My Son's First deer 2024

I wanted to share a bit about last fall's hunting season. On November 30th, my son finally got his first deer, which was a big moment for him—especially since I had messed up his first chance two years ago. He hunted really hard last fall, going out every chance he could. November 30th was going to be our last day, so I told him to take whatever moved. Since we only have one crossbow, I was out at the local trout pond.


Around 10:00 AM, I got a text from him saying he had gotten something with the bow and was at my stand. I quickly headed back to our hunting spot, which is about a 1 km walk through some pretty swampy terrain.


When I got there, I asked if he had an idea where the deer was when he shot. We looked around but didn’t see anything unusual. I told him to go back to the stand, lay down his bow, and come back.


As I was looking at the ground, I noticed something barely sticking out—it was the bolt from the crossbow. At first, I thought he missed since the bolt was buried up to the tip. But then I noticed it was covered in blood. I marked the spot with some flagging tape and asked my son where he thought the deer went. He said he thought it ran about 25 feet and fell over. At first, I couldn’t see any tracks, so I suggested we split up to look.


I think he took just two steps before spotting blood, followed by a large pool of it. Sure enough, about 25 feet away was the deer, dead. We field-dressed it and checked the heart—his shot had gone completely through it. It was a perfect shot.


That evening, my hunting partner came over to help clean the deer, but something seemed off. He was drinking quite a bit and seemed kind of pissed off, though I wasn’t sure why at the time.


The next week, while I was out, his girlfriend came over to our place in tears. My wife was home and talked to her. It turns out my hunting partner had been an A-hole numerous times when drinking, yelling at her and accusing her of cheating—including with me.

He was also cursing my son for taking a yearling, which he did on my instructions.

After hearing all this, I called him and ended a 20-year friendship. I don’t take kindly to anyone abusing their partner or belittling my son.


Overall, though, my hunting season was pretty good. My son got his first deer, and the smile on his face is something I’ll never forget. He now has the confidence to know he can hit his target (he's always been a good shot).


At the same time, I had to cut ties with a long-time friend, which was tough but necessary.

Congratulations to the both of you and I believe you did the right thing with a long time friend. Maybe it’ll get him off of the bottle… But again good going and nice to see you back on here…

Pete

Congrats on your son's first deer. It's an exciting time for a new hunter to notch the belt with that first big game animal. Sucks about your friend, but you did the right thing. Nobody needs drama like that.

Good story and congrats-any pictures?

As far as the friend goes-if he was really a "friend"?

Congrats on your kids first deer.
Too bad about your friend the bottle can do that to people.

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Isn't that a memory. :) I remember starting to shoot about age 10 under Dad's supervision.

To me any deer is a good deer, congrats to the both of you. You did the right thing with your buddy. In hindsight you found his replacement.

Nice story GW, Congrats to your son. Sorry your friend is a drunk, I know what it's like to deal with them. My first dear was a yearling up in Armour Township. Chased by the driver and his dogs. Shot it while it was running full out across Grahams Field. I was shaken when I walked up to it and looked down at my first kill, but when dad came out of the bush, he was some proud of his first born. The hand shake and hug made me feel great. That was back in 1967.

Great post. Congrats to your son. If you need a partner someone on here might be good.

He did see several nice bucks but they would not get right where he needed them. I always told him not to take a shot if he has doubt.

We also figured out that during the gun season to many others are out in the bush as soon as shotgun season was over we waited 5 days and the deer were back on the camera during the day.

To be honest I was kinda happy he didn't get a big one out where by my blind as I would not be able to easily get the ATV in which means I would have to pull it out with him. :).

I think hunting and fishing with me is something he really envoy's.

Our canoe trip this past summer is another storey.

Hey GW, a big high-five to your son on bagging his first deer. I wish him all of the best of luck and success in the future. In a way it’s good that it was a yearling as besting it should be a reasonable expectation. Believe me it can be tough on the youngster when their first big game animal is a big one. Many guys get disappointed when subsequent animals are smaller/younger… which is disrespectful to the animal.

I was also saddened to hear about the behaviour of your friend. Unfortunately he is on a self-destructive path and unless he changes his ways, he’ll lose a lot more than your friendship.

I think that situation with your former friend may be common.
My dad had to turn his back on an old friend when he started speaking poorly of my brother. My dad had decided to take my brother hunting ( brother was 13) and the friend was ticked. I think it is common jealousy which is common often after being the sole partner for many years.

Congrats to son and you, to bad about your friend, if he truly was a friend he should have talked to you first before acting like he did.

Thanks all. My son was very happy.

I have thought about the termination of my friendship, but I'm a person who kinda follows a scorch earth policy. If your going to harm my family or speak badly about them I terminate everything. It wasn't just my son it was the he had also been treating his girl friend and treating her poorly when he was drinking saying things that are really really bad. He also accused her of being with me. Not man enough to say it to my face.

I gave him several opportunities to apologize to my son, wife and his girl friend who he decided not to. Life goes on and this isn't my first rodeo.

Congrats to both your Son and you. I will never forget my Sons first bear, deer and then bull moose 2 years ago. Great memories I will cherish and take to the grave with me.

Sucks about your friend.