Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The bonding ability of hunting.

I just need to put into writing how grateful I am this morning for the great out doors that We all enjoy.
Just some quick background about my situation. I went through a divorce about 9 years ago and my first marriage produced 4 wonderful kids that I adore and who genuinely love and respect me. A good deal of that is that We have kept a strong outdoor tradition going, long past our time of living together. The bond has been particularly close with my boys who love to hunt and fish and has bonded us together, what I'm sure, will be beyond the grave.
Angie and I got married about 7 years ago and she had 5 kids her self. Two of them have grown and gone and the 3rd boy has moved in with his Dad after making life quite miserable for us at our house the last year. He and I had zero in common and thus never did have aany kind of a bond. Which brings us to the last two. I've always gotten along fine with both of them but as many of you know, it has never been quite the same with them as it is with my own kids. A couple years back We moved out of the Wasatch Front into a small rural town in South Central Utah in hopes of giving the kids a more "country" upbringing.
The 4th boy and I have always enjoyed following sports and such together but he has never showed a ton of interest in outdoors until We moved here. Now all his friends are very active in the outdoors so he decided to get his hunters safety and I put him in for a few hunts.
He was lucky enough this year to draw a muzzle loader deer tag as well as a antlerless elk tag, both right here on our mountain behind the house. The hard part is that he plays football so his time has been somewhat limited. I took him out of school for the opener of the muzzy tag and we hunted that morning with a couple of missed opportunities and some mature bucks. My back up plan for the rest of the hunt was some deer that I had found 5 minutes from home, so I could get him to school in the morning. Day 2 found us hiding in a ditch with a 160" 4x4 and a bunch of does working there way toward us at first light. He had 2 clean misses at about 150 yards which made him a bit disappointed. 10 minutes later I glassed up several more bucks and moved us into position of the best one. Once again 2 clean misses. five minutes later We were on to 3x3 bucks at inside 50 yards and for the first time in 16 years of service, I had a misfire on my Encore muzzle loader, twice. We were both a bit frustrated at this point.
The next morning found us back in that area (after I cleaned the gun good) and again he missed opportunities and a decent buck. As I was driving him back towards school, a gift walked across the road and gave him the opportunity to shoot his first deer. Even though it was the smallest buck He had shot at, he could not have been more proud when he rolled into school with the deer in the back of the truck, as I dropped him off.
The Elk hunt opened about 10 days ago and the opening minutes found us at 200 yards from a heard of elk with a big herd bull and one satellite bull and about 20 cows. His inexperience slowed him down enough that he was not able to connect on that group or the next 2 groups we found either. He was getting very down on himself at this point but he loved hearing those bulls bugle and seeing all the wildlife so we both still had a ball.
Due to visitation with his Dad and with his football schedule we hadn't been able to get out until last night for a quick hunt. Again we were fortunate to find several groups and finally got him into a good position for a shot. When his first elk was on the ground, He came over and gave me the first hug I think he has ever given me.
Thats why we do it.
That, to me, is what its all about!