I took a friend and his 12 year old son out this past Saturday in South Jersey to try to get the boy his first deer. I wasn't able to take him on youth day, as I took my son out that day and my son shot a 4 pter, his second deer in two years. Man, it took me too many years to get my first deer when I was hunting down in the Pines back in the 70's.
His father had done some hunting as a youngster in western PA, but has not hunted for a long time. The kid definitely has the bug to hunt, so I thought it would be fun to help him in getting his first. Last year they had been on some gun club drives in NJ with another friend of ours, but were not comfortable with the whole process.
So his dad and I set up two hang-on stands with a set of climbing sticks for them to hunt out of; the father has his NJ license but was not hunting. I stressed the importance of, and made sure they both wore safety harnesses. I bow hunted about 75 yards from them and could see them thru the trees.
I had 5 does behind me at 40 yards with no shot early in the AM. I was hoping that those 5 does would eventually make a circle around to them. Sure enough, the deer "read the script" and the young hunter was able to put a 35 yard shot from a 20 gauge with #3 buckshot right on the front shoulder. After a short 10 minute trail job, we were able to recover his first deer. Needless to say, I think I was more juiced up than the kid was, don't get me wrong, the kid was very happy too! His father thanked me about a million times!:smile:
This was a great hunt! Here is a picture of the boy, his first deer (105 lbs) and his dad!
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His father had done some hunting as a youngster in western PA, but has not hunted for a long time. The kid definitely has the bug to hunt, so I thought it would be fun to help him in getting his first. Last year they had been on some gun club drives in NJ with another friend of ours, but were not comfortable with the whole process.
So his dad and I set up two hang-on stands with a set of climbing sticks for them to hunt out of; the father has his NJ license but was not hunting. I stressed the importance of, and made sure they both wore safety harnesses. I bow hunted about 75 yards from them and could see them thru the trees.
I had 5 does behind me at 40 yards with no shot early in the AM. I was hoping that those 5 does would eventually make a circle around to them. Sure enough, the deer "read the script" and the young hunter was able to put a 35 yard shot from a 20 gauge with #3 buckshot right on the front shoulder. After a short 10 minute trail job, we were able to recover his first deer. Needless to say, I think I was more juiced up than the kid was, don't get me wrong, the kid was very happy too! His father thanked me about a million times!:smile:
This was a great hunt! Here is a picture of the boy, his first deer (105 lbs) and his dad!
