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Cameron's First Deer
By:
Pat Harmeyer My 9-year-old son Cameron was already an old pro at hunting when we made our annual hunting trip to Pushmataha Plantation in Butler, Alabama. He started hunting with me at age 6, started carrying and shooting a .410 shotgun at seven, and has seen many nice deer taken by hunters in our hunting club and 2 previous trips to Alabama. For his 9th birthday, he requested a deer rifle that would let him "reach out and touch" something at a little longer distance than his 410. We bought him a single shot .223 with a 4x scope. I zeroed him in at 75 yards but told him that we might go a little longer if it was a clean shot.
On his first hunt this year at our club's lease, he made his first kill: a fat cottontail at 25 yards. We celebrated that rabbit just like it was a trophy buck. He was now ready to shoot his deer. When I say he was ready, I'm telling you he would not let me go hunting without him. He was determined to shoot his first deer this year. We made several early season hunts without seeing any deer. But he knew that the Pushmataha trip during Thanksgiving week would be better.
Cameron enjoys being in the woods and seeing all the different critters. But like any 9-year-old, he needs some help sitting quiet and still. We bring a portable DVD player with headphones with us in the stand and he can stay entertained while waiting for some action. The stands at Pushmataha are 2-man shooting houses, which work out pretty well for us. Cameron knows to wait until the sun is high enough that the glow from the DVD player doesn't light up the stand. This way he can hunt as long as he wants and then watch a movie to pass the time.
We were traveling with my hunting buddy, Danny
and his son Daniel. We were meeting a
At about 4:45,
a yearling doe came out of the woods and started
feeding in the plot. It was past the
landmarks that we agreed upon but Cameron wanted to shoot anyway. I told him to
wait; the deer might come closer to us.
A few minutes later the yearling was joined
by a mature doe. Cameron was now getting
real antsy. Still I told him to wait. Get your gun ready
and just scope them out. They are not
going anywhere soon, so let’s wait a
I was proud of Cameron's shot and the patience and discipline he showed by waiting for a good clean shot. Additionally, I let him know that even though I had killed six deer in my life, I had never killed one that far out. As we dragged her back to the stand we laughed and cut up about how heavy that doe was. As it turned out, when we got it back to the lodge, it weighed 125 lbs., which was bigger than any doe I had ever taken.
We bloodied his face and took a bunch of pictures; this was an occasion none of us would ever forget. We called mom to tell her about his accomplishment. She told him how proud she was of him and to be sure he took a good shower to get all the blood off before he went to bed. Part of our celebration included my awarding of a Buckmaster pocketknife to Cameron as a symbol of him now being a real deer hunter.
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