GON Kids – March 2021

Editor’s Note: The below story appeared on the GON Forum on Oct. 4, 2020. To read the unedited story, go to https://forum.gon.com/threads/first-real-deer-hunt-with-my-daughter-and-son-and-what-a-result.977964.

By Kenny Crowson

My 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son haven’t been too excited about hunting and usually made comments like, “Dad I can’t believe you’re going to shoot those pretty deer.” So in the past couple years, I would take them over to the lease and go sit in a box stand for 30 minutes and then walk around and look at tracks, scrapes, rubs, and I would educate them on the woods.

The 2020-21 season was getting close, and my daughter and son both came to me and said they would love to go deer hunting and shoot a deer. My daughter stated she was only shooting bucks, no mommies or babies. So I went and bought my first crossbow.

On the day of the hunt, we got there around 3 p.m. and set up camp. They ran around and played at camp for an hour or so, then we headed to the stand. Nothing happened until 7:20 p.m. when I saw three does working their way into the food plot. My daughter got ready as they approached, but they moved off, and she couldn’t get a good shot.

Daylight was fading fast, and when it didn’t look like she would get a shot, I could saw horns step out at 15 yards away in the shooting lane. I thought I was having a seizure the way I started shaking.

She saw him, too, and said, “He is a giant.” I told her to put it on the spot she’d practiced every day and squeeze the trigger. “THUD” is what I heard as he crashed away.

“Did I get him? Did I get him?” she asked in the most excited and joyous voice I have ever heard from her.

We got out of the stand and found blood. We started trailing it, but they were getting scared thinking it would come after us and wanted to call Mr. Matt and his tracking dog Trigger. Mr. Matt is our club president and lives close by. He was there in five minutes. Trigger got out and went straight to the arrow that had passed through. We retrieved it, and in five seconds, he was on the buck. It was an 8-point buck. He went about 50 yards, and my daughter was going crazy. I began to shake again and couldn’t stop.

It was the most memorable weekend I have ever had with my kids. Now all they are talking about is next weekend and going to the lease.

Reese Crowson, 9, killed her first deer on her very first hunt. She was hunting with her dad and brother in Monroe County on Oct. 2.