Adam’s First Whitetail

Well it has taken 11 years and 10 months to finally have one of my dreams come true. Ever since my son Adam was born (Nov. 13, 1997) I had always thought of the day when we would share a deer hunt together…well that came true this past weekend during the WI Herd Control hunt in Clark County. Now that WI has implemented the Mentor Program (allowing 10 -12 year olds to hunt with a mentor) we had our first opportunity this past weekend to get out. I usually do not get too excited about hunting these herd control hunts (T-Zone) because they fall right at the beginning of the rut, but since it would be his first time hunting I thought it would be a great chance to see deer.

Once his football game ended Saturday afternoon, we headed home for a couple of scent free showers and then it was off to deer camp. We met up with Dan and Danielle and got the low down on what was happening from the night before and the morning. As luck would have it they both had encounters with a couple of different shooter bucks but obviously couldn’t take them. My game plan was to check my camera next to the blind in a bean field to see what type of activity we had for the week. Upon reviewing the card, we had a couple of pictures of some does and young bucks…and about 250 pictures of a weed I forgot to clear away from the camera!

At about 3:30 we decided to head out to the Covert Blind for his first deer hunt. It was a great evening with temps around 40 and calm winds. We settled in around 4:00 and the waiting game began. To pass the time we talked about my first hunt with my dad at my side when I was his age. We enjoyed talking about grandpa and the many stories I had with him in the deer woods. My dad passed away 3 years ago but before he did, he gave Adam his 30-30 Savage rifle to use for deer hunting….this would be the gun he would be using on this hunt.

Well it is now about 6:00 and prime time…the time when the woods is perfectly still and you could here a pin drop from 100 yards away. I look across the field and spot a nice deer standing on the edge of the woods…260 yards away. I put the binoculars on it to see a nice 6 point. I wake up Adam (apparently the football game was pretty exhausting) so he could watch him. I begin to scan the field edges when I spot a doe to our right…she is only about 50 yards away. I can tell she is not too big and I ask him if he would like to take a crack at her. Of course the answer is yes and I’m not going to be the one to say no for his first deer. We get into position for the shot when he says he can’t see her. I look out the window and she had gone around the corner of the field and just out of sight. Hoping to bring her back around, I grab the can call and give it a tilt…and she was back around the corner again and looking in our direction. We are back in business!! He gets the gun up again and I get the shooting stick ready. He says he has the deer in his scope…I have him relax and get steady on her…then tell him to take the safety off when he is ready. I hear the “click” of the safety so I ask him if she is still broadside and he said yes…I take a quick peak out the window and sure enough she is, so then I turn my head away from the barrel and tell him to squeeze slowly when he is ready! As I wait for the blast I have a quick thought…is the barrel of the gun going to clear the window of the blind? So as I go to look…BANG…I see nothing but flames and smoke. As I’m getting the ringing out of my head I hear Adam yell, “She’s down…she dropped right there.” I take a peak out the window and I see nothing in the field, so I ask him if he was sure she dropped and he said yes. “After the smoke cleared I saw her head drop.” So I look again but don’t see anything. So after some high fives and hugs we head out to check where the deer was. Well sure enough there she laid…well, there he lay. Turned out to be a button buck and Adams first deer was on the ground. He made a perfect shot and stoned him right there. He was so excited and I was as proud as a dad could be. 11 years of waiting took only 2 hours of hunting to get his first deer. It was quite the rush for both of us and I’m definitely looking forward to doing it again with my daughter Tori when she is of age! Congrats Adam and thank you for a great memory if the field.