My son Bug (Dustin) and I were getting ready for our usual Saturday morning hunt when he asked me if we would kill a deer today. I told Bug that the chances would be pretty good today. We had a front moving in with temps in the 40’s and a nice stand of oats that had recently come up in the food plot our ground blind was over. Bug is five so his attention span is a little short right now. I have come to the point with hunting that I just rather take him with me and risk the noise than leave him at the house.
We arrived at our hunting spot in Jenkins County and met up with Cuz (Cousin Will). Cuz was our guide for the day as he helps plant and set up stands on the GW River Tract. He knew the area well and had described the location we were going to be hunting early in the week to me. As we crawled into our blind I laid out a blanket in a chair for Bug to kick back and maybe get some more sleep while we waited on sunrise. As for me, I had my coffee that I knew the deer could probably smell but I just couldn’t leave it behind.
Bug woke up about 7:15 and began his usual stirring about the blind. This is Bug’s first year of hunting every day I go with me. I am trying to teach him the rewards of being still and quiet. He is slowly catching on to the process but still has a hard time with it. After getting on to him a few times I sat him back down and told him that if he would just try to be calm for a little while longer then we might see a deer. Well the good Lord must have been looking after us because half way into my speech a deer stepped out into the woods road that ran parallel to the food plot. I could tell that he had a nice rack but couldn’t tell the exact size of it. Bug was quiet as a mouse and locked onto the sight of the buck. I moved slowly for my rifle and just before I got it propped up I kicked the flashlight like the genius I am. The buck did a 180 and shot back into the woods beside the food plot.
Bug was pretty upset with my brilliant move. Never the less he was now completely in focus with finding another deer. I told him to keep his eyes locked on to the field and maybe that deer would walk down through the woods and decide to come out into the field. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed but he was still in focus. I was glaring down the woods road waiting for him to come back out when all of a sudden Bug began poking me with his little fingers and in a quiet yell saying “deer deer”. Sure enough the same buck had gone about half way up on the field in the woods and decided to cross. And by saying cross I mean cross, he had a fast trot in motion across the field. As I was in the process of sizing him up, Bug was saying “shoot him, he getting away”. I could tell that he had good mass and I already had the rifle up without kicking the flashlight. The only problem was he was not stopping. I let out two good whistles with no reaction from the buck. He was over a hundred yards away so I just hollered at the top of my lungs AAHHH…and he slammed on brakes slinging dirt in front of him. The crosshairs found their mark and I got a quick instruction from Bug. “Shoot him now”. I squeezed the trigger and the bullet found its mark and folded him up in his tracks.
Bug was yelling “We got him! We got him!” We crawled out of the blind and made our way into the field. The closer we got the bigger the deer got. I don’t believe either one of us could find the words when we got there. It was an eight point with a spur almost an inch on the left base. He had 10 inch G2’s and just under a 20” spread. We later scored him and he came in at 138 7/8”. It was a trip that neither one of us will ever forget.
My son Bug (Dustin) and I were getting ready for our usual Saturday morning hunt when he asked me if we would kill a deer today. I told Bug that the chances would be pretty good today. We had a front moving in with temps in the 40’s and a nice stand of oats that had recently come up in the food plot our ground blind was over. Bug is five so his attention span is a little short right now. I have come to the point with hunting that I just rather take him with me and risk the noise than leave him at the house.
We arrived at our hunting spot in Jenkins County and met up with Cuz (Cousin Will). Cuz was our guide for the day as he helps plant and set up stands on the GW River Tract. He knew the area well and had described the location we were going to be hunting early in the week to me. As we crawled into our blind I laid out a blanket in a chair for Bug to kick back and maybe get some more sleep while we waited on sunrise. As for me, I had my coffee that I knew the deer could probably smell but I just couldn’t leave it behind.
Bug woke up about 7:15 and began his usual stirring about the blind. This is Bug’s first year of hunting every day I go with me. I am trying to teach him the rewards of being still and quiet. He is slowly catching on to the process but still has a hard time with it. After getting on to him a few times I sat him back down and told him that if he would just try to be calm for a little while longer then we might see a deer. Well the good Lord must have been looking after us because half way into my speech a deer stepped out into the woods road that ran parallel to the food plot. I could tell that he had a nice rack but couldn’t tell the exact size of it. Bug was quiet as a mouse and locked onto the sight of the buck. I moved slowly for my rifle and just before I got it propped up I kicked the flashlight like the genius I am. The buck did a 180 and shot back into the woods beside the food plot. 
Bug was saying “shoot him, he getting away”. I could tell that he had good mass and I already had the rifle up without kicking the flashlight. The only problem was he was not stopping. I let out two good whistles with no reaction from the buck. He was over a hundred yards away so I just hollered at the top of my lungs AAHHH…and he slammed on brakes slinging dirt in front of him. The crosshairs found their mark and I got a quick instruction from Bug. “Shoot him now”. I squeezed the trigger and the bullet found its mark and folded him up in his tracks. 