Hunting with family is one of the greatest parts of our hunting heritage and it’s the part that will ensure our heritage continues.

On a morning like most mornings in our family when my wife Kate has a doe permit, we made our way along a power line near our cabin looking for deer.

The early morning air was damp with temperatures hovering just above freezing.  We made a plan for Kate to hunt in an area for a couple hours on her own meanwhile our son Kaden and I would go do something in the woods while I carried a rifle although I’m not sure we could call it hunting.

The previous day Kaden and I practiced whispering every time we spoke on our “hunt” and checked out things like buck scrapes and deer tracks.  When Kaden wanted to know how the buck made scrapes I demonstrated which led only to more demonstrations and the more he learned about bucks, tracks and behavior the lower my chances became to see an actual deer.  Not that my expectations were very high in the first place, and I didn’t mind at all, any time in the outdoors with my son is time well spent.

Just as Kate was leaving the parked truck to head into the woods she stopped and pointed up a hill.  “There’s a deer” she whispered.

“Well that’s convenient” I thought.  Soon she was sneaking closer as Kaden and I stood still and watched from a perfect vantage point behind her.  She waited patiently for the deer to clear the trees and brush before making a perfect shot which in text-book fashion kicked it’s hind legs out and ran in a circle before dropping.

This experience was a perfect way for a youngster to participate in a hunt that included field dressing and dragging the animal back to the truck which he proudly helped Momma do. Back at the cabin he helped hang the deer and skin it, and ate back straps cooked with onions and mushrooms for dinner.

By the time dinner rolled around his story about helping Momma drag the deer morphed from a story of charitable helping to “I pretty much dragged to whole deer out by myself.” he said, showing that he really understands how outdoor story telling works at deer camp…

With that, I am confident that our hunting heritage is safe, at least one more generation.

Congratulations to Kate for providing meat for our family and fodder for the stories of future generations.