With it being Father's Day weekend I thought I'd share my favorite "first" story.
It was Nov. 15th 2014, opening day of rifle season here in Michigan. The weather was very cold and snowy with temperatures in the single digits. As is our tradition, my daughter and I were sharing the popup on public land in our usual opening morning spot. We were sitting side by side in the popup in folding camp chairs. Being that is was so cold I had her decked out in an outer layer of one of my old insulated coveralls and a pair of my pac boots for the all day sit.
Around 9:00 a pair of coyotes passed by on the opposing hillside and I decked one of them but couldn’t get a shot on the second. Since it was laying out there upwind of the area we were observing I went over and collected it and dragged it downwind of our hunting area. I was no sooner back at the popup when my daughter mentioned she was regretting drinking that warm coffee as she had to relieve herself. Well it was a good opportunity since I had just been out stirring up the area.
While we were sitting in the blind she shrugged off the upper of the coveralls only to find that to get the vastly oversized coveralls off she first needed to get the way too large boots off. It was pretty comical sitting there as she sitting bent at the waist struggling to get the boots off in the confines of the popup. At that point I looked up only to see a decent buck walking straight at us. I said “Freeze, there’s a buck to your right” and there she was, stuck bent over at the waist with one boot off and one leg out of the coveralls. I waited until the buck was looking the other way and told her to sit up and get her gun. Again, with one bootless foot she slowly spun herself into a shooting position. All I could do from my perspective was watch over her shoulder.
The buck was now about 50 yds out and had turned to cross the valley from her left to right. He needed to go about 10 yds to hit a totally clear opening. During this time I was so impressed with her composure in spite of the unusual circumstances. I had the perfect perspective looking right over her shoulder and able to see her and the buck at the same time. I watch as the buck stepped into the opening and she slowly began squeezing the trigger. I realized at that point she hadn’t pulled the hammer back on the lever gun. I whispered “hammer” and she stopped pulled the hammer back and reset herself. Now was the first sign of nerves I noticed. Forgetting the hammer had broken her concentration and I noticed she pulled the trigger instead of squeezing it as she hurried to make up the time. KABOOM! The deer kicked, spun and ran up the hill. Now was my turn to kick myself for not at least picking up my gun. It was all good though as the deer only went about 40yds before piling up. I put my scope on him and waited for him to get up. Nothing, he was done.
After our initial celebration we couldn’t stop laughing about the circumstances and her shooting her first buck with one barefoot and only half in her coveralls. It’s one of those stories you couldn’t make up if you tried.
Once we got her re-composed we walked up there. I have never even remotely been so proud or so happy over any deer shot in my presence. This is something all you young fathers hopefully have to look forward to as you continue on your hunting journeys. Happy Father’s Day guys!
Prolougue: With about 10 minutes left in that days hunt I was lucky enough to have another nice 8 point walk along following a doe. I managed to drop him in his tracks completing our hunting season that day. It is one I’m sure neither of us will ever forget.
It was Nov. 15th 2014, opening day of rifle season here in Michigan. The weather was very cold and snowy with temperatures in the single digits. As is our tradition, my daughter and I were sharing the popup on public land in our usual opening morning spot. We were sitting side by side in the popup in folding camp chairs. Being that is was so cold I had her decked out in an outer layer of one of my old insulated coveralls and a pair of my pac boots for the all day sit.
Around 9:00 a pair of coyotes passed by on the opposing hillside and I decked one of them but couldn’t get a shot on the second. Since it was laying out there upwind of the area we were observing I went over and collected it and dragged it downwind of our hunting area. I was no sooner back at the popup when my daughter mentioned she was regretting drinking that warm coffee as she had to relieve herself. Well it was a good opportunity since I had just been out stirring up the area.
While we were sitting in the blind she shrugged off the upper of the coveralls only to find that to get the vastly oversized coveralls off she first needed to get the way too large boots off. It was pretty comical sitting there as she sitting bent at the waist struggling to get the boots off in the confines of the popup. At that point I looked up only to see a decent buck walking straight at us. I said “Freeze, there’s a buck to your right” and there she was, stuck bent over at the waist with one boot off and one leg out of the coveralls. I waited until the buck was looking the other way and told her to sit up and get her gun. Again, with one bootless foot she slowly spun herself into a shooting position. All I could do from my perspective was watch over her shoulder.
The buck was now about 50 yds out and had turned to cross the valley from her left to right. He needed to go about 10 yds to hit a totally clear opening. During this time I was so impressed with her composure in spite of the unusual circumstances. I had the perfect perspective looking right over her shoulder and able to see her and the buck at the same time. I watch as the buck stepped into the opening and she slowly began squeezing the trigger. I realized at that point she hadn’t pulled the hammer back on the lever gun. I whispered “hammer” and she stopped pulled the hammer back and reset herself. Now was the first sign of nerves I noticed. Forgetting the hammer had broken her concentration and I noticed she pulled the trigger instead of squeezing it as she hurried to make up the time. KABOOM! The deer kicked, spun and ran up the hill. Now was my turn to kick myself for not at least picking up my gun. It was all good though as the deer only went about 40yds before piling up. I put my scope on him and waited for him to get up. Nothing, he was done.
After our initial celebration we couldn’t stop laughing about the circumstances and her shooting her first buck with one barefoot and only half in her coveralls. It’s one of those stories you couldn’t make up if you tried.
Once we got her re-composed we walked up there. I have never even remotely been so proud or so happy over any deer shot in my presence. This is something all you young fathers hopefully have to look forward to as you continue on your hunting journeys. Happy Father’s Day guys!
Prolougue: With about 10 minutes left in that days hunt I was lucky enough to have another nice 8 point walk along following a doe. I managed to drop him in his tracks completing our hunting season that day. It is one I’m sure neither of us will ever forget.
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