For many of us, the first time is the time that you remember the most. For example, I will never forget the first time that I shot a deer. It is forever in my memory, I will never forget it. It was a small five point. It took place literally less than 20 minutes into my first rifle season in Wisconsin.

Well, this season (which is not over yet) had several firsts for me. I had the privilege of hunting in Michigan for the first time, taking a deer with my bow for the first time, and best of all had the chance to “hunt” with my daughter, Kylie, for the first time. Now I say “hunt” lightly. Let me explain.

Realistically I realized that when I abrubtly decided to ask my 4 yr old daughter, Kylie, if she wanted to join me on a quick evening hunt that my odds were probably immediately diminished of shooting a whitetail, let alone seeing one. I was fine with that though. I wanted Kylie to experience the outdoors. Little did I realize what I was in store for. It started with the walk to the blind. I realized that between carrying my bow, backpack, a chair, and some of Kylie’s extra clothes that there were no extra arms to try and carry “tired little legs”. I forgot that her little legs couldn’t keep up with mine! After we settle into the blind it is a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds, before Kylie pronounces that she sees no deer! At least she was very observant! Her next obeservation was my backpack and the gadgets inside. First she wanted to try a couple of the calls. So, no harm there I figure. I showed her the grunt call and showed her how to use it. She takes the call and blows so hard that her cheeks are bulging like they are going to explode and instead of mimicking a bruiser buck in the area, she alerted every mallard duck within a mile that we were there. It was hilarious. I tried to show her several more times the correct way, but it was to no avail. The grunt call got the best of her. She also gave the “doe can” a try as well. It won the battle too. Next up was the binoculars. Of course I explained to her which end to look through and where to look for deer. She snatched up the binoculars and quickly scanned the area out in front of us. Now, I forgot to mention that in the area we were hunting you could only see maybe 50-60 yds. It was not a big area at all. Binoculars were not a valuable asset in this particular location. If you see a deer it would be right on top of you before you know it! Anyways, after she scans the area (at supersonic speed I might add) she turns to me and shouts out loud, “Daddy, I don’t see any deer still!”At this point I was literally laughing out loud. Well, we sat a little while longer as darkness was slowly settling in. Of course, darkness and 4 year old don’t mix either. So we hopped out of the blind a little early, packed up and began the hike back to the truck. On the way back I asked Kylie why she was scared of the dark. She didn’t even hesitate, “Daddy, it’s because there’s big bucks out here.” I wish I had seen more of those big bucks, because I am definitely not scared of them.

Even though I knew that the chances of seeing deer were fairly slim, this first hunt with my daughter will be one that I will never forget. Hopefully, it is one of many that Kylie and I will share together. I also hope she outgrows her fear of big bucks as well!

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