Deer camp weekend

[muldoon]

We had a great weekend, I took my daughter deer hunting for the first time.  She's seven, she knows I hunt, she knows what happens when I go but I was still a little worried about how I presented the topic to her.  She was excited as she could be to go.  She had everything packed up Thursday night, even had 3 sets of boots out on the bed so she would be ready for any weather.  We packed up and left on Friday night, just as it was starting to get dark.  We talked, we talked and talked and talked and then we talked some more.  We talked about favorite colors, favorite books, music, school, her friends, her brother, about everything imaginable.  It was awesome, I loved every minute of it.  We talked like that all weekend, and I just ate it up the whole time.  She helped me get the place setup once we arrived and became my official flashlight holder until getting the power on.  She then helps make it home for the weekend and gets to drawing me a few pictures.  I asked her to draw an elephant holding a flower, just because it was on my mind from that thread last week.  I gave her no other specifics other than those words and she came up with a nice picture. 




We practiced walking in the woods quietly.  With the back edge of the heel down first, slowly curling the foot, letting the toes dig in as they land on soil.  Watching and picking the next step to move silently; even in dry leaves.  She picked up on it very well, better than I expected.  You can only learn it by experience but she was doing pretty good by Sunday when it weas time to go home.  We looked at tracks, we spent a long time on our knees looking at tracks.  Where did he come from, what direction is he going, where did he turn, look at this ridge, look at this angle, picture the animals tendons and muscles working in unison to make this mark, I kept asking what happened here?  We did coons and deer and hogs.  Found a huge birdsnest that I think belongs to one of the families of golden eagles in the area.  We spooked an armidillo.  Lots of good stuff.  She helped cook the chicken legs and corn on the cob. 

I put together a makeshift "indoor bathroom" for the occasion.  It was mostly for her but I sure was glad once the temperatures dropped on Saturday night.  We got to 29 F, just under freezing - which was brutally cold for us.  I tried everything I knew, even hanging blankets over the drafty doors and windows to help seal them up.  We kept the place in the 60-65 range for most of the night.  It was still a little chilly but soo much better than a tent would have been. 



Saw plenty of animals, she wanted no part of hog hunting with me at night.  It was dark and scary and she just didnt want to go.  I didnt go either but there was plenty of activity.  We saw 2 does on Saturday evening;



I didnt shoot either of them.  The moment just didnt feel right to me for it.  After a while I did shoot the ground about 30 yards in front of them and they ran off.  Actually they charged at us running straight towards us and V'ing off about 15 yards away.  Shannon was understanding of me "missing" the deer and I think she was releived at the same time.  It was a very special weekend for me, and I'm really glad I got to spend it with her. 





I put up some more pictures on my website , there also are a BUNCH of game cam pictures that I picked up off the cards when I was up.  All of these game pictures were taken in the 5 day period since I was there last weekend.  There were a bunch more that I didnt post because it was getting rediculous.  Lots of animals activity. 



By the way, this was the deer I shot at last weekend when my rifle misfired.  Good to see him comeing back for more.  Next weekend buddy....

[glenn kangiser]

That sounds like a great time, muldoon.  Glad you and your daughter had some fun.  She'll remember it forever.

[Sassy]

Great storyteller, Muldoon!  What a special weekend - as Glenn said, she'll remember it forever!  I remember special times with my dad - more so when I was younger     BTW, cute daughter!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Muldoon, cute kiddo.  Looks like y'all had a great time.  She's a lucky kid to have a dad who'll do stuff like that with her. I still remember the time my dad took me turkey hunting when I was a kid; it stands out as one of my better memories with him, even though we never even saw a turkey.  He let me fire his shotgun, and we target practiced across a pond with the .22.  Good time.  I bet your daughter had a ball and will never forget it.  Neither will you!