Bobcat down on my sons first hunt.

12Ring

New member
I tried taking my son hunting with me when hew was 4 but it didn't work out. The night before we were going to go, he was pumped and ready but when I woke him up in the dark, I think it scared him to think of calling coyotes in the dark. Of course we weren't going to be calling in the dark but he didn't understand that. After that day, he kept telling me, "I'll go with you when I'm 6 dad."

Well he is 6 now so we it was time. I wanted his first hunting experience to be a good one so this time I waited until the afternoon to tell him we were going. He was excited and so was I. We got all of our stuff ready and headed out. On the way I stopped to put gas and I let him get any snacks he wanted. Dr Pepper, chocolate Zingers, and Doritos it was. My wife wouldn't be happy with me that that was his lunch but oh well.

I was in some catty area but I thought any more than 15 minutes on stand would be to much for him. 15 min max was the plan. Here he is retrieving the decoy and caller after our first blank stank.



Well we made 2 blank stands to start but it was ok cause he was having fun racing me everywhere we walked and I let him drive to every stand we made and he loved that too.



Our third stand was one I had made last year and killed a coyote on it. We sat down and my son says, "this looks like a perfect spot." He was right because after 8 minutes of some hand call recorded cotton tail, I see movement in the trees. I tell Hunter to be still and only move his eyes straight ahead.
I couldn't tell what was coming in but I started to get suspicious that it wasn't a coyote because of how stealthy it was coming in. Finally I get my scope up and All I can see is a ear but it a pointy black ear. At that point I'm a mess. I want to kill something so bad on his first trip that I'm shaking worse than I ever have before.

After seeing the cat and losing him and seeing him and losing him, he finally appears at about 100Yds and sits down looking at the caller and decoy. I have a dead tree blocking my shot so I slowly move a foot to my left and "try" to center my cross hairs on his chest. Man they are a skinny target when your shaking like a leaf and they are looking you straight on. Finally I settle down a little and squeeze the trigger, he jumps in the air and I see hair fly. We're celebrating and high fiving and my son says "dang dad I have never seen you this happy."

We walk to retrieve it and I'm a little worried and hoping it wasn't a mess. It wasn't and he actually thought the blood trail was cool. I pick her up but he wanted to drag her. I weight her after getting to the truck and she weighed 24.5 lbs.



This dead tree is actually the tree that was blocking my shot for a few seconds.



And here is a pic of me and him with our first kill together.I told him to look serious in this pic.



We went on to make 3 more blank stands but it didn't matter. He had a great time hunting and driving all around and for me, it was a perfect day hunting. One I will never forget and I hope he remembers it forever too.


 
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Doesn't get any better than that. My kids love to go with me. It's always a challenge cause I have four so we have to keep track of witch ones turn it is to go
 
That's Awesome!! I'm sure he will remember it forever. I remember the first time dad took me squirrel hunting and all of our trap line adventures too. I think I was 3 or 4 when he started bringing me along. so with his age I'm sure he'll remember it.
 
Beautiful bobcat, great looking hunting buddy for life. That dude is one A-1 looking young man. Great you got to take him out on a successful hunt.
 
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Now that's a classic picture! You should frame it and hang it in your son's room.

Enjoy these times, they grow up all too soon.

Regards,
hm
 
Great story. You can bet he will never forget that one!! I know from experience how hard it can be to get it "to work out" when the kids are with you. Nice when it happens though.
 
May have been a good thing to run his batteries down a bit before the big stand. A cat is a big score and sets the bar high.
 
Awesome story! Good for you to provide your son with a day he should never forget. And Dr. Pepper, Zingers and Doritos sounds like the perfect lunch for a day like that.
 
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