In the fall of '98, I lived in Plano, Texas, and my daughter Patricia was 9, and my son Bobby was 7. I had been reading up on TPWD, and saw where they had a progam with some special draw hunts in a state park in the Paris area. As I remember the program, it was set up to give each child drawn 100 acres to hunt that was theirs and theirs alone. I sounded like a great program, and I put both kids into the drawing. Luckily, both my kids drew tags/permits for this hunt. When we got close to the date of the hunt, the kids flipped a coin to see who would get to go first on their hunt. Bobby won.

The day before the hunt, we had to show up at a check in station to get our designated hunting area, and take the opportunity to scout out the property. We drew a piece of land that was heavily wooded with oak and sloped toward a large lake. We also had two creeks that coverged and fed into the lake. I scouted the property as best I could that afternoon, and settled on a location where the creeks converged. This area had 5 game trails that also converged from different directions, and linked up with a trail that funneled down toward the lake. I had a pop up blind that I went ahead and set up, and then marked my way back out to the road so I could follow my trail in the morning.

The next morning, Bobby and I loaded up real early and headed toward Paris. At the check in station, Bobby was by far the smallest kid there. He is still small for his age, but at 7 he probably looked more like a 5 year old. He got some looks from the other dad's and kids. Bobby checked in and got his free blaze orange cap, which he put on proudly. We got to our spot and easily found our way into the blind. I had set up a couple of folding chairs, and we settled into a pretty comfortable set up. It was typical warm Texas October weather, so being cold was not an issue. The wind was light out of the south, and I had set up the blind looking east, as this was the direction I felt the deer would come from once the sun came up.

Daylight approached, and Bobby had actually dozed off in his chair, when I heard movement to the east. Leaves crunching. I nudged Bobby and he woke up with a start. I whispered to him to get into my lap. He quitely moved over and sat up on my left knee. Within seconds, a nice young spike came walking up the trail from the southeast, and stopped not 30 yards from our blind. Bobby eased the rifle out the blind window, and I whispered my shooting instructions into his ear: "relax, take a deep breath, let half out, and squeeze the trigger". Bobby shook like a leaf, and was almost hyperventilating when the gun went off. The deer lurched and ran off to the northeast, disappering in the thick brush. I could have sworn I saw blood shoot out the young bucks side as he turned and ran, but it all happened so quickly, I could not be sure. I did know I heard the deer pile up and fall.

We waited about 20 minutes for the buck to expire, and also for Bobby to catch his breath. He was short of breath and asked me what was wrong with him. I explained that it was his natural excitement (he was too young to grasp adrenaline), and that is how you will feel every time you shoot a deer.

We got out of the blind and went to look for the blood trail. I could not find it anywhere! I looked and looked, and actually got pissed. I could not believe that he missed that buck. Had my eyes played tricks on me?  I know I saw blood and heard that buck pile up.

Bobby hollered at me from several yards away. He had found the blood. My mistake was that the deer was much closer to the blind than I had thought. We followed the blood trail about 40 yards in the thick brush when we found the deer. A nice spike taken with a perfect double lung shot! Bobby and I were looking at the deer, and I looked down at Bobby to tell him something when I noticed........he was visibly upset. I asked him if he was sad for the deer, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, he broke down. He cried deeply. I knelt down and hugged him and just let him cry for a minute. Then I explained to him that by shooting that deer, he was actually helping all the other deer in the forest be healthier and live longer. I explained the basic concepts of overpopulation and how there weren't any more of the big animals that ate deer any more. That made him feel better. He perked up and said; "so we are really doing good, right dad?". I told him that without question we were, and that I was proud of him for being sad. He asked me why, and I told him that being sad told me that he was a good person with a good heart, and that was the most important thing about being a man. I told him that people that don't love the animals and feel bad when they die should never be hunters. I told him that I feel the same way about the animals. Bobby smiled and then his pride took over. He helped me drag the deer to the Blazer. I picked up the blind and we took the buck back to the ranger check in station.

We showed up at the ranger check in, and the rangers there lit up like Christmas trees when they saw little Bobby get out of the truck. They jumped up and said; "hey little man, you are the first one in with a deer!". Bobby puffed up like a little rooster. The rangers weighed and measured the deer, and told Bobby that he had killed "a perfect east texas whitetail specimen". That made Bobby feel like a big dog. They also commented on the fact that when they heard him shoot, we had only been in the woods for 45 minutes. One of the rangers told Bobby, "don't get spoiled son, deer hunting usually isn't that easy". That is true, but I have mentioned before that my son is one of those people born with a horseshoe up his rear end. He is one of the luckiest people I have ever seen.

We wrapped the buck in a tarp, and strapped him to the top of the Blazer. We drove back home, and Bobby displayed his trophy. It was a great day.

My daughter Patricia came out and looked at the buck. As soon as she looked into the eyes of the deer, she looked up at me and said; "Daddy, they are too pretty. I don't want to shoot one". I hugged her neck and kissed her on the head and told her she did not have to go hunting if she did not want to. It was the best decision of my life. Patricia loves to shoot, and is a very good shot. She also has turkey hunted and duck hunted. She does not mind hunting birds, and enjoys sitting in the blind and looking at deer, but she still does not want to shoot one. She does want to shoot a bobcat though. Go figure.

My kids are grown up now, Patricia is almost 18, and Bobby is almost 16. They are both good kids that do well in school, and more importantly, are good people. I firmly believe spending time in the outdoors was a positive contribution to their upbringing.

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