I’ve been trying to introduce hunting to my 6 year old gradually over the last couple of years. He doesn’t yet show the same desire to be outside all of the time that I did at his age. So, we make days at the farm a big deal. We get up early, put on camo, stop for donuts, and talk about how successful we’re going to be. I make a big deal of it when he’s the first one to spot a deer or see a track. As I mentioned in my last post, this has made bow hunting extra challenging. Whitetails aren’t exactly laid back creatures and keeping a 6 year old in a tree stand is nearly impossible.

We’ve adapted to sitting in elevated rifle blinds to maximize our chances of seeing deer. It also conceals his movement and gets him out of the wind or extreme elements. It’s turned into a lot of fun for me as I try to play on my knowledge of the farm and whitetail behavior to spot and stalk from the stand while he watches for me. On our second hunt of the season we spotted 3 does on a path to the windmill. I waited until they were behind a thicket, got down, grabbed my bow, and sprinted to get to the windmill in a position that gave me the wind advantage.

I would love to relay a long detailed story about an epic stalk but if I’m being honest, I got dumb lucky. A completely different set of 3 does came in and crossed my scent trail. I can only guess that the pace at which I ran through that area and the wind speed kept me concealed. They showed up less than a minute after I had an arrow nocked and I got a clean 30 yard broadside shot.

The hit looked like it was a little high and a couple of inches back. As the does ran, I anticipated a quick and easy recovery. I figured it would be a great way to introduce my son to the rest of the hunting process. I waited a couple of minutes and then slipped quietly over to the site of the hit. I was dismayed to find no blood, no hair, and no arrow. I decided to go get my son and give things 30 minutes to settle. I was still confident about the shot, but I didn’t want to push things. I made a wide circle back around to the rifle blind and sat with an EXTREMELY wired up 6 year old for another 20 minutes. I took the time to described the process of blood-trailing to him.

We got down and proceeded back to the area. I found the first drop of blood and showed it to him so he understood what we were looking for. I kept expecting to find a clear easy trail any moment. I was a bit dismayed when it turned into a slow, hunch-backed, creep through the shin-oak. My son was fascinated and had a couple of really outstanding spots picking up a tiny drop of blood among the leaves. Turns out, he’s the next best thing to having a blood hound with you.

We eventually found our quarry piled up in some salt cedars within 50 yards of the hit. It was a high double lung hit. She bled out very quickly but it made for some challenging tracking. It was hard enough to be challenging but short enough to keep a 6 year old engaged. The Plunks were on the board and now had some meat to get cleaned and into the freezer.

We got the deer hanging and skinned. My son was about 3 yards interested. He was really curious about the bones, muscles, and parts. He was definitely NOT interested in getting any of it on him. This was exactly the kind of doe I like to take. Late October as they’re coming off of eating peanuts and other neighboring crops. She had no fawn and was coated in fat.

We got the meat broken down and on ice for the ride home. After killing some time and practicing with his bow and BB gun, we crawled back into another stand for an evening hunt. We agreed that we already had meat, so we were going to hold out for a good buck this evening rather than trying for another doe. Mostly that was me not wanting to clean one in the wind after dark by myself. We finished the night off with no close buck sightings but watched as does piled out onto a nearby food plot. He came home and relayed the entire story to his mom and was already talking about how the next time, he wants to see a buck up close. Even if he doesn’t grow up to be a hardcore hunter, I love watching him develop the connection to his food and the understanding for what goes into the process.