A little background on my daughter, she’s a 6th grader and just turned 12. This was her 5th deer season. Before she shot her first deer I showed her videos of youth hunts on YouTube. After watching a teenage girl shoot a doe, she decided does were all she was interested in, “I’m a girl and I want to shoot a girl deer” she told me. On her first hunt, she couldn’t have cared less that there was a 140 class 9 point in the field and she shot a doe over my pleas to shoot the buck. The next 2 years were more does. Last year she shot what I’ll call a medium sized 9pt for her first buck.

Last night was the first time I was able to take her this year, KS rifle season started last Wednesday. I’d been seeing 4 different bucks in the 130-140ish range, and my trail cam was giving me high hopes of seeing one of them last night. On our way to the field I reminded her to be patient, there are some nice bucks in the area and we’re not going to shoot the first dink we see. After sitting for almost 2 hours, 2 basket racks and 2 does came out. After a shot in the distance, the bigger basket rack and does went back in the brush. My daughter then asks if she can shoot the small buck that was left out there. At this point we still had 45 minutes of shooting time left.

I asked her if she really wanted to shoot that one and she said yes. I then asked if that was because she didn’t really want to go deer hunting and didn’t want to come back again. She said yes, and then said it’s just too boring. I can’t lie, that one hurt. I told her that as long as she was happy with that buck she could shoot it when a good shot presented itself.

The buck got behind the only tree in the clearing we were in and started walking away, blocking any shot opportunities. At about 125 yards he cleared the tree and presented a pretty steep quartering away shot. I told her to put the crosshairs between his front legs and follow that line up about 1/3 of the way up his body. She said she was ready and let the 243 rip. The buck ran straight away into the brush about 50 yards before I saw him stop and start shaking. Then we could both hear crashing and thrashing around. I gave her a big hug and a kiss and told her thanks for going hunting with me.

Unfortunately, like many young girls as they grow up, hunting, fishing, and farming with Dad seem to be getting less fun her. She’s a cheerleader, point guard on the basketball team, involved with 4H showing pigs at the fair and several other activities, but she may not be a hunter. The lesson learned was that I just need to support her in whatever activities she chooses and just be thankful she’s willing to spend a little time doing Dad stuff when she’s able to.


On our way walking out, she said the last few moments waiting for the buck to clear the tree were pretty exciting. I told her the boring part pays off because the exciting part comes last. She said “Yeah, it’s kind of like school on Fridays.” So maybe there a little hope yet.

Congrats to her!
She'll have memories and maybe one day when her life settles a bit she'll be looking forward to hunts with dad again.

Congrats to her, and you.

And heck, I'm right there with her, deer hunting is boring. I'd much rather be following my dogs looking for birds. Yet there I was last Wednesday morning on the opener.

I feel your pain on hearing that. Still, the fact that she actually told you is priceless. My gut tells me it's the sign of a really strong bond between you, since most kids won't bother telling us 'til they're well grown.






And her smile in the photo speaks volumes.

I'd say keep doin' what you're doin'. The girl's gonna be A-OK.

FC

Hell yeah👍👍

Congrats to her!

I would encourage you both to agree to an annual "dad and daughter deer hunt"

Make a huge deal out of one special weekend.

My youngest son is now 27 and trying to conquer the world. He has had little time for hunting since college, but we do make that ONE great weekend a year.

Very Nice! It's tough when your kids aren't as enthusiastic about hunting as you are. You're doing it the right way though; Sitting with her and talking. I didn't do that with my son when he was young. I'd take him to a spot and have him sit there while I went to my stand. Same way my father and uncles taught me. But he missed his first shot at a deer and was really upset about it. If I was with him maybe it would've been different.

Still a net gain! Maybe she'll be a fan of scouting. Well played!

My older stepbrother used to take his 3 year old son hunting. Kid nearly froze to death a couple of times, and hasn't enjoyed hunting since. His younger brother would go with my father and I, and since we didn't climb trees and freeze our nuts off, is a hunting nut now, as are all four of his kids.

You gotta start them right, and make them comfortable (not cold or hungry), and maybe a little excitement now and then, and you get an enthusiastic hunting kid, who'll remember those things and pass them on to HIS kids.

Let them shake, shiver like a dog crapping peach seeds, while waiting for breakfast, and you'll get someone who doesn't much care for hunting at all.

I have seen kids that were very into hunting at a young age lose interest for a while as they became interested in spending time with friends and other interests. Some come back to it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


THIS plus any 12 year old girl finds almost any activity "boring"...

You laid a foundation. Decent chance she comes back to it later in life. And if not, she at least has skills and experience that most won't have.