The coolest thing I saw on this deer hunt was a ruffed grouse.

[rtraverdavis]

First off, I loved every bit of this story, despite the frustration and (highly relatable) anxiety-inducing number of dudes, dudes, dudes. All that aside, what an incredible bonding experience for you two that you’ll share forever.

I’ve said it before, but your daughter is rad. That photo of her with her doe—her face in that picture captures so many complicated emotions—it’s truly remarkable. And the way she turned around and started flogging you the next day—all that training you’ve been doling out on how to suffer like a good little IRS agent is paying off.

Really, really great stuff.

 

[trb]

Dudes, dudes, and more dudes? Come hunt Colorado, you will LOVE it!!!

In all seriousness, I cannot wait to take my daughter hunting in 10ish years, but stories like this fuel the fire and build my anticipation even more. It takes that amount of time of building trust and a positive relationship with the outdoors to make experiences like that as successful as they were for your daughter, even if it wasn't what YOU envisioned. Well done!

 

[GrantK]

Good stuff, something that took me an embarrassingly long time to learn is that it's not about how rad the climb or hunt is, it's about who you share it with, seems like you nailed it...

 

[Irrelevant]

Dudes, dudes, and more dudes? Come hunt Colorado, you will LOVE it!!!

In all seriousness, I cannot wait to take my daughter hunting in 10ish years, but stories like this fuel the fire and build my anticipation even more. It takes that amount of time of building trust and a positive relationship with the outdoors to make experiences like that as successful as they were for your daughter, even if it wasn't what YOU envisioned. Well done!

Start early. This is her at 7 chukar hunting with me. Her toes froze and she didn't tell me.

Here she is at 6, my son was 3. (we didn't make it 1 mile that day... the snow was up to PR's waist and it was cold and blowing).

 

[trb]

Start early. This is her at 7 chukar hunting with me. Her toes froze and she didn't tell me.
View attachment 300742
Here she is at 6, my son was 3. (we didn't make it 1 mile that day... the snow was up to PR's waist and it was cold and blowing).
View attachment 300743

Awesome. I am planning on it. She has already done a lot of mild scouting and shed hunting with me and she is only 1.5 now. We have hit a bit of a transitional period where is dissatisfied being in the backpack for more than an hour or so, but also can't really walk more than a few hundred yards, and definitely not with purpose. I am hopeful that by next summer or so she will be able to walk a little further without being distracted every 2 feet by a rock or a flower. Maybe even like 8 feet at a time.

 

[Irrelevant]

The struggle is real

 

[FI460]

Concluding thought.
Would I get that tag again?
No. Emphatically NO. It just wasn't fun. Spending time with my daughter was fun, but I'd rather go pickup a couple of Wt doe tags in MT than try this unit again. It was stressful finding a camp site. It was stressful finding a spot to hunt. It was stressful hearing the constant barrage of rifle fire from all sides. Heck, just driving in and out was terrifying, there were so many dudes pretending those dirt roads where the Indy 500, flying around blind corners without a care or a thought to oncoming traffic.

Great story and experience. The dudes, dudes, dudes is exhausting, but you found success nonetheless.

 

[MtnElk]

I'm not sure I'll ever get the little one hunting, but she does get really stoked when we see elk while out driving around. Maybe, maybe one day I can parlay that into coming scouting with me.

 

[FREAK]

I missed this one. Awesome job taking the kids out, really cool to see the young ones getting after it. I'm planning on taking my daughter on my next antelope hunt. I've taken her and my son out on a couple walk abouts looking for bears and they really enjoyed it.



Very excited to start introducing them more and more to the outdoors. What an experience though to backpack in and shoot a couple deer with your daughter!