OUTDOORS TO THE CORE
OUTDOORS TO THE CORE
DAD’ S, TAKE YOUR KIDS DEER HUNTING AND MAKE A LIFETIME MEMORY— by Tom Claycomb
Bear with me today and let me ramble a little or maybe it’ s just reminiscing. I bet if a poll were taken that 99 % of us would say that the first big game animal that we ever killed was a deer. I think that the skills that I learned while deer hunting as a kid have since made me successful at hunting antelope, bear, elk and moose. You learn to be quiet, stalk, glass, play the wind, cover your scent, wait and be patient and all the other traits that make a good hunter. If you learn how to fool their sense of smell, sight and hearing you can be successful at any hunting can’ t you?
I hunt and fish from Alaska to La and to this day my best hunting memories are deer hunting as a kid with my dad. Hands down. I don’ t even have to think about it. Just me and dad together. It was awesome. And deer camp. He always hunted with some upstanding guys that set a good example for us. We had good clean fun and a blast together.
Like I say, I get to do a lot of cool hunting and fishing now. I write Outdoor articles for a living. I’ m on Prostaff for multiple companies and get to test a ton of products. All of that pales in comparison though to how much fun my brother and I had deer hunting with dad.
So with all of this said. Take your kids deer hunting if they want to go. I know you want to get away with the boys and hit it hard but take it from me. You only have your kids for a short period of time. I know when they’ re small and you’ re tied down it can be rough at times. But when they hit 16, they’ re pretty much grown( in their minds). I think that it’ s a big mistake to make kids wait until they’ re 12 to big game hunt.
Value every minute with them and if they want to go hunting-take em. Of course of all people, my girls have no desire anymore to go hunting with me …. although the little one is getting interested in fishing again the last few years.
For years after I left home and moved out of state I’ d still call dad after every deer hunt and tell him about getting my deer. Every detail. He died in 1990 and it was quite a few years later I’ d still come home from hunting and want to call and tell him about it. I had a cool dad. Don’ t gyp your kid out of having that experience too.
Don’ t push them too hard. Let them have fun. Take some S’ mores and enjoy your time around the camp fire. You’ ll be building memories that will last a lifetime.
Semi on the same line of thought. I help every year with the Scooters Youth Hunting Camp. One year a taxidermist was giving a talk and said if a kid kills a doe for his first deer that it is a trophy and should be mounted. Inwardly I thought yeah, right. You just want their money. But as I got thinking on it later I thought, you know, he’ s right. We’ ve cheapened our hunt when all we do is measure our success by the size of the rack. Does a kid on his first hunt with his dad not have just as much fun as a kid with a rich dad that can afford to take him on a high dollar guided hunt? And what about the whole experience of boning out your deer and making your batch of sausage for the year? Is that not a quality experience?
I still love deer hunting. I love everything about it. The hunt, the camping, the packing him out, processing him-everything. I’ ve since killed moose, bear, antelope and elk but to this day, my best hunting memories were as a kid deer hunting with my dad. I wouldn’ t trade those memories for a million dollars. And I think we cheapen the whole outdoor experience when all we do is measure our success by how big our rack is. Do I love big racks? Sure I do. But in all the rush, let’ s remember why we hunt.
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