Autumn's First Buck

Autumn with deer 11-4-2012

Autumn has always wanted to go hunting with me. This last weekend she finally got her chance. She was so excited to go and spent a lot of time getting all her warm clothes organized. The day arrived. The wind was fierce and the rain was pelting down, but we stuck with the plan. With copious snacks and full-body rainsuit she was ready to hit the woods. Fifteen minutes into the drive from home, "Daddy, why haven't we gotten a deer yet." Well it didn't take me long to figure out seeing, let alone killing a deer was going to be problematic. She's not big enough yet to safely navigate the terrain so I carried her a lot or pushed her down old logging roads in the stroller. She tried but frequently forgot about being quiet. The deer call she had been practicing with sounded more like a duck call. And when she tripped and skinned her hand, I thought we might have to abort the mission. But she toughed it out and despite the lack of actual hunting, we had a great day afield together.  Later in the day, "Daddy, I really, really want to get a deer." I had been very hopeful to get one as well. I wanted her to have the experience of seeing the kill and all that goes with it. As we slowly road hunted our way out of the woods we spied this little buck on the side of the road. "Daddy! A deer!" So I shot it. Autumn was absolutely thrilled. "Daddy, it's so beautiful." We got to track it together and I showed her how to gut it and named all the parts and what they did. She loved poking things with her stick. When we got home she was out in the garage with me skinning. There was no squeamishness on her part, she got right in there with me. So not the biggest deer I've ever killed, but I think I may have solidified a great hunting partner for years to come.