First Deer Hunt

Grandson Reed and his dad prepare for the start of the October Antlerless Special Firearms Season. This early season allows junior license holders and mentored permit holders to hunt antlerless deer with a rifle. This will be Reed's first deer hunt.

Reed's deer hunt started with a 5:30AM wake-up call. It was a cold 26°F with a full moon as they headed to the deer stand. The October full moon is known as the Hunter's Moon because it traditionally signaled the time for hunters to stock up on food before winter.

Early scouting with game cameras showed lots of daytime deer activity at the deer stand, located in a field near an ATV trail into our woods. Reed and his dad saw nothing during the morning of hunting. The deer might have taken advantage of the bright Hunter's Moon and partied all night. I accompanied Reed for the afternoon hunt while his dad was archery hunting at a different location. No luck for either hunter.

After a hard first day of hunting, Reed opted out of the next day's morning hunt. While Reed rested up for the afternoon hunt, his dad continued his archery hunt. As Reed and I headed to the deer stand for the afternoon hunt in the side-by-side we did see some deer activity, a small deer. We passed on this deer. It was too small and no shooting from the side-by-side. The second afternoon of hunting had the same results as the first day, nothing.

After two days of hunting from the deer stand we hadn't seen any deer. I checked the game camera near the deer stand the following day and found the deer had been within 20 yards of the stand on the morning of the second day, when Reed opted out of the morning hunt. Another lesson learned by a young hunter, you snooze you lose.