ashersdad
Well-known member
I know most of us on here are alike in our hunting attitude. We like to hunt hard, go far, and do it on our own. For those of us with kids it can be a different type of hunt if we take the little ones. They can’t hike as far or as long (especially when they’re young), they have a hard time being quiet (at least mine do), and they just want to have fun. So for me it is always a decision on whether to take the kids and have that type of hunt or go by myself and have the hard core hunt that we all love.
Well I had an interesting experience while scouting for my Oregon deer hunt. I was checking out a new area and as I was driving down an old dirt road I passed a dilapidated old one room school house. To my surprise there was a guy out front painting the school. I waved as I passed and continued on. Well the road dead ended a couple miles further so when I went back I decided to stop and ask the guy about the surrounding area.
As we talked, he continued to paint and told me that most of the surrounding area was private and that this unit is not a good unit for deer. I already knew this as I had drawn this same tag a few years prior with dismal results. As we talked he asked how many would be in my hunting party. I told him just me. He asked if I had kids and I said yeah, two boys. He asked how old they were and I told him 5 and 7. He said boy you should take them with you, they are old enough to go hunting. I told him yeah, in fact they hunt with me quite a bit but they are both in school and I was looking forward to this hunt being solo. At that he walked down to me and had me turn around. It was then that I noticed the new flag pole. Somehow I had not noticed it when I walked up. There was a beautiful American Flag blowing in the breeze with a United States Marine Flag flying below it. At the base of the flag pole was a marker that had the name of this man’s son. He told me how he had been killed in Iraq at the age of 26. He had bought the old school house and was fixing it up to honor his son. He told me how many wonderful memories he had of hunting with his son and how much they meant to him.
Needless to say, my attitude changed a little about taking my kids. I decided that if they wanted to go, then I would change my plans and take them along.
I ended up taking my 7 year old. My 5 year old had some other activities he didn’t want to miss. I have to say it was one of the funnest hunts I have been on. We only had the weekend so I knew we weren’t going to have time to be picky if we saw some deer. We drove to our area on Friday and got camp set up. The next morning we got up early and hiked in 3 miles. I was surprised at how well my 7 year old kept up. At first light we started glassing and finally after an hour I picked up deer about a mile away. Pulled out the spotter and determined they were all bucks but no shooters. When I told my son they were not shooters, he just gave me that look and said, “I really want to get a deer Dad”. Well I said we can hike over there but it’s a steep hike going down and even steeper going up and they might be gone by the time we get over there. He immediately started gathering his stuff and said let’s go get em.
So we bailed off the edge and started down the hill. It’s a good thing his Momma didn’t know what we were doing or I would have been in trouble cause it was steep. We slipped and stumbled down the hill and got to the bottom where the deer were out of our site. I was really hoping they would be gone because I knew they were all small and I didn’t want to pack a little one out of this hell hole by myself.
Well I had an interesting experience while scouting for my Oregon deer hunt. I was checking out a new area and as I was driving down an old dirt road I passed a dilapidated old one room school house. To my surprise there was a guy out front painting the school. I waved as I passed and continued on. Well the road dead ended a couple miles further so when I went back I decided to stop and ask the guy about the surrounding area.
As we talked, he continued to paint and told me that most of the surrounding area was private and that this unit is not a good unit for deer. I already knew this as I had drawn this same tag a few years prior with dismal results. As we talked he asked how many would be in my hunting party. I told him just me. He asked if I had kids and I said yeah, two boys. He asked how old they were and I told him 5 and 7. He said boy you should take them with you, they are old enough to go hunting. I told him yeah, in fact they hunt with me quite a bit but they are both in school and I was looking forward to this hunt being solo. At that he walked down to me and had me turn around. It was then that I noticed the new flag pole. Somehow I had not noticed it when I walked up. There was a beautiful American Flag blowing in the breeze with a United States Marine Flag flying below it. At the base of the flag pole was a marker that had the name of this man’s son. He told me how he had been killed in Iraq at the age of 26. He had bought the old school house and was fixing it up to honor his son. He told me how many wonderful memories he had of hunting with his son and how much they meant to him.
Needless to say, my attitude changed a little about taking my kids. I decided that if they wanted to go, then I would change my plans and take them along.
I ended up taking my 7 year old. My 5 year old had some other activities he didn’t want to miss. I have to say it was one of the funnest hunts I have been on. We only had the weekend so I knew we weren’t going to have time to be picky if we saw some deer. We drove to our area on Friday and got camp set up. The next morning we got up early and hiked in 3 miles. I was surprised at how well my 7 year old kept up. At first light we started glassing and finally after an hour I picked up deer about a mile away. Pulled out the spotter and determined they were all bucks but no shooters. When I told my son they were not shooters, he just gave me that look and said, “I really want to get a deer Dad”. Well I said we can hike over there but it’s a steep hike going down and even steeper going up and they might be gone by the time we get over there. He immediately started gathering his stuff and said let’s go get em.
So we bailed off the edge and started down the hill. It’s a good thing his Momma didn’t know what we were doing or I would have been in trouble cause it was steep. We slipped and stumbled down the hill and got to the bottom where the deer were out of our site. I was really hoping they would be gone because I knew they were all small and I didn’t want to pack a little one out of this hell hole by myself.
