My 10 year old son's first deer and my split eye guard buck

[AZ RANGER]

Since the day my oldest son Hunter was born I have been patiently waiting for him to turn 10 so we could go on his first deer hunt. I put him in for the Jr. hunts but he was not drawn so we ended up getting him a left-over tag for a unit 34b. As his hunt drew near we were not nearly as prepared for it as I hoped. I only made one scouting trip the week before and I did not get to do any glassing.

 

Opening day I had to work so we did not arrive in the unit until about 4:30am on Saturday morning. We quickly hiked up to the top of the hill I planned to glass from and got started.

 

 

I had never been to this perch before but it looked like good country. About an hour after the sun rose we hadn't seen anything so we decided to hike in deeper. Now we were 2 miles from the truck which was parked on the closest road to access this area. It looked like good deer country and we could see into some good bedding areas so we decided to stay the rest of the day here.

 

 

The day passed and we never saw a single deer. I was pretty discouraged but decided we would try the area again the next day before moving on to plan B. The next day we woke up early and hiked straight into the same country but this time we went in about 1/2 mile deeper to access another canyon. We got set up and I was sure we would be seeing deer. Again nothing! 11:00am came and we still hadn't seen our first deer.

 

 

We decided to get out of there and go into a completely different area. I really felt like I let my boy down but his spirits were still high and he wanted to keep at it.

 

 

 

As we drove into our "plan B" area we saw two separate groups of does so already things were looking better and our confidence went way up.

 

 

We didn't have much time to glass before dark but we were able to figure out where we wanted to be the next morning. The following morning we got set up and right away I spotted a group of 8 mule deer. Not what we were looking for but it felt good to finally see some deer through the glass. About an hour later Hunter points across the canyon and says "I see a cow," then he puts his binos on it and says "no it's an antelope...wait it’s a deer." I put my 15s on the spot he was looking and see wt doe feeding up the hill across the saddle from us which was only a little over 100 yards away. Then we see another deer with it and Hunters says "it’s a buck." Actually it was a fawn, I think he was just a little excited and was hoping for a buck.

 

 

We stayed out the rest of the day and only found one more deer right at dark. It looked like it might have been a small buck but I couldn't tell for sure because of the glare from the sun. We decide the next morning we would be in the area of this deer to try and get a better look at him. The next morning as soon as it got light enough to glass I started searching for the deer from the previous night. I was coming up empty so I decided glass back into the direction of the sun before it broke over the horizon. As soon as I did I saw a buck working his way through a cat-claw thicket about 800 yards away. The sun was only minutes away from rising and I knew I was going to have a hard time seeing him through the glare once it did. Finally after four days of hunting I get to tell Hunter we got a buck. He immediately got super excited. I tell him if we can keep an eye on him he might be able to get a shot. By now the sun started to rise and the buck changed directions and made a bee line for the small canyon that we saw doe and fawn in the previous morning. I watched him go into a juniper tree and never saw him come out so I hoped he bedded down. I pick a spot on the opposite side of the little cut he is in and tell Hunter we need to get there and see if we can find him. It takes us about 30 minutes to get there and start looking. We get set up but can’t see him. We move a little higher up the hill and as I peek into the brush I see him and he is only 138 yards. We had a pretty strong wind in our face and the buck appeared to be asleep. I find a place for Hunter to get prone and take a shot but the options are limited. After a little brush clearing and rock moving I get him in position.

 

 

Unfortunately the glare from the sun made it nearly impossible to find him in the scope. We decided to wait until the sun gets higher and hopefully let Hunter’s nerves calm a little. About an hour later Hunter feels confident with the shot so I tell him to squeeze it off whenever he was ready. A few seconds later the gun goes off and I watch through the binos as his shot misses the mark (by quite a bit I might add). Luckily the buck never moved so I tell him to relax and try again just like we practiced. This time I hear the thud of the impact and see the buck jump up and disappear. Hunter looks up and says “I got him that time”.

 

 

I was pretty confident it was a good hit too but told Hunter we are going to wait a little bit before heading in. We only held out for about 30 minutes. Luckily he made a great shot and we found the deer piled under the tree. It was so fun to watch him get excited as he walked up to his first deer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To say I am proud father would be an understatement, but even more than that I just really enjoyed spending the time in the outdoors with my son. It was one of the hardest hunts I’ve been on in terms of finding deer. I’ve never glassed so hard and seen so few deer, but it made the result that much more rewarding. We both had so much fun and made some lasting memories.

 

 

 

And here is a pic of the buck I took while backpacking in on the early hunt in a different unit. I had a tough hunt too, but definitely saw a lot more deer and bucks than on my son’s hunt. A big thanks to my buddy Aaron and Ben for helping me on my hunt

 

 

 

[CouesRanger]

Congrats awesome bucks

[Shawn]

Great story! Congrats

[anthonyrmatthews]

Awesome!!!

[AZwest16]

Big congrats to your son! Memories he will never forget. I know its nice to go out and kill a buck right away but IMO it's way better to get a full hunt in with a little adversity!

[Pine Donkey]

Great story! I love to see kids get their first buck, congratulations to all.

[POB]

You buck looks like he's laughing at you. Good job though.

[trophyhnter]

GREAT write-up! Even better story! Congrats to the both of you on your trophies and great memories!

[parrita58]

Congratulations on some great bucks. Way too stick with it.

[Lucky Draw]

Great job. Congrats.

[AZ RANGER]

/>You buck looks like he's laughing at you. Good job though.

Haha. Yeah he broke his jaw after he tumbled down the steep mountain.

[loco4coues]

Congrats to you and your boy! Nothing better than that, thanks for sharing it with us.

[John O]

Best hunt story of the year so far!! Great job, and what an awesome memory for you and your son. Hopefully you are doing something special with those antlers for Hunter. Awesome!!

[m77]

Best hunting trips of a fathers life are those with his son (period).................May your futures be filled with millions more moments like that.

[randyolson]

That's fantastic! What a great time! Congratulations to the hunters! Excellent story line..... Dad must be proud!! Isn't it great to share that time and be together in the great out doors!!! Can't replace those memories!! Nice bucks!!