Thread: the we dont shoot those hunt ?

many moons ago my first daughter would hunt with me and we had conversations many times about what we would harvest or not . one hunt in particular was a doe hunt and it was really warm outside and a monster doe walked with in about 10 feet of us and I never touched my rifle .she was whispering hey dad I thought we came here to get a doe ,wasn't that a good one ? I thought you said it was a big doe and just right .
I said well sweety it is really hot outside and I really didn't want to clean it and deal with it in the heat . she looked at me like really dad …..?
fast forward to mini kaboom and her annie Oakley version of shoot em dad shoot em !
we went on a hunt at our little place and she sat patiently as a 6 year old can and we saw just 2 does and one young buck . she watched him a while and said ok dad shoot him . I said well sweety he isn't the one we want . he is just a baby buck and is not the one we want . we don't shoot those , she said dad ...we came deer hunting and that's a deer and you need to shoot him …..
good thing for him I don't always do what folks tell me to do is my thoughts .we had fun looking at buck rubs and gopher holes and bird nests and the other etc etc etc on the hunt and came back in right at dark and she said WOW dad it looks like someone painted the sky as we walked towards the setting sun .
next day I hunted alone on my other place and saw a bit more game and was lucky enough to see that sow from last week on the other side of the ranch in the clear enough to make a good shot area .
she was donated to the less fortunate and was about the perfect little piggy .hope you have a great day and enjoy the photos
p.s. and yes I had wild pork tacos sunday after we got home from our adventure

Think I have reached the final stage for a hunter . Harvested my first deer fall of 1970 . Was lucky enough to teach/ coach high school sports so time off was good for 32 yrs . Having been one of the first to teach hunter education and was involved in the pilot program we discussed goals at various stages in life . first step was to harvest a legal deer, second a limit of legal bucks/does (which I did for 32 consecutive yrs .) then started hunting does only and trophy hunting for a few years . Moved to union county and decided If I was going to hunt trophy deer traveling was a necessity. Arthritis medications and shots made me hang up climbing trees two yrs. ago . So far this season I have seen 2 state legal bucks and 6 does with no kaboom as Redge says . Went yesterday to figure how much it will cost to get into coyote hunting ! Loss of my Dad, oldest brother, and my hunting companion for the last 20 yrs. ,has me sitting on the millennium tree seat thinking about things I could be doing . The greatest part of hunting is hearing the ducks whistling by, squirrels giving the dark -thirty warning chatter as a deer approaches , Turkeys flying up to roost ,a beaver slap the water as as something startles him ,a buck grunting and chasing a doe . I say all this to say "Thank you" for taking the time to love your kids. Hunting public land is the ultimate challenge but it has been a good time .