This one has a good twist to it. Zac got his second bow kill last Thursday. I guess you can tell, this was not a shot to brag about. We had to work for this one. This time I was in the stand with Zac. A friend of mine let me take Zac to a private plot that has too many doe's eating it down. We rushed to the spot after school Thursday & got settled & ready by 4:00. At about 4:30 a doe with two fawns came out & we just sit & watched them feed. A few minutes later nine doe's walked out in a single file line & came straight to the feeder. Imagine, we had 12 deer at fifteen yards with the two of us in a ladder stand. I picked out the one for Zac to shoot & he started to draw. All of a sudden one of the doe's blew & all but two ofthe deer erupted into a frenzy of leaving the county. Imagine how alert the other two were that are still standing at the feeder. Zac made his draw at this time as one started trotting off the other started walking off fast but made the mistake of a sudden pause at 23 yards. Remember Zac is very small for his age, he can only pull 37 lbs. As he shot, the deer had enough time to react & just about jumped out of the way.Ihad thisOH NO feeling as I watched the deer run off with Zacs arrow hanging out ofnot so good a spot. We started trailing the deer & was finding good blood. We trailed for ever& Zac was downing himself the whole time. At 9:30 my flashlight gave out & it was way past his bed time so we called it quits. The whole drive home Zac just sat there with hishead against the window & never said a word. When I would speak to him I could tell he was very down, major bummed. I thentalked to him about being able to read the deer & know when to make a shot & when it's best to hold off. I felt like this was a learning process & it would help him in the future. After all the best way to learn isby making mistakes. Although Zac shoots a bow better than me, he now realizes an alert deerover twenty yards is not a shot for him.
The next morning I went back to the spot I left off the nightbefore, I trailed the deer another 50 yards & there she laid. I then loaded the deer And drove straight to Chumuckla elementary. Can you imagine the look onZacs face when the front office called him out of class for a picture with his deer that's now in the parking lot with his dad. Notice the school in the background. After the picture moment he gave me a big hug & told me I was the best dad he could ever have. I think this whole ordeal was worth every minute. Zac now knows just how important a good clean shot is.My family eats around a dozen deer a year, Zac's got more hunting to do. The kid LOVES it.
8:40 A.M. Saturday morning Alabama youth hunt
Sunday!