The Joy of Hunting With Kids
A couple of years back I was lucky enough to draw an archery elk tag in Arizona. Along with me, my good friends from Indiana, Brian Stephenson and Jerry Decker, drew as well. On opening day the three of us hunted together, and we had a couple of opportunities at smaller bulls, but passed. As the week progressed the hunting became tougher, and we seemed to run into other hunters on every stand or stalk. By the second weekend we were all fairly depressed. Luckily, for me anyway, my son was nearby and came to hunt with me for the weekend.
Just 10 at the time, Colton was a valuable asset on the hunt. As we stalked and called to a roaming bull, Colton whispered loudly to get my attention. He then pointed out a group of hunters stalking the same bull from another direction. They had not seen us, but we saw them. The stalked never worked out, so we headed back to the truck to wait for Brian and Jerry. While we waited, we invented a new football game in which we kicked field-goals between ponderosa trees acting as the “uprights” with a Gatorade bottle as the “pigskin.”
Back at camp, Colton was happy to ride my quad through camp like his favorite Nascar driver, Kasey Kahne. That evening we tried a new area. Jerry and his father hunted with us, but went in the opposite direction. Right off the bat, we spotted a coyote, but never did see or hear an elk. By now the majority of the elk had been pushed by hunters to steeper, thicker areas. On our way back to the truck, just before dark, Colton spotted an old elk rack; it was from a small bull, but a cool find for a 10 year old.
Early the next morning, Colton and I located a bugling bull, and we headed that direction. We closed the distance quickly and caught up to the bull. The bull was moving slowly with a harem of cows. At one point I was able to put the binos on the bull to see a solid 6×7, with a small sticker point. I was excited, and thought this might be our break. The group of elk was feeding along a ridgetop, so we worked towards an intersection point. We had no sooner got to a better angle when we heard the slam of a truck door and the sound of stampeding elk hooves. Again, our hunt had been foiled by some other hunter.
Although I hade enjoyed every moment in the woods with my son; that afternoon Colton brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. Since he had school the next day, I asked him to gather his gear and put it in the truck so I could take him home before the afternoon hunt, which I would tackle alone. After a few minutes, I couldn’t find him anywhere. I opened the back door of my truck to get something out of the back seat, and there he was — in tears. I figured he had slammed the door on his fingers or something. Here it came, “I’m just going to miss you!” he said, still crying. My heart sank! The ride back to town was tough for us both, but we were able to talk about the time we shared.
Although I never took a bull on the hunt, I had a great time with good friends, and shared an experience with my son that he and I will never forget. I urge you to take a kid hunting; don’t pressure them, just get them out there and have fun!
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Today, we held our second monthly Hunters’ Breakfast, and we had nine hunters show up. In attendance we had retired Game and Fish employees, city employees, hunting outfitters, bankers, local business owners, and a few others. A few of us are also members of national conservation groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Again, there was no agenda we just talked about hunting. A local outfitter, Lance Crowther of Timberland Outfitters shared a few stories of a recent buffalo hunt (more to come soon) that he guided. Around the table I heard stories of hunts in British Columbia, discussions of old scopes and how-to to fix them, and I even heard someone talking about catching a rattlesnake, although I am not sure why anyone would do this. All in all, it was a good time, and I met some new huters.
