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It’s no
easy task with all of today’s distractions and I think it takes a
special modified effort with a little girl. Right now it’s working and
I pray I don’t mess it up for her. Ultimately I hope that this will
help form a bond between us that will transcend all aspects of our
lives. I believe that hunting and the love of the outdoors is that
powerful. It’s a trump card I have and I intend on playing it.
I often
think that little boys just have a gene that makes them want to
participate in every aspect of the hunt and the outdoors….it’s like
a badge of honor…or more accurately a rite of passage that they begin
claiming one hunt at a time. Girls are a little different.
Jessi
Cole, my daughter, has grown up around camo clothes, muddy boots, daddy
being gone and a bunch of dead critters in the back of my truck.
Somewhere about age four or five I started asking her to go with me on
days when I knew the weather wasn’t going to be brutal. I would always
carry a blanket, coloring books, games, snacks, hot chocolate; and we
have sat in a shooting house eating and enjoying our adventure.
Sometimes we saw deer, sometimes we left early….on those days I let
her set the itinerary. When it quit being fun, we left. Sometimes that
was exasperating.
As she
has gotten older we still maintain the same deal….it has to be fun.
The snacks and drinks were a constant, but books began to replace the
games. This was perfect. I love to read and I taught her my technique of
reading a page and look up and scan the woods. I think shooting houses
are perfect for this. We actually built two together and I allowed her
to paint them anyway she wanted and they sort of became hers. She played
in them during the summer until I’d take them and set them up.
Each
shooting house we hunted had a chair for me and a barstool for her. She
never has to stretch to see out and she has her stuff. She has her own
bag filled with her gloves, headnet, mini-light and other accessories.
She loves having her own gear.
Countless
hunts she sat in my lap and we talked about everything from why third
grade teachers are so mean to why I enjoy hunting so much. It’s a
great venue to converse. No pressures. The whole hunt turned into an
experience. We have a ritual – she can buy anything she wants to eat
or drink on the way to the property. It’s usually Dr. Peppers and
Doritos, and that starts the fun experience. Then it’s the
four-wheeler ride and she gets to steer. If the walk was far and muddy I
carried her….I never wanted her to dread anything. Once we were in the
shooting house we would spread a blanket on the floor and unload our
cache of drinks, eats and books. And the hunt was on.
In those
early days I measured success by sightings and close encounters. I
wanted her to love the outdoors, love the sunsets, the migrating
blackbirds, the whistling wood ducks and especially the whitetail deer
sneaking into the field at dark. We would try and age the deer we saw…
putting it on her level…..and she seemed to understand it better.
Huddled over the tiny space heater we stayed warm and together we
harvested numerous does and a one beautiful wide eight point – that is
a story in and of itself. We had fun….and more importantly, she had
fun.
So the
summer prior to her seventh birthday I bought her a Ruger .17 bolt
action with a Nikon scope. I had already taught her to shoot a BB gun
with iron sights. I wanted her to learn to shoot a bolt gun and the
Ruger made lots of sense. We could affordably and accurately shoot the
.17 all summer and she could transition into a bigger Ruger .243 down
the road.
Now
remember the .17 was not to deer hunt with…but it would teach her the
mechanics of a bolt gun, help her understand eye relief on the scope and
develop a rhythm for breathing and squeezing the trigger. This was
perfect; and let me tell you, little girls love to shoot just as much as
little boys – especially things that blow up, like a Dr. Pepper can
that we shook up. She learned to shoot, be careful and shoot well. She
would really concentrate and make every shot count.
At the
young age of seven it’s important that you load and unload the rifle
and only allow them to handle the gun with your direct supervision. We
shot only off a bench with sand bags. She had a ball. This closely
resembled the ledge of the shooting house and helped support the weight
of the rifle.
That fall
she successfully harvested two does with two perfectly placed shots. She
was really proud of her shot placement. You never know what they pick up
on but she quickly understood the value of shot placement.
I have a
heavy barreled Sako .243 that proved to be a little too much gun for her
to handle but we somehow managed. The stock was simply too long and the
eye relief on the scope I had was difficult at best. But once she put
the cross hairs on something….she knew what to do.
At this
stage, I purposely insulated her from the blood and guts of skinning the
deer. She examined entrance wounds and asked a lot of questions but
after we got home I’d sneak off and clean the deer. She was still a
little girl, and I was trying to make this fun. Maybe I was wrong to do
this. Maybe if you’re old enough to shoot a deer you should be old
enough to help clean it. I can’t solve that issue and I don’t want
to debate it. But her first year of truly hunting that’s what I did
and it worked. I’ll explain more on this later.
The next
summer I bought her a Ruger Mark II .243. I don’t think it claims to
be a kid’s rifle but it is short and extremely light. It fits small
people. It’s important to note that I knew I was eventually going to
get this gun for her. The action on the .17 Ruger and safety are just
like the Mark II that she recognized. She immediately had confidence in
the gun. I also installed a mercury tube in the butt of the stock to
absorb recoil. It adds a bit of weight but certainly lightens the felt
recoil. The light .243 still has some recoil…especially when you only
weigh 50 pounds soaking wet. I also added a recoil arrester on the end
of the barrel. I am not sure I would do this again. It creates a lot of
flash and it is extremely noisy. The flash of fire seems to bother her a
bit. Lastly I installed a custom trigger because of my reservations
about the heavy weight of factory triggers. It’s a tricked out little
kids rifle. It’s accurate, has good optics, very little recoil and is
fun to shoot.
I would
highly recommend this setup for a starter rifle.
The fall
of ’03, she was 8 years old and this is where I could tell she was
really enjoying all this time we spent together and the hunting. My
BioLogic responsibilities carry me to our research facility at Portland
Landing in Alabama on a regular basis and she started going with me as
we prepared our fall food plots.
She fell
in love with the place. The spirit of the camp, the bunk beds, and the
critters all worked some magic on her. She felt so important being there….walking
through the research fields, riding four-wheelers and being the only
female around a bunch of guys, she was treated like a princess. You
could see her growing in confidence …and a big part of it was the way
all the guys interacted with her. I am very fortunate our group of guys
at Mossy Oak and Biologic love to be around kids. I have watched our
group positively affect lots of young people and I can’t stress the
importance of this enough.
She is
now daddy’s little hunting buddy and she would pack her camo bag and
load up with me every time if I could take her. Opening weekend in
Alabama found us at Portland. I had customers there but everyone
welcomed her tagging along. Until this point all of our hunts had been
afternoon adventures and I don’t think she had ever risen before
daylight in her life. Before bed I asked if she wanted to get up early,
I gave her the option of sleeping in and waiting for the p.m. hunt,
again trying to make it as fun as possible.
Darrell
Daigre and Richard Manry will testify to these next events. Early the
next morning, I got up, got dressed and quietly left her sleeping. We
were sitting in the lodge drinking coffee when she walked out dressed
and ready to go. There was no sleeping in for her at this point….she
wanted to go. I didn’t let her have any coffee for fear of stunting
her growth.
I have
mentioned modifying your efforts for little hunters earlier and this
morning was a prime example. I have made some mistakes. Because I enjoy
sitting on the big huge fields of BioLogic and watching big numbers of
deer feed I had taken her the afternoon before to a big 15 acre field.
That was
a problem. As it got late the field filled up with does and none
approached more than 150 yards. This was a stretch for her. In fact she
got a little too excited and realized herself that she was shaking too
bad to make a shot. I hugged her and told her to breathe and relax and
we went through our first case of buck fever together. She was
embarrassed that she got so shook up and I just stopped everything and
said it’s ok….I would be worried about you if you didn’t.
It’s
part of it. I told stories of my buck fever and that afternoon showed me
that you really need to concentrate on smaller plots for the kids. I
think the distance played a role in her buck fever. I won’t do that
again until she has more confidence.
That next
morning we sat in a field called the Pink House plot. She loved the
name. It’s a small plot, less than acre, tucked neatly in the woods
with the longest shot being 65 yards. The area has a lot of deer
traveling through it and I hoped for one to slow down and feed a bit as
they headed back to their bedding area.
It didn’t
take long and two small bucks appeared. One fat 3 point just absolutely
sacrificed himself and poised broadside long enough for her to gain
composure, take a deep breath and perfectly place a 100 grain bullet in
his shoulder. No help from Dad. This will go down as one of my best
memories ever with her, she was so excited and jabbered nonstop. Every
detail was burned into her mind.
Everything
for once worked just like I said it would. We had a small battle with
buck fever but we overcame it in grand fashion. It wasn’t a mature
buck and by some peoples standards you wouldn’t want it shot. But my
opinion with kids is let them shoot…let them have fun and grow them
into the sport. It’s hard for an 8-year-old to be a trophy hunter and
I don’t think they should be expected to be. I don’t advocate
letting them shoot up your club…but let them put some on the ground
and be successful. She couldn’t wait to go back to school and rub it
some boys faces that she had taken a buck. I can remember those days.
Heck, I still do it.
That
weekend at Portland saw us put about 25 deer in the skinning shed and I
used Portland and all the research we are doing on food plots and deer
to introduce her to the gut pile. I watched her closely as we weighed
deer, pulled jawbones and pretty much turned the skinning shed into a
horror movie. You know what I mean. BUT, as we began I explained how we
weigh each one, we age each deer and we collect data. I explained that
it was a giant science project and this really made sense to her and she
wanted to be a part of it. She had seen all the forage research and now
the harvest data really completed the picture. I am not going to say she
enjoyed the gut piles, she still thinks it’s gross. But she understood
why and she wanted to be there until the last one was finished.
That
afternoon she harvested a toothless old gray doe that was at least 8.5
years old. She was long in the face, swayback and visually older than
the rest of the deer we saw. Jessi knew why I asked her to shoot that
deer…she was great data. She was helping with the research project.
Another
successful hunt
The rest
of the season found us chasing an ancient crippled buck that we saw
several times but never could get a clean shot. She made up her mind she
wanted him and I dedicated myself to helping her hunt him. We never got
him but we sure had some great afternoons and maybe he’ll be there
next year. She’s already asking me to set up some trail cameras to
determine if he survived.
I almost
forgot. Since it was just she and I when she harvested her first deer
that was a mature doe…I explained the bloody face ritual to her. I
explained she was safe since it only occurred when you shot your first
buck. My plan was for this to happen at Portland when there would be the
"whole " crowd around to make it more fun. She constantly
asked questions about how much and why and I answered her questions and
let it die down. Fast forward one whole year and there we are in the
skinning shed and KC Nelson and I are scheming to get her. I called her
over to the open cavity to see the bullet damage and she stuck her face
right in. KC blocked her escape path and I got her good. Everyone
enjoyed it. She grinned from ear to ear after the shock wore off. Later
on the ride home she commented to me that she enjoyed that as much as
anything…and she was glad we did it….she was thrilled to experience
it. She meant it. First bucks are a serious event.
In 2004,
I had a surprise for her and we flew to Texas to hunt with Jerry
Johnston on his managed property just outside of San Antonio. She had
never experienced Texas and all that it has to offer and Mr. Johnston’s
ranch didn’t disappoint us. About an hour into the hunt, a beautiful
mature eight point shows up after we watched a dozen does parade by. A
perfectly placed shot allowed him to ride in the truck and fly home back
to Mississippi. To say she was excited would be an understatement. To
say that everyone involved enjoyed watching her fresh reactions to what
we see all the time would be another understatement. Texas is a perfect
place for kids to get bitten by the hunting bug. But, again I emphasize,
don’t hold them to your standards. They will get there one day. Ranch
owners and managers like Mr. Johnston, that see the value in kids, are
special. They understand it.
I don’t
have all the answers, I have done some things right and I have gotten
her interested in being a hunter. Maybe it’s the camp setting as much
as anything, but that’s part of it. I do know that taking her and
other kids may be the most enjoyable part of hunting that I have
experienced.
I don’t
claim to have all the answers. Many of you have been through this and
know the program. I hope this can help someone who is about to undertake
this enjoyable journey. |
