Rant: Why are some dads like this?

[Whit90]

I have my first child, a boy, due on the 29th... I CANNOT wait to expose him to this hunting lifestyle that we all love so dearly. He will be shooting anything he wants to, as long as it’s legal and as long as he’s enjoying the experience. Deer greed will not be a thing in our house.

 

[spencer12]

Luckily, when my father taught me to deer hunt I never experienced this. In fact it was the opposite. If we saw a deer of any size, shape, or form he always asked, you want to shoot that one? He left it in my hands and of course I always said yes.

 

[Rich M]

I can see letting them earn a buck, but if opportunity arises, why not?

I remember driving across a corn field and a whopper runs out of woods and stops about 75 yards out. Dad was gonna shoot it and changed his mind. I missed it 4x and it ran off. Asked dad why he didn't shoot, wouldn't have fazed me. He said he couldn't shoot it w me there.

To give an 8 yo a 150 buck seems excessive but if it's what you got, let him have it. My thought is that it sets unrealistic expectations in some instances.

 

[Tacoma Man]

I think kids should be allowed to shoot whatever deer they want. I told my son when he was little to shoot whatever he wanted for his first deer and I would have it mounted. I remember us stalking up on a 4 pointer and him making the shot. He gets to look at that deer every day. As he got older, I just said we shouldn’t shoot smaller bucks but does were good to eat. He’s shot probably 15 deer or so now and killed his biggest this year in my stand. I was with him when we found it and will never forget his excitement.

 

[leroy]

The whole time my boys hunted in stand with me I never carried a gun, seeing their excitement of killing whatever, be it a small buck or doe, was better than a world record for me.

 

[lampern]

I think kids should be allowed to shoot whatever deer they want.

Totally disagree.

When I was a kid, kids had to shoot the same legal deer as adults and follow the seasons and either-sex days as everyone else.

Kids did not get an exception to the rules to shoot whatever they wanted.

Thats a new phenomenon, exempting kids from the hunting regulations/bag limits/restrictions.

 

[campboy]

It saddens me when dads (and granddads) deliberately do not allow the young hunter they are with to shoot a nice buck that comes by. WHY? Two recent examples come to mind and, to me, it just screams “hoarding” your bucks all for yourself.

One man had a grandson come clean across the country to hunt with him in middle Georgia. Young child had never killed a deer. He took a doe, but wasn’t experienced enough to thoroughly check out his surroundings....he had a whopper of a buck, in the 140’s, off to the left of the doe and granddaddy deliberately didn’t point it out to the child! He wanted that nice buck for himself later on by his own admission.

Same story, different day: another grandchild wasn’t allowed to shoot a (again) 140’s class buck....had to watch him stroll by and told to take the doe because he “didn’t want to make it too easy on him”....got to pay your dues before you can pop a biggun.

Another friend of mine was hunting with dad, also a friend, and a huge buck comes out. The kid was, oh, about ten, twelve years old. He asks daddy if the buck was big enough to shoot, as the property was strictly trophy managed. Dad says he’s gonna check him out through the scope and you know what happened next. Kid has zero interest in hunting now.

Another middle Georgia hunter buddy was so strict with his son that he wasn’t allowed to take anything less that 140. 140’s don’t grow behind every tree. Let the kid bloody his hands some before he has to grow up! Kid was scared to pull the trigger on anything for fear of being in trouble. Another kid that couldn’t care less about hunting now.

I don’t understand why this happens.

I would not get along well with people like this

 

[leroy]

Totally disagree.

When I was a kid, kids had to shoot the same legal deer as adults and follow the seasons and either-sex days as everyone else.

Kids did not get an exception to the rules to shoot whatever they wanted.

Thats a new phenomenon, exempting kids from the hunting regulations/bag limits/restrictions.

Think you missed the point, pretty sure he was saying legally taken. Good of you to just quote the first sentence in his post

 

[lampern]

I'm not sure.

I assumed he meant kids should be exempt for requirements adults should be subject to.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

when Dylan was 8yo I took him to MS to a friends farm. The 2nd evening there a nice 130 class 8 point stepped into the field we were hunting over. Dylan had a .243 single shot that he was pretty good with at under 150 yards. This deer was about 75 to 80 yards out.

The shooting house we were in had slots to shoot out of that were to high for Dylan to shoot from sitting down, and to low to stand up, so I sat him on my leg while I sat in the chair. I could see him and the deer and was watching him get ready to shoot. That boy caught him a bad case of buck fever and started shaking so bad the end of the barrel was moving 3 or 4 inches. I got hold of his shoulders and talked to him to try and calm him down, but it didn't help much.

Dylan took a shot at that buck, and missed. The buck ran to the right side of the field, and a bit closer to us. He was about 60 to 65 yard out then. Dylan reloaded, and had calmed down a bit, but apparently not enough. He aimed took his time and fired again. A miss. That buck was confused about where the shots were coming from and he ran straight at us. He wasn't more than 45 yards out from us. I told myself, there ain't no way Dylan misses him at this range. This buck had glistening white horns. I mean he was a wide, thick, high horned buck with antlers that really stood out. Dylan reloaded again, took careful aim, and I reminded him to squeeze that trigger slowly.

Dang it, he missed a 3rd time. That buck took 2 hops and off he went into the woods. I had Dylan reload for the 4th time hoping that crazy buck or another one would step out into the field. We waited for about 20 minutes and the sun was getting low. We couldn't see the other end of the field where the buck had appeared at first. About that time a big ole Mississippi doe stepped out within a few feet of where the buck ran into the woods and disappeared.

Dylan wanted to shoot it, and I told him to wait until he thought he couldn't hardly see her with the scope. He waited a good 5 minutes, and the light faded away. He finally said, ' I'm gonna shoot her' . I told him go ahead if he was happy with her. Needless to say, he dropped her right in her tracks. No shaking, no wobbling, no problems sighting.

We climbed down out of that stand, and went to admire his deer. It was the first deer he had ever shot. He was really hyped up about it, but wondered about that buck. We went and check everything closely, both that night with lanterns and the next morning in daylight. We couldn't find any sign that showed he might have hit the buck. We found it's tracks, and we found where it went into the woods and tracked it across a field, but never found any blood.

Did I feel like I could have taken that deer? Shoot yeah, and twice on Sunday. But there wasn't any way I was going to cheat my son out of his chance to take a nice buck, especially his first one.

He didn't kill a buck that year, but we did get a nice little 4 point the next year. It is hanging on his bedroom wall now. He is as proud of that 4pt as he would have been over that 8pt. And I was happy to spend the $450 to have that 4pt mounted. My boy, his deer and good memories.

Life is good

 

[NCMTNHunter]

I was at a church function about 10 years ago and I was trying to strike up a conversation with a kid. He was 12 or 13 and I knew his dad had a boat and was a serious fisherman. I asked the kid if him and his dad had been wearing the fish out. Before the kid could say anything his dad interrupted and said "When I fish it is my time". I was floored. The dad fished every weekend and two or three evenings a week in between and had never taken his family fishing. Now that kid is in his 20's living a lifestyle that his parents disagree with and they don't understand why.

My daughter started turkey hunting with me when she was 7. I haven't had my own shotgun out in 4 seasons now. She killed her first deer last season and I think between last year and this year I have deer hunted once without her (she took a morning off after killing a deer the day before.

If she want's to go I'm taking her. When I take her it's all about getting an opportunity for her. It's not easy and a lot of opportunities get by but so what? I hunted by and for myself for 27 years but I am having the most fun I've ever had in the woods right now.

 

[SemperFiDawg]

It saddens me when dads (and granddads) deliberately do not allow the young hunter they are with to shoot a nice buck that comes by. WHY? Two recent examples come to mind and, to me, it just screams “hoarding” your bucks all for yourself.

One man had a grandson come clean across the country to hunt with him in middle Georgia. Young child had never killed a deer. He took a doe, but wasn’t experienced enough to thoroughly check out his surroundings....he had a whopper of a buck, in the 140’s, off to the left of the doe and granddaddy deliberately didn’t point it out to the child! He wanted that nice buck for himself later on by his own admission.

Same story, different day: another grandchild wasn’t allowed to shoot a (again) 140’s class buck....had to watch him stroll by and told to take the doe because he “didn’t want to make it too easy on him”....got to pay your dues before you can pop a biggun.

Another friend of mine was hunting with dad, also a friend, and a huge buck comes out. The kid was, oh, about ten, twelve years old. He asks daddy if the buck was big enough to shoot, as the property was strictly trophy managed. Dad says he’s gonna check him out through the scope and you know what happened next. Kid has zero interest in hunting now.

Another middle Georgia hunter buddy was so strict with his son that he wasn’t allowed to take anything less that 140. 140’s don’t grow behind every tree. Let the kid bloody his hands some before he has to grow up! Kid was scared to pull the trigger on anything for fear of being in trouble. Another kid that couldn’t care less about hunting now.

I don’t understand why this happens.

Greed and selfishness. Plain and simple. On the flip side, the first time I took my oldest son hunting we were sitting together. At daybreak a doe and nice 8 walked by. He dropped the 8 and hasn't been hunting since. It was too easy and he doesn't see it as a challenge. SMH

 

[seeker]

I have my first child, a boy, due on the 29th... I CANNOT wait to expose him to this hunting lifestyle that we all love so dearly. He will be shooting anything he wants to, as long as it’s legal and as long as he’s enjoying the experience. Deer greed will not be a thing in our house.

Hope everything goes well on the birth of your son.

 

[lungbuster123]

I dont force our oldest to hunt with me, but he knows he always has an open invitation. He doesn't ask much but bet your tail if he does we are going. He just doesn't really enjoy hunting the way I hoped he would but that's fine with me. All the time I put in the woods wouldn't matter a bit if the once or twice he ask me a year to go and a 160" deer steps out then that's his deer. On another note I do pray deep inside his younger brother enjoys it more and wants to go with me ?

 

[godogs57]

My boy’s first buck. Didn’t let him
Pass it up

 

[six]

Dang godogs. I’m 61 years old, but not opposed to being adopted. Little man set the bar pretty high, congrats.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

Seems like since Dylan turned 18 and found girls, he ain't as interested in deer hunting.

Maybe I can still talk him into fishing, seeing as how the gals will lay out on their docks in bikinis

 

[godogs57]

Dang godogs. I’m 61 years old, but not opposed to being adopted. Little man set the bar pretty high, congrats.

Should have seen the jealousy exhibited by others back then. It was distasteful to say the least.

 

[six]

I can imagine.

 

[Buckman18]

I take my daughter all I can and let her kill whatever is legal. She's 13 and has killed every big game animal in our state except a bear and gator (She's been close to killing a bear about 10x, just not happened yet). She enjoys the lease in McDuffie more than the mountains (camper, 4 wheeler, camp culture, less walking, no mountain climbing, etc).

Like the OP, that weird, jealous, small man part behavior is something I hope I never possess.

Often, we strap our hammocks onto opposite sides of the tree, and if game comes certain ways she kills, from others, only if she can't get turned without getting detected, ill fire. But always have tried to get her on the game. Its just plain fun.

The first hog she shot charged us, I had to knock my daughter out of the way and shoot it from the hip. It did a big somersault and stopped sliding literally 2 ft from us. You just can't buy that kind've fun being a score-monger.