While cleaning and fixing up my grandma's house I have gotten some help from a friend's son. He's 8 so some extra work is good for him, and he enjoys it. For me it frees me to work on other things at the house instead of the little tedious things I've been procrastinating. He spent a day working a couple months ago. I paid him for his time and took him fishing that evening which he enjoyed. His dad is an avid hunter, but spends most of his time away from home working on the road. So Payton loves the idea of hunting, but rarely gets the opportunity to tag along.
I had some work planned at the house Saturday and some tasks I could use Payton's help with. I texted his mom asking if he wanted to help and that I would trade him an evening duck hunt for half day of work. His response to his mom "Hell yea!!.......I'm sorry."
He filled up two trashcans, tended to the chickens, and it was time to go sit at the pond. Surprisingly no ducks were on the pond when we got there. I cleared out a spot to sit and knew they would come in soon. Near the end of legal shooting hours finally a pair of mergansers land right in front of us without warning. I'm frantically telling him to shoot. As he gets the gun up the drake is flying off and the hen is getting up as well. In that split second my heart sinks because I just knew he was going to miss.
BAM and the hen hits the water dead. I was flipping out with excitement telling him you got it. That dude looked at me stone cold and said "I wasn't even aiming."
I retrieved it for him and he started to get excited once he got to put his hands on her. A quick picture and we left the pond before other ducks came to roost. Until it was dark, we sat on a terrace row in the field and watched as hundreds of other ducks flew in to roost and he plucked his duck. During that time I was very glad to explain conservation and had a great example of how we can still hunt, while still providing a safe place for many others to return to every night. He's ready for some more work/hunt days.
I had some work planned at the house Saturday and some tasks I could use Payton's help with. I texted his mom asking if he wanted to help and that I would trade him an evening duck hunt for half day of work. His response to his mom "Hell yea!!.......I'm sorry."
He filled up two trashcans, tended to the chickens, and it was time to go sit at the pond. Surprisingly no ducks were on the pond when we got there. I cleared out a spot to sit and knew they would come in soon. Near the end of legal shooting hours finally a pair of mergansers land right in front of us without warning. I'm frantically telling him to shoot. As he gets the gun up the drake is flying off and the hen is getting up as well. In that split second my heart sinks because I just knew he was going to miss.
BAM and the hen hits the water dead. I was flipping out with excitement telling him you got it. That dude looked at me stone cold and said "I wasn't even aiming."
I retrieved it for him and he started to get excited once he got to put his hands on her. A quick picture and we left the pond before other ducks came to roost. Until it was dark, we sat on a terrace row in the field and watched as hundreds of other ducks flew in to roost and he plucked his duck. During that time I was very glad to explain conservation and had a great example of how we can still hunt, while still providing a safe place for many others to return to every night. He's ready for some more work/hunt days.
