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Bittersweet year

My son started hunting at 7 and now he's a senior.The last 10 years have been focused on him and somewhere along the line,my desire to kill stuff has diminished.Watching everything unfold in front of him is something that's hard to explain.We hunt good as a team and these have been the best years of my life.It's bittersweet because we just had one of the best years possible and being he's a senior in HS,I'm not sure what the future will hold or where he'll be.We both killed a couple doe this past archery season and a bunch of pheasants but this was the highlight of the past month.Hard to imagine we'll ever do it again.

I see what you mean Doug. I have 2 girls. One hunted until school sports started in junior/high school and the other only learned how to shoot (both bows and guns). Know I am lucky I have been able to teach my 3 grandkids in Georgia to just shoot recurve bows. Don't think I will ever get to take the grandsons hunting even though one lives in PA.

I have a 25 year old daughter who hunted once.She just doesn't have it in her to kill anything but she grew up around it,so she respects it and that's fine.Your daughters will also respect it and they'll teach their kids to respect.That's half the battle.I'm not a very emotional guy but I'm really struggling with this.I was getting ready to leave work on friday and he called me to see if I could come up and help him look for a doe he just hit.He thought he heard the deer crash but didn't see the arrow hit.I was beat,didn't feel like going out there but did anyway.We ended up finding the deer 30 yards away but it felt good that he played it right.I'm gonna miss those calls.

I truly understand how you feel. In the end you have good memories and get to look forward to more time in the field with your son. I started mine shooting a bow when he was seven also. Took him any 3-D traditional shoot we could find and even took him along hunting a bit when he was nine. Has some great memories - building bows, knapping heads, his first deer, first turkey, all the times in the woods or archery courses and all the good people that took an interest in helping him learn and grow. People like Muldoon, Ed Wentzler and others. Then he went to college and eventually moved to Colorado where he became a climbing/rescue ranger in Rocky Mountain National Part. Last year he left there and is now living on a sailboat, currently in the Dominican Republic. I'm patiently waiting for him to move stateside so we can get out hunting a few more times but who knows when that will be. My daughter shot a bow but never hunted. I'm really hopeful I get to take my grandsons out in the woods but who knows.

Well,the good thing is,a few years ago,I was the dedicated extractor.Now I get to carry his bow or gun.

Yep- time marches on and kids grow up! I took my son on a memorable Spring Gobbler Hunt when he was 12. He never really took to hunting and I figured he had forgotten about it til the other day when he mentioned it..................12 years later! Guess it meant more to him than I realized.

Cherish those memories Doug!

Great season, cherish those memories. I remember first year my dad did not hunt cause of age and camp and hunting did not feel right without him... time flies. I remember when I was 13 and he took me hunting spent alot of times in the woods togeather , unfortunately he's no longer with us... loved hunting the 80s up at camp forest county. I will be there Saturday carrying my 54 cal flintlock for a doe since I tagged my buck in archery , and I will be hunting my dad's spot ...

You'll always remember those memories.

I'm in Rut Nut's "void" here with my son. He did go pheasant hunting with me once this year, hoping for more as time goes on. Back to hunting for myself.

"Train a child up well..." This Proverb has a lot going for it in this realm. Took my daughter hunting when she was 12. She couldn't wait to go and be part of the hunting folks in our family. I carried two treestands and a bow, put her in a tree a few times, and she couldn't sit still. We really didn't have a good time. Wasn't sure if she would ever hunt again. When she was around 22, she wanted to go hunting again. We went, we had a blast! She is now a hunting maniac! I really think it's all about timing, and setting the stage that will allow for those youth to come back to hunting later, when they need it! It's not so much now that I have memories of hunting with her, as much as it is that she has them of hunting with me. Guess that's because I'm on the shorter end of the stick, or of needing them. LOL

I'm not worried about him not wanting to hunt.I'm simply saddened by how fast time went and how much time we'll get to hunt together.The kids didn't have school monday but I decided to go to work.I decided to leave around 2:30 to catch the last couple of hours but got a flat tire as soon as I pulled into the driveway.His truck wasn't there so I texted him to see if he was hunted.He decided to hit a new spot where he found a bunch of sign and acorns over the weekend.AT 4:30 he called me to say he just shot a big doe and wanted some help.I told him I was stranded at home so he gutted the deer and got it close to a logging road before coming home to get me.He was fully capable of loading the deer but I guess he wanted me to be involved in some way.It felt pretty good to know that.

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