Special to The Herald-Sun
We all have a first. For 48 minutes, I tired to keep my anxious 6-year-old quiet.
It was last Thursday and I had promised to take him hunting with me with our bows, and at four o'clock, we left the house.
For two seasons, he has traveled with me into the woods to hunt. Our hunts were mostly exploring missions. We learned about tracks and trails and what animals eat and what animals sound like, and on Thursday, he recognized the crow calling from a distance and I was proud.
He's older this year. As he and his little brother age, and I catch myself thinking about those days that I wish they would age sooner. Perhaps one day I'll regret those thoughts.
Now he was in his dad's shadow as we took to the woods. Our destination was a ladder-stand big enough for two hunters. This was his stand, and we finished it one month ago with friends.
This day would be our first hunt from this hiding place, and his first hunt off the ground.
We walked and talked. He toted his bow and six arrows. I told him he had too many, yet he is stubborn and anything less would not suffice.
"You have six arrows too, dad," he said.
We walked a road that I frequently walk. He has walked this road many times, too, yet this time we were on a mission to hunt a deer.
Before I left the house, I grabbed my camera. It was an afterthought and I didn't need the extra item to keep up with, but perhaps I could take a photograph of something neat.
Along the way, I took several photos of him. He was dressed warm, and we had matching camouflage -- we looked good together.
We arrived at our field, and it was stunning and quiet. The colors on the trees were blushing in orange, red, yellow and gold. The standing field of corn and the green wheat glowed on this November day.
The wind was enough to silence our steps, and it cooled us, too. I asked him to stand beside the corn, and I took more photos. At the stand, I took photos of him climbing the ladder and of him sitting quietly by my side.
He sat still for five minutes until he wanted a snack. He is a loud eater, and he crunched the wrapper and I smiled. He began to talk and ask questions, and I smiled more as we talked. Then he became fidgety sitting beside me and wanted to stand.
The sun was beyond distant trees and the woods had become hushed. He sat in my lap, and I held him and whispered in his ear. I told him funny stories, quietly.
We talked about Indians and how Indians once lived. We talked about wearing buckskin clothing and using antlers for rakes and how far we have come as hunters. And we talked about how lucky we are to be in a tree, together as father and son and soon with brother, too.
I told him a story about a squirrel that once sat on my leg, and he laughed even more.
For a few minutes, we were both quiet and listened to the squirrels and birds and to the sound of traffic in the distance.
Around us, it was the sound of something walking, then stopping and then walking that caught my attention. I leaned to my right and upon seeing the deer, I froze.
"Son, a deer," I whispered.
He became still. Slowly he moved to his right and looked around the tree to the deer. Soon, this deer was followed by another and then another and then there were eight.
We talked about the deer and studied how they acted. We talked about the sounds they made and about where they were going and where they had been.
And we talked about what we should do. This was a first for us, in this tree and a first hunt for him this year.
This was his first hunt in a tree, and I said to him: "Be really still and just watch."
Reaching to my left, I stood and aimed and slowed my breathing and steadied my arms. He watched me, and I watched the deer.
From right to left and then back to the right, I aimed and then I shot. I shot again and again and again and again and again and with fading light, I shot again.
He watched me carefully. He studied my moves and he was a sponge.
Then he asked: "Dad, why didn't you shoot a deer?"
It was getting dark, and I said: "This was your first hunt, and hunting is never about always shooting. There is a time to shoot and a time to watch and a time to learn and a time to wait."
He looked at me strangely, then looked at the camera in my hands.
"Forever and ever, you will have these photographs of eight deer and two hunters and two bows and a dozen arrows, and you will say, 'That was my first hunt,' " I said.
He looked at me and, as only a youngster would, he asked, "Can we go again tomorrow?"
We all have a first.
Enjoy your time outdoors.
You may contact Jason Hawkins at hawkinsoutdoors@msn.com.
