Welcome to bowhunting my son.

Welcome to bowhunting my son.


As some of you know I began taking my son to the woods with me when he was 4 years old.
When he began going with me THAT is when I learned what hunting is all about.

I could talk about my son and hunting with him for literally hours so I will just say that when I turned him lose with a rifle and then a muzzleloader he took to it like a fish to water.

I bought a used bow from my friend Donnie at work a few years ago and it was perfect for him to begin bowhunting.
I am not sure how far it would go through a deer but I am more than confident that out to twenty yards it would be more than enough.
I was very impressed with him and how much and how well he practiced. Suffice it to say that if a deer walked out in front of him he would be able to close the deal.

As luck, or the lack thereof, would have it a shot opportunity never materialized for him with his bow.
All that nonsense changed yesterday morning.
You will have to do a little "research" to fully appreciate this story but one of the main characters is indeed the buck we have named Chocolate.

He got in the stand well before daylight and I headed to my spot, about a hundred yards away, and jumped in my climber.
I eased up the tree and got settled in and called him on the radio, told him I was set up and asked if he was ok.
He replied that he was fine and all was good.

A few minutes later we heard the rhino and we knew the other guy that is hunting this property was there this morning.

After a few minutes I called him again and asked if he was ok and he whispered back, "Hang on Dad, I got two deer out in front of me".

I sit there in anticipation for a few minutes and he called me back and told me "nevermind, they were just two red fox". I laughed when he said that and then told me he couldn't believe he thought they were deer.
I assured him that in the early and late light your eyes work with your brain to mess you up and talk you into things.

I took this opportunity to insert a quick safety reminder to him too. I reminded him to make sure of every target, every time before you let it fly.

Ok back to the story.
For some reason I had alot of static on my end of the radios and I had trouble hearing what he was saying during out last conversation so I just pulled my cell phone out and sent him a text.
"Killed anything yet?"
"Nope :-("
He goes on to send me another one that informed me that he had gotten up to pee and dropped the radio.
I sent one back that told him no big deal, get it or not, it is up to him.
I also told him if he needed me bad he could just yell.

About 10 minutes later I get another text that said,,, "Oh no chocolate just busted me"

Through a series of text messages I learn that a doe had come out into the edge of the field from behind him and walked up the edge of the field right to man.
He drew his bow back and was fixing to let one fly when he caught movement to his right and sure enough here comes ole Chocolate right behind the doe.

He let down on the doe and waited till Chocolate came in to about 15 yards and then drew again.
He said the buck saw him, stopped and before man could get the pin on him he spun and both of them took off the other way.

We chatted about different things and then when he had gotten down and retrieved his radio I said, "Welcome to bowhunting my son." Then I went on to ask him, "Do you like it or hate it?"
His reply made me realize a bowhunter had been born that morning.
He said simply, "I love it".

God bless and good hunting always,
D.