After the hunting season last year I published an article capturing the hunting experiences that I had with three of our grandchildren, they are:  Lawrence AKA LSR AKA Dead Eye Redmond, Sam Allred, and Scout Mayberry.     Lawrence is the older and during that hunting season he was age six and Sam and Scout were approaching six years of age.

 

     During those hunts, Lawrence had a couple of misses on good bucks, Sam connected on a nice one and also collected a fine hog while Scout collected another good buck.  So as I concluded, two out of three for kids at that age is not a bad season and one of my best.

 

 

 

 

     All during the year, when I spoke to these three, we always had something positive to talk about-- deer season and going hunting. When it came to planning parties or gifts they would suggest something related to hunting.  Ask them what they wanted to do when the deer season again opened and they would tell you, hunt with Grandpappy for that great big buck.

 

     During the summer we always take the family to the beach for a vacation.  During this past summer my wife and daughter-in-law were driving Scout and Sam somewhere when they overheard the following conversation.   One said, “When I shot my deer I was not scared.”  The other replied, “I was not either”.  The other one said, “When they were cleaning the deer and I saw all that blood, I was not scared”.  The other one said. “I was not either”.  They both agreed that the next hunting season was going to be fun and was wondering if they would be at the ranch at the same time and could hunt together.  

 

     When that conversation was reported to me I was as proud as a peacock.  Two cousins who  visit very little during the year because they live in different cities were really looking forward to seeing each other again and hunting with each other.  Now, I consider all of that a very positive experience.

 

     These kids attend schools that host a Grandparents Day.  My wife and I try to make them all, but sometime there are scheduling conflicts.  Again, these grandkids live in three different cities, San Antonio and McKinney, Texas and Bethesda, Maryland. This year we decided to make the ones being held in McKinney and Bethesda and visit with Scout and Lawrence.

 

     McKinney was the first stop on this trip so we kicked off the visit by having lunch with Scout at her school.  After lunch we were given a tour of the classrooms and provided some time to visit with the kids in their homeroom.  In Scout's case, each child had written a paper that was pinned to the wall.  Each was about some interesting part of their life and maybe coupled with something they wanted to do.  

 

     When the teacher saw me reading Scouts, she came over and unpinned the first page so I would be sure to see her second page.  The thing that Scout identified as one of the most important things that she would like to do read something like this... grow up so she could go hunting in Africa with her cousins and Grandpappy.  

 

      While in Bethesda and visiting with the one that did get a couple of shots at deer but failed to connect, Lawrence, we discussed among other things what he had done that summer.  One was to attend a summer camp where they offered shooting as an activity. He not only took advantage of that opportunity -- he also brought his targets home and his mother let him mount them above his bed.  He pointed them out to me with a great deal of pride and assured me that he would never miss another deer.

 

     This is how this hunting season went.  First, Sam, who had collected a buck and hog last year, was the first to come up to the ranch to hunt.  His younger brother Max also made the trip.  They both concentrated on practicing at the rifle range and then going turkey hunting.  They both collected handsome turkeys.

 

     The next weekend Scout made it up to the ranch so Sam and Max returned.  The three of them got to hunt together as they had discussed during the summer outing.  

 

     One this trip Scout collected what has thus far been the heaviest buck ever taken off of this ranch.  It was determined that he was at least eight years of age.  He was extremely heavy, about 160 pounds.  Now that is a big one and for a low fence hill country deer, a super collection.

 

     A couple of weeks later, Lawrence returned to the ranch to demonstrate his shooting skills.  We spent some time on the range.  Then hunted later and Lawerence connected with a handsome ten pointer, but did not stop him.   We tracked that deer for four hours but could not find him.  So we continued to hunt and LSR collected a handsome turkey.

 

     The next day he placed a shot in the correct position on another buck.  After the shot, I asked where he had hit the buck and he told me told me that it was right where I had told him to put it.  When we found the deer, about 30 paces from where he was hit, that shot was exactly where Lawrence said it would be, on the shoulder.

 

     A few days later, the first buck that Lawrence had shot was found in a water tank about ¾ of a mile from where he was shot.  The deer was retrieved and the antlers collected, really a nice buck.

 

     In sum, all the young hunters are now a year older at seven or approaching seven years of age.  They each had another rich and successful hunting experience.  When I use the term successful, I am referring to the whole package that hunting provides.  Spending quality time with family and friends; being exposed to the great outdoors and the many things that it has to offer; learning how to hunt and practicing the discipline to conduct a successful hunt – all of these are real character builders and anyone who dismisses these experiences as anything else it just making uninformed comments and is probably really jealous that someone thinks enough of their grandchildren to treat them each as a special person.  

 

     As a final note, our Christmas dinners with the kids and grandkids are always a fondue --offering the venison that we had collected during the season.  I dare anyone to find a more delightful dinning experience with young children. This is really a special occasion-- something that both the adults and children really look forward to because we have so much fun honoring the rituals of a true fondue meal.