My 10 year old has been wanting to go deer hunting for the last few years but, as you all know, he needs to be 12 o hunt in Alberta. I researched taking him to BC but decided it was cheaper to take him hunting in texas (where there are no age limits...gotta love Texas). Anyway, we finally made it out over the Thanksgiving weekend. We hunted a ranch west of Austin that has wild deer and NO high fences. The deer could come and go as they please. We hunted in ground blinds rather than treestands just because of his age, unfortunately this added a degree of difficulty as the deer were definitely spookier when you are on ground level with them. Also his maximum range was going to be 20 yards with his bow. And for all of you that have never watched a wild texas deer hunting show, then you cant grasp the skittishness of these deer. Man, they were high strung and ran at the slightest sound.
Frankly after the first morning of having deer come in I concluded that a deer with his bow probably wouldn't be in the cards on the trip. Well..I was wrong, we finally had a doe cooperate and came in alone early in the afternoon. She was at 19 yards and feeding. He did a great job at quietly getting into position and got the bow to full draw. We decided to aim low as the deer like to drop when the bow goes off. Anyway, his arrow hit her perectly through the heart and even broke the exit front leg on its way through (the arrow ended up staying in the leg). I would not be surprised if a few you didn't hear him the way he was hollering when that deer went down.
Overall the trip was a blast and some phenomenal memories for the 2 of us. Also hunting in blinds in Texas when its 95 degrees out can be a little warm for a couple Canadians. Next year, I think we will go a little later in the season.
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