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My son Dillon has been anxious to try bowhunting again after launching an arrow over a small forkies back last year. D has been shooting, sometimes twice a day for the last few weeks really trying to take this serious. We had a blind set up in a good area with some decent bucks coming in pretty regularly. He had hoped he'd get a chance at one we named "Big Red" who was a tall buck that might of made 90. To date this is the reddest coues deer I've ever seen or had on camera. Sunday morning, Dillon, myself and our good friend Tracy slipped into the blind in the darkness only to realize two treestand hunters had packed in climbers and were climbing up trees 50yards to our right. I confronted them and asked why the heck they would set up soooooo close to our blind. I was positive (in my mind) they were setting up over our salt pit and I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. After a brief conversation it was obvious that they were there to stay. They had assured me they knew nothing of our blind and were setting up on a buck they had seen the night before from further up the ridge. Shocked and amazed we stuck to the plan for the moment. We thought the two bucks we were hoping to see would come in from our left based on cam pics and we really had no Plan B in place. A few minutes after daybreak we heard an arrow fly and the unmistakable sound of an arrow reaching its mark. One of the hunters shot a nice wide 3x and it died 60 yards behind the blind. We got out and treated them with the utmost respect and congratulated him on a fine archery kill. Tracy offered to help them get the deer out and we asked if we could have the area to ourselves the rest of the day. They turned out to be really nice guys and I think (I think…..) they truly had no knowledge of our blind. I know its public land, but I was still in awe guys with climbers could randomly set up in the dark 50 yards away from us. The nice buck they shot was running with Big Red and we were concerned that they had not seen another buck with him. I asked them twice if there was another buck with the one they shot. Dillon was heartbroken and all the wind was completely and totally knocked out of his sails. We decided to continue to sit the blind knowing going home was not going to produce a buck. A few hours later Tracy and I discussed leaving and checking other cameras to see if we could work out a Plan B for the holiday weekend coming up, we planned on hunting 3 days and needed to figure out what we could do to salvage Dillon's archery hunt. Dillon wanted to stay in the blind while Tracy and I went and check cams, so we got out, took a pee break and had a quick discussion. Amazingly, while were standing behind the blind, T spotted a decent buck up higher in the draw. He ran off about 200 yards and settled down. I decided anything was possible at this point and decided to stay with Dillon and Tracy would go check cams. Unbelievably, not five minutes after we settled back in the blind, I see deer 100 yards away coming up the draw. It was a spike and doe heading our way. Dillon started shaking; almost violently as soon as I told him it was a buck. I really thought he would pass on such a small deer, but to my surprise he said he would try and shoot it. I knew I had to calm him down if he had any chance in the world to make this happen. I whispered over and over to breathe and treat this like target practice. For the longest time the spike stood quartering slightly to us and I told him we needed to wait for a broadside shot. The doe never came all the way in and she turned and started to walk away, she knew something was not right. The spike turned to look and her and I told Dillon to draw. As he drew his bow and settled his 20 yard pin on the buck I never stopped whispering "breathe and target practice". WHACK!!! The arrow met it's mark, a perfect mid-body double lung pass through! We watched the deer turn and run, it looked like someone turned on the faucet. I had no doubt this would be an easy recovery. When I told Dillon perfect shot and started celebrating, he became completely overwhelmed with emotion, it took him a minute to regain his composure and with a tear in his eye, he told me he's never been happier! I was so proud of him, and so happy the hunting gods gave him this opportunity. I text Tracy and met him back at the trucks. When we got back to the blind, Dillon tracked his deer and fortunately it was a fantastic blood trail. I knew he didn't go far, but I wanted D to go through the motions and learn the right way to go after an archery kill. Sorry about the long read, but I felt to leave out the "other guys" wouldn't have really told the story. D man tagging his buck Dillon with his first archery animal, 13 years old! Dillon, Tracy (left) and me Big D and I