My son Jake has paid his dues as a deer hunter. He started hunting with me four years ago at the age of six and has experienced many of the highs and lows of our great sport. But all his hard work paid off on Saturday when he knocked down this beautiful eight-point Loudoun County buck!
Jake was unarmed on our hunts for what seemed like forever and he took his first shot at a deer (a clean miss) in September of 2010. On the youth deer hunt in September of this year he connected on a doe. His hunt for a buck began a couple weeks ago with the start of the Virginia muzzleloader season.
To my surprise, he passed on a couple of four-pointers early in the muzzleloader hunt then didn't take what would have been a pretty easy shot at a doe last week.
"I'm not gonna shoot him," he told me when another four-point appeared on the dry pond we were hunting over Saturday afternoon.
"You can if you want," I said. "It's your first buck."
But somehow this young man knew that something better would come along. The eight-point emerged at 5 p.m. When he was clear of the tall grass at 65 yards, Jake aimed, squeezed the trigger and let the Thompson Center Impact do the rest.
We were fortunate to have some great friends with us to enjoy the moment. Mike (aka the Captain) and his son Kyle were on hand, and the four of us fanned out at the spot where the buck had disappeared into the cedars. It was a quick tracking job.
"You want your deer?" Mike asked, after about a three-minute flashlight search.
There it was, wrapped around a cedar about 50 yards from where it had been hit.
Jake didn't jump up and down; he didn't hoot and holler. If he had been a football player who'd just scored a game-winning touchdown, I would say he just handed the ball to the official.
What a great moment! And Jake made it even better on the way home by talking about how much he wants to help his brother Nick to get one now.
I told him how proud I was and at the same time tried to put it into perspective.
"I mean, I know there are more important things in life than deer hunting," I said.
"Yeah," Jake replied. "But not that many things."
matt,tell your son nice deer. looks like the season has been good to both of you. keith
Posted by: keith kanzler | November 21, 2011 at 05:09 AM
Congratulations to Jake! That is a great looking buck.
Posted by: Jenn | November 21, 2011 at 05:25 AM
Kudos to Jake on shooting his first buck. That's awesome.
And I'm glad that the Thompson Center Impact works during crunch time, since I'm using one for the first time this year, too.
Great job, Jake. Now get your brother one!
Posted by: Arthur | November 22, 2011 at 10:57 AM
Great first buck!
Posted by: Tom Jr. | November 22, 2011 at 02:20 PM
sorry I haven't written. Congratulations to your son!
Posted by: Rex | December 14, 2011 at 07:37 PM