Hunting and Fishing in NJ - A forum for NJ Hunters and NJ Anglers

Just getting around to posting this here, but I have to say that Deidre's Youth Day Bird was the most exciting hunt I have ever been on. It was such a thrill to see her go through the emotions of her first miss, a clean miss, at 6:05 in the morning, to being completely full of "buck fever" and not being able to shoot at her next opportunity, to finally getting the job done in the eleventh hour. We had the pleasure of having Gobblergetter (Mike Kitchen) film her whole day. Unfortunately, Matt was not successful, but spent much of his morning watching a bear toy with the decoys that were out in the spot he was at. And my Opening Day morning, although successful, was not nearly as eventful or as exciting as Deidre's day was. I am so proud of my little girl !!!

Robin,

Great story! I can't wait till my daughters are old enough to shoot the firearms. I am so looking forward to taking a picture exactly like the one you posted. Congrats to both of you!!!

btw...I know your name from the "other" site in case you're wondering...

Congrats again Robin on a day to never forget

carlinash, it's odd as I watched the footage to see that the mom in me came out more than the hunter did immediately after her shot. The bird was fatally shot, but hadn't expired when we both went running up to it and I told Deidre to stay put while I went up and subdued the bird. I didn't let Deidre approach the bird until there was no chance of her getting spurred, or otherwise hurt, and after watching the footage, I feel like she probably missed out on something by not being right there the whole time. It was a totally amazing day, one that neither of us will ever forget, but next time, we're definately running all the way to the bird together. Having a daughter can sometimes make you just a little too protective and that was part of my lesson for the day.

Robin,

Ha! try being a DAD with 3 girls!!!! LOL The first time I ever killed a deer with my middle daughter, we were set up in a ground blind hunting deer on the edge of a bean field. We got busted when a doe saw her move in the blind. About 20 minutes later we had 15 deer in front of us. I had my pin on a big doe and Ashley says, "daddy are you going to shoot the buck?" WHAT!?!?!?! WHERE!?!?!? Sure enough a spike was walking by. Long story short, I spined it. UGH!!!! In front of my 7 year old. I told her to stay put and what I was about to do. She insisted she come with me. At that point I figured I was going to have a hunter for life or a little girl turned off to hunting. I let her come with me and let her watch. I turned to her and said, "Ashley, I'm very sorry I had to do that, I didn't want you to have to see that". As cool as a cucumber she says, "daddy, what are you talking about? The buck isn't suffering any more". She then proceeded to hold the flashlight for me when I field dressed it. She hasn't stopped asking to go hunting yet.

My next goal is to get my oldest daughter out. She is eleven and she has special needs (Down's). She's very high functioning but hasn't been quite ready to go. I think this Fall is the season Lindsey gets to get her first deer!

congrats to both of you ladies ,awesome

carlinash, sometimes, we as adults, AND as parents, fail to give our children enough credit for what they can do, what they can handle and the true level at which they can participate and it's only when we are faced with the situation you faced with your middle daughter, or me watching the video footage when we can step back for a moment and realize that they are more ready than we give them credit for. WE have done better than we've given ourselves credit for, so go ahead and get your eleven year old out there and I'll bet you that she suprises you and surpasses your expectations. Please, let me know how things work out when you do get her out there.

I do feel badly for my son Matt, my middle child. He's been going with me for years, content to watch, help field dress and drag. It wasn't until his little sister insisted on getting her license that he also got his. He has a slight learning, ie reading disability and I think he was afraid to fail the written part of the test. Anyway, I have been equally fair with getting them both out into the woods, but knowing and seeing him as a better and more confident shotter, I have let him go with other adult hunters, as he has a TEENAGE issue with MOM, but he hasn't been successful yet, and I wish more than anything that he too had been as successful as Deidre and I, and I would have glady traded places with him and preferred to see a picture of him and his sister than me and his sister. I have even had a gut knife with his initials ingraved on it with me each time we have hunted together, just waiting to give it to him on his first successful harvest as I am confident that he could do it, deer or bird, without my help . . . well, maybe still a little coaching, but it's something special I have had planned just for him and it just hasn't worked out yet.

drenal . . . thank you