Step up your Dad game boys..

I started taking my boy hunting with me at 10 years old, first time in SE Montana, years after near Anaconda. We hunted one additional time on a limited tag and he missed a really good bull and pronghorn, due to knocking his rifle scope off. He got one really good buck in eastern Montana when there were actually deer over there in 2019 and a couple pronghorn does. So he has been all over hunting difficult terrain with limited success, but he remembers the difficult times clearing trails while packed elk in blizzards, this misses on easy elk/pronghorn, finding fossils in SE Montana, and watching the Broncos during times to dry out wet gear. Killing something is about 10% of the good times. We will be hunting again with him and my daughter this year near SW Montana with the masses of general hunters and around 2-5% odds on bull elk. From hearing them tell the stories I don't think they missed out on much.
 
I’ll never forget my first deer season. At 12 years old I wasn’t old enough to go “up north” to deer camp, so my grandpa hunted with me on his farm. It was a very cold, snowy year and I shivered daily for almost a week on a little plywood platform nailed to the side of an oak tree with a 5 gallon bucket for a seat.

After many days I finally saw a deer. I shot at it with my pump 12 gauge with only a bead for a sight. I jumped in Grandpa’s old green F-150 and drove down to get him. I’ll never forget tracking that deer in the snow with him. Grandpa is gone now, but that hug he gave me when we found that buck was the best hug of my life. I can feel it like it was yesterday. I wouldn’t trade that deer for any 200” buck, high fence or not.
 
I’ll never forget my first deer season. At 12 years old I wasn’t old enough to go “up north” to deer camp, so my grandpa hunted with me on his farm. It was a very cold, snowy year and I shivered daily for almost a week on a little plywood platform nailed to the side of an oak tree with a 5 gallon bucket for a seat.

After many days I finally saw a deer. I shot at it with my pump 12 gauge with only a bead for a sight. I jumped in Grandpa’s old green F-150 and drove down to get him. I’ll never forget tracking that deer in the snow with him. Grandpa is gone now, but that hug he gave me when we found that buck was the best hug of my life. I can feel it like it was yesterday. I wouldn’t trade that deer for any 200” buck, high fence or not.
11 years old. Also a bucket on plywood in a big burr oak, also a 12 gauge 870 with a front bead. Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
11 years old. Also a bucket on plywood in a big burr oak, also a 12 gauge 870 with a front bead. Wouldn't have it any other way.

12 years old. Sitting in a freshly picked cornfield after school. Also with Dad’s 12 gauge 870 with a front bead. I had 3 slugs and one 00 buckshot for total ammunition. Decided a slug/buckshot/slug was the best shot sequence for the occasion.

Granddad was just finishing up the last rows at the other end of the field when a fawn doe came slipping through the woods. She stopped at 40 yards and I sailed a slug somewhere in her vicinity. A couple hops and another look back at 50. Buckshot flew and another Hail Mary slug as she ran out of range. Then she stopped and stood for a while flicking her tail and bedded down. Ten minutes later she put her head down and kicked her last.

One buckshot pellet to the liver secured my first deer. I had never seen a deer field dressed only heard Dad describe it. My 2” folding Klein pocket knife and I made an incredible mess as I opened up her belly and started cutting out handfuls of guts…😀. Got it done and was the proudest boy in the Shenandoah Valley that afternoon.
 
Yep, just like Michigan public land...after EHD.


So which one do you want to shoot? Somehow picking out a buck by name off a scorecard just rubs fur wrong way for me. Then again, I am bald and can't flex like that anymore.🤔

Am I jealous? Not one bit. If this was open range, no doubt I would have different opinion. High fence hunting is not for me but for some it works for them. Everyone has a different boat to float.

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11 years old. Also a bucket on plywood in a big burr oak, also a 12 gauge 870 with a front bead. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Yup, burr oak that I still smile at when I walk by today. Winchester 1300 instead of an 870 for me. Pulling that trigger with a 3” slug in it, for a 12 year old kid, was like asking Tyson to punch you.
 
Supposed to rain tonight so I told my 12yo I’ll take him now hunting in the morning. Looks like I’m gonna make him hold out for 200” so I can compete for hunting dad of the year.

It’s one thing to be a douche and brag about a pet buck that you shot, but when you use your kid in the picture it’s shameful. That poor kid doesn’t stand a chance in life.
 
Also with Dad’s 12 gauge 870 with a front bead. I had 3 slugs and one 00 buckshot for total ammunition. Decided a slug/buckshot/slug was the best shot sequence for the occasion.
Pulling that trigger with a 3” slug in it, for a 12 year old kid, was like asking Tyson to punch you.
My old man didn't really deer hunt all that much and there really wasn't much sighting a slug gun in with no sights. So he put three different slugs in the gun and told me one of them ought to shoot straight. Turns out it was slug #2. Thankfully that basket rack buck was patient enough for me to miss the first shot and rack another round without going anywhere.
 
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