only to discover that my oldest daughter also thought it would be fun to give it a try. Hmm.

It came down to the last week and I promised each child a turn, my gun was a bit big for an 8 year old so I was to do the shooting and he was to be quiet. You know how that worked out, right?

First we saw this guy...oops this wasn't while hunting.

Kicking snow in the stream

But alas we didn't see anything. That was Thursday.

Then it was Saturday and my daughter's turn. We got an early start of 9:30 AM and quietly crept into the woods, actually it was more of a crunch, crunch into the woods. We had a thin glaze of ice over the snow that loudly crunched when walking on it.

We found our first spot...but I wasn't satisfied, so we moved.

While Autumn watched through the branches...

I watched from beside the trail.

Later I discovered that I took this picture about 10 minutes before I shot the deer.

She saw the deer about the same time I did, she saw me get down and aim, but when I FIRED, she about jumped out of her skin!!!

No she didn't shoot it, but I believe she could have.

Yes it was a buck that had shed it's antlers.

And we were on our way home by 11:30 or 12:00. And I must admit that it helped to have some "drivers" nearby.

Hunting with children definitely adds another aspect to the sport (SHHHHHH!!! Be quiet!!). I suppose any activity that provides 1:1 time with your children builds character, sometimes more in the parent than in the children but nonetheless builds character.  That's good right?

I also informed my daughter that this could hardly be classified as "hunting". It was too easy. This was getting, not hunting.