I explained to him that if a deer was going to sneak in, we would never hear it until it was under our stand and that was the main reason we had to remain perfectly still. Having only been hunting for two weeks at this point and always from a ground blind he was not grasping how exposed we were. It was his first experience in a double wide tree-stand and he kind of looked like a bobble-head figurine on everything that moved or made a sound in the woods.
It was about that time, I saw a tail flicker about 55 yards down the ravine by a large Oak tree. I raised my binoculars to see a large body of a deer eating acorns. The neck and head were hidden by the tree, but it was a good sized whitetail. I whispered to Garrett, "I see a deer." He answered in a rather loud voice, "WHERE?" I gave him the stern "SHHHH" sign as I pointed at it while helping him raise the gun. As he was leaning over my legs with the gun up on the shooting rail, I whispered in his ear reminding him to "aim carefully and slowly squeeze the trigger — like at the range." "Let the gun go off on its own while you keep the cross hairs on the middle of the chest." After about 60 seconds, I started to think twice and whispered "shoot!" After what seemed like another 10 minutes, but was probably only 30 seconds, I whispered "shoot or it might walk away."
Three seconds after that, the air was filled with white smoke!
After a quick peek with my binoculars and seeing the white belly laying on the ground, I heard a large “I got it!” I grabbed the muzzle loader, put the stock of the gun on the floor of the stand and started to dig in my back pack for the reload kit. About that time I hear a shout, “It’s a buck!” In disbelief, I took another look and after seeing the rack, I began digging frantically for the reload kit.
About that time I heard the worst phrase possible, “Hurry Dad, it is trying to get up.” Gator-aid, cookies, beef jerky, donuts and candy bars were flying everywhere at this point. And after nearly spilling the rest of our powder pellets, I was able to get the muzzle loader reloaded and ready for another shot.
Garrett finished the deal with a follow up shot and had his very first deer and possibly the buck of his lifetime.
It was about that time, I saw a tail flicker about 55 yards down the ravine by a large Oak tree. I raised my binoculars to see a large body of a deer eating acorns. The neck and head were hidden by the tree, but it was a good sized whitetail. I whispered to Garrett, "I see a deer." He answered in a rather loud voice, "WHERE?" I gave him the stern "SHHHH" sign as I pointed at it while helping him raise the gun. As he was leaning over my legs with the gun up on the shooting rail, I whispered in his ear reminding him to "aim carefully and slowly squeeze the trigger — like at the range." "Let the gun go off on its own while you keep the cross hairs on the middle of the chest." After about 60 seconds, I started to think twice and whispered "shoot!" After what seemed like another 10 minutes, but was probably only 30 seconds, I whispered "shoot or it might walk away."
Three seconds after that, the air was filled with white smoke!
After a quick peek with my binoculars and seeing the white belly laying on the ground, I heard a large “I got it!” I grabbed the muzzle loader, put the stock of the gun on the floor of the stand and started to dig in my back pack for the reload kit. About that time I hear a shout, “It’s a buck!” In disbelief, I took another look and after seeing the rack, I began digging frantically for the reload kit.
About that time I heard the worst phrase possible, “Hurry Dad, it is trying to get up.” Gator-aid, cookies, beef jerky, donuts and candy bars were flying everywhere at this point. And after nearly spilling the rest of our powder pellets, I was able to get the muzzle loader reloaded and ready for another shot.
Garrett finished the deal with a follow up shot and had his very first deer and possibly the buck of his lifetime.
