Big_Holla
10-14-2013, 12:19 PM
Many of you know that my 9 year old son Allen started to hunt this year and in the Spring he shot his first ever turkey with a crossbow. Well this Fall he was determined to try to get a deer with the crossbow too. Our first hunt last weekend we saw several deer and even had one close enough but we just couldn't pull it off. Saturday we found ourselves perched 17 ft. up in a buddy stand again on the same corner of the hay field as before UP HERE IN MICHIGAN. We got out there early, before 2:30 and boy was it warm out. Soon Allen became sleepy and after dad told him it was OK to take a nap in the stand he quickly got comfortable.
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0478.jpg
A little after 5 pm we had a big spiked buck sneak in down wind behind us and he skirted around to our left side. Allen had an opening there to take a shot so we readied things as he stepped into view. I tried to stop him but he kept walking, stopping behind some brush of course. Soon he was headed up into the finger that separated the hayfield from the corn field towards some apple trees. Not long and here he comes walking across the hayfield to the NE corner. Didn't make any sense but I told Allen maybe he was just on a recon trip to come back later. I didn't realize until later how true that was.
We later had a small button buck come in and started nibbling on some of the carrots my buddy Ed had tossed out for us. As Allen sat there looking at him he decided that he had to shoot something bigger....only because his sister had shot a button buck for her first deer and he wanted to do better!! LOL!! Soon his momma came in and Allen was trying to decide whether to shoot her or not. Well it didn't take long but a flock of turkeys came in and spooked the momma and her button buck back into the woods.
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0479.jpg
Soon we were up to 9 deer spotted and 12 turkeys when a nice 3 pointer came in from downwind again. He was heading to go right past us when I turned and the seat squeaked on the treestand. He stopped and stared at us, Allen finally getting one of those moments when he couldn't move or even feel like breathing forever LOL!! Soon the small buck walked back where he came from and didn't offer Allen a shot. You could see the excitement and anticipation building in him and I was LOVING it!! Two more from behind were working their way toward us when we looked into the hayfield and from the NE corner....here comes the big spike!! He also had the smaller spike we missed out on the week before walking from behind. Allen kept blinking his eyes as they approached, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing!! As the big spike got closer I turned the red-dot sight on and had Allen get ready. As I slipped the safety off I whispered to him that I would tell him when to take the shot and for now he needed to keep looking at nothing but the crease behind his shoulder. I ranged him at 25 yards as he turned broadside, then slightly quartering away........I whispered to him I'm going to stop him and get ready for the shot....muurrp....I start whispering to him squee......THWACK the bolt was on his way disappearing into the bucks shoulder!!!!! The big spike mule kicked and took off in a circle back to the NE corner, looking like he might be going down as he disappeared into the woods. I was so excited I almost had tears in my eyes as we hugged. I was nervous at the same time because you just never know when you don't see it go down.
We sat there for about 20 minutes and it was hilarious to see my 9 year old son go through the motions of knees shaking, nervous laughter, feeling cold, wondering when we could go find his buck, etc.. We got down and checked the arrow and sure enough, the blood looked great. We immediately saw we had a decent blood trail so I opted to go back up to the truck and dump off all the extra gear we didn't need. Soon we were headed back out to begin tracking. The boy's eyes are good because when I struggled to find blood at times on the hayfield he spotted it right away to keep us on track. Soon we were entering the woods and the blood was still decent, just we had to take some time because of the multiple crisscrossing trails. Sure enough, the buck didn't take those and plowed through into a short thicket. It was getting dark in the woods already by that time and as I shined the flashlight up ahead I noticed a spot where the brush was all matted down.....There HE was!!! I was never so excited and relieved at the same time!! We hugged and bumped knuckles and hugged some more. I just couldn't believe my 9 year old son did it!! So, here he is...............
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0481.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0501.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0490.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0492.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0478.jpg
A little after 5 pm we had a big spiked buck sneak in down wind behind us and he skirted around to our left side. Allen had an opening there to take a shot so we readied things as he stepped into view. I tried to stop him but he kept walking, stopping behind some brush of course. Soon he was headed up into the finger that separated the hayfield from the corn field towards some apple trees. Not long and here he comes walking across the hayfield to the NE corner. Didn't make any sense but I told Allen maybe he was just on a recon trip to come back later. I didn't realize until later how true that was.
We later had a small button buck come in and started nibbling on some of the carrots my buddy Ed had tossed out for us. As Allen sat there looking at him he decided that he had to shoot something bigger....only because his sister had shot a button buck for her first deer and he wanted to do better!! LOL!! Soon his momma came in and Allen was trying to decide whether to shoot her or not. Well it didn't take long but a flock of turkeys came in and spooked the momma and her button buck back into the woods.
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0479.jpg
Soon we were up to 9 deer spotted and 12 turkeys when a nice 3 pointer came in from downwind again. He was heading to go right past us when I turned and the seat squeaked on the treestand. He stopped and stared at us, Allen finally getting one of those moments when he couldn't move or even feel like breathing forever LOL!! Soon the small buck walked back where he came from and didn't offer Allen a shot. You could see the excitement and anticipation building in him and I was LOVING it!! Two more from behind were working their way toward us when we looked into the hayfield and from the NE corner....here comes the big spike!! He also had the smaller spike we missed out on the week before walking from behind. Allen kept blinking his eyes as they approached, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing!! As the big spike got closer I turned the red-dot sight on and had Allen get ready. As I slipped the safety off I whispered to him that I would tell him when to take the shot and for now he needed to keep looking at nothing but the crease behind his shoulder. I ranged him at 25 yards as he turned broadside, then slightly quartering away........I whispered to him I'm going to stop him and get ready for the shot....muurrp....I start whispering to him squee......THWACK the bolt was on his way disappearing into the bucks shoulder!!!!! The big spike mule kicked and took off in a circle back to the NE corner, looking like he might be going down as he disappeared into the woods. I was so excited I almost had tears in my eyes as we hugged. I was nervous at the same time because you just never know when you don't see it go down.
We sat there for about 20 minutes and it was hilarious to see my 9 year old son go through the motions of knees shaking, nervous laughter, feeling cold, wondering when we could go find his buck, etc.. We got down and checked the arrow and sure enough, the blood looked great. We immediately saw we had a decent blood trail so I opted to go back up to the truck and dump off all the extra gear we didn't need. Soon we were headed back out to begin tracking. The boy's eyes are good because when I struggled to find blood at times on the hayfield he spotted it right away to keep us on track. Soon we were entering the woods and the blood was still decent, just we had to take some time because of the multiple crisscrossing trails. Sure enough, the buck didn't take those and plowed through into a short thicket. It was getting dark in the woods already by that time and as I shined the flashlight up ahead I noticed a spot where the brush was all matted down.....There HE was!!! I was never so excited and relieved at the same time!! We hugged and bumped knuckles and hugged some more. I just couldn't believe my 9 year old son did it!! So, here he is...............
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0481.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0501.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0490.jpg
http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/crowesnest6173/Misc%20Kid%20Hunting%20Pics/IMG_0492.jpg