Hunting with a Seven-Year-Old
Hunting with a Seven-Year-Old
By Allan Olson
The annual deer hunting holiday is here, and many hunters are enjoying the warm weather and hopefully, bagging a deer or two.
The weather was perfect – at least for a nap. I certainly enjoyed one or two while I was sunbathing in the unusually warm November sun. The forecast for this week is a little cooler, so I knew that I better take my oldest boy out to the stand while it was still warm. I figured he could handle being in a stand for three hours. Perhaps that might have been a stretch.
After lunch on Sunday, I asked him if he wanted to go out hunting with me. “Yes,” Nikolai said eagerly. Okay, then I proceeded to round up the clothes that he would need. I gathered together extra socks, boots, snowsuit, orange hat and jacket, and a bucket to sit on. Then we headed down the road to a deer stand. “We’re walking there?” he asked. “Yes,” I said, “it’s less than a mile down the road.” As we head to the stand, he’s walking all over the road, swinging his empty bucket. About halfway, the bucket suddenly became too heavy for his little arms. “Will you carry this?” he asked. “Sure,” I said.
As we got closer, he spotted the stand and wanted to walk through the middle of the field to get there. “No,” I said, “that’s not how we do it.”
We made it to the stand and got settled in. “Okay, now we have three hours,” I informed him. Of course, when you’re sitting in a stand and not seeing anything, time ticks by rather slowly. “Is it time to go yet?” he asked. “Is it dark yet?” I replied.
Being a fidgety seven-year-old, he wasn’t exactly the quietest on stand, and he was always asking questions. “Where do you shoot the deer?” he inquired. I explained to him the ideal places to shoot it were in the neck, heart or head. “How does it die if you shoot it in the neck?” “Does it run after you shoot it?” The questions were endless. I wanted him to go with, so I guess I had to pay the consequences. I distracted him by handing him my camera to take photos, and he also spent some time peering through my scope asking questions about that.
I knew almost as soon as we got there that the only chance we had of seeing a deer was if it came from the field across the road. Trying to keep him quiet was almost useless.
Also in the mix was the standard, “I gotta go potty” at least three times during the three hours. He also asked several times if it was time to go in. My answer stayed the same: If it’s not dark, we’re not going in.
The younger ones, well, at least one of them wanted to hunt as well. Anytime I came in from going outside, I was asked by my oldest daughter, Abigail, if “I shooted a deer,” and other variations of that question. The first time I came in my Abigail wanted to go back out with me. “I want to shoot a bird,” she said. “Daddy’s not bird hunting, he’s deer hunting.” Well she didn’t care, she just wanted to go hunting. “I want to shoot a deer,” she said. “Not yet,” I said, laughing at her enthusiasm.
My youngest son enjoyed his time with a cousin of the same age. Prior to coming home Sunday evening, they were both wearing their orange hats, getting into the spirit of things. One had on his deer hunting hat and the other his partridge hunting hat.
As for Nikolai, will I ask him to go out again? Yeah, probably. I’m a glutton for punishment.
As for my hunting party, I guess I should have skipped work this week; they’re shooting all the deer and having all the fun without me. As long as they save one tag for me this weekend, all’s good.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great and safe week. We appreciate your comments and feedback, so feel free to drop us a line at cltimes1@arvig.net. Hunters – we will gladly publish your hunting photos, so send them over with the details if you wish.
By Allan Olson
The annual deer hunting holiday is here, and many hunters are enjoying the warm weather and hopefully, bagging a deer or two.
The weather was perfect – at least for a nap. I certainly enjoyed one or two while I was sunbathing in the unusually warm November sun. The forecast for this week is a little cooler, so I knew that I better take my oldest boy out to the stand while it was still warm. I figured he could handle being in a stand for three hours. Perhaps that might have been a stretch.
After lunch on Sunday, I asked him if he wanted to go out hunting with me. “Yes,” Nikolai said eagerly. Okay, then I proceeded to round up the clothes that he would need. I gathered together extra socks, boots, snowsuit, orange hat and jacket, and a bucket to sit on. Then we headed down the road to a deer stand. “We’re walking there?” he asked. “Yes,” I said, “it’s less than a mile down the road.” As we head to the stand, he’s walking all over the road, swinging his empty bucket. About halfway, the bucket suddenly became too heavy for his little arms. “Will you carry this?” he asked. “Sure,” I said.
As we got closer, he spotted the stand and wanted to walk through the middle of the field to get there. “No,” I said, “that’s not how we do it.”
We made it to the stand and got settled in. “Okay, now we have three hours,” I informed him. Of course, when you’re sitting in a stand and not seeing anything, time ticks by rather slowly. “Is it time to go yet?” he asked. “Is it dark yet?” I replied.
Being a fidgety seven-year-old, he wasn’t exactly the quietest on stand, and he was always asking questions. “Where do you shoot the deer?” he inquired. I explained to him the ideal places to shoot it were in the neck, heart or head. “How does it die if you shoot it in the neck?” “Does it run after you shoot it?” The questions were endless. I wanted him to go with, so I guess I had to pay the consequences. I distracted him by handing him my camera to take photos, and he also spent some time peering through my scope asking questions about that.
I knew almost as soon as we got there that the only chance we had of seeing a deer was if it came from the field across the road. Trying to keep him quiet was almost useless.
Also in the mix was the standard, “I gotta go potty” at least three times during the three hours. He also asked several times if it was time to go in. My answer stayed the same: If it’s not dark, we’re not going in.
The younger ones, well, at least one of them wanted to hunt as well. Anytime I came in from going outside, I was asked by my oldest daughter, Abigail, if “I shooted a deer,” and other variations of that question. The first time I came in my Abigail wanted to go back out with me. “I want to shoot a bird,” she said. “Daddy’s not bird hunting, he’s deer hunting.” Well she didn’t care, she just wanted to go hunting. “I want to shoot a deer,” she said. “Not yet,” I said, laughing at her enthusiasm.
My youngest son enjoyed his time with a cousin of the same age. Prior to coming home Sunday evening, they were both wearing their orange hats, getting into the spirit of things. One had on his deer hunting hat and the other his partridge hunting hat.
As for Nikolai, will I ask him to go out again? Yeah, probably. I’m a glutton for punishment.
As for my hunting party, I guess I should have skipped work this week; they’re shooting all the deer and having all the fun without me. As long as they save one tag for me this weekend, all’s good.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great and safe week. We appreciate your comments and feedback, so feel free to drop us a line at cltimes1@arvig.net. Hunters – we will gladly publish your hunting photos, so send them over with the details if you wish.
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