Who you callin' Mom?: Deer Season

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get to share my love of the outdoors and hunting with my daughter. While deer hunting normally provides ample time for quiet reflection, time to take stock of my life and the beauty of nature, this year was different. Being in a hunting blind with a six year old is the exact opposite of that. She fidgets, she talks, she is just full of energy. Opening morning was quiet, still, warm and terrible for deer hunting. I did see one deer, a buck, at nearly 300 yards, trotting along, but at that time Riley was lying down in the blind I didn't get her stirred quickly enough to see him.
While that little activity broke up the time, it wasn't enough for her and she quickly decried deer hunting as boring. We wrapped up the morning hunt with no one having success. After lunch Riley took a nap, and as I was trying to get her awake for the evening hunt she declared "she didn't like hunting anymore" and "she wasn't going". Well that wasn't an option, so under protest we got her back in her hunting gear, into the truck and off we went. As soon as we pulled into the hunting location she perked back up and was ready to go. Again, it was hot, windy and poor conditions to see much deer activity. She and I talked a lot about deer habits and I told her stories about hunts I had been on before. As she got restless I pulled out the Kindle for her to play games and help pass the time. Just shortly after 5:00, a doe stepped out about 150 yards away. I got Riley to look at her through the binoculars and I asked "do you want to watch her, or do you want me to shoot?". She wanted me to shoot her. So while she got her hearing protection on and got her binoculars refocused on the grazing, but very suspicious, doe, I got my gun ready. I asked Riley again if she was sure she wanted me to shoot and she gave an emphatic "yes".
So I made my shot. While it wasn't perfect, she dropped right there. Of course Riley was ready to run out of the blind and go see her right away, I explained that we still had time to watch for another deer. In her words, "So we could use that doe as bait for a bigger deer". A new way to look at it.
After Dad and Jerry got over to us after shooting time, we set out to get our doe.
Riley finally got to see what she had been waiting for, how to gut a deer. She was enthralled.
The moaning about being bored faded away pretty quickly now that she had, not only seen a deer, but got to be part of a kill.

Well, the next morning, despite a late night Riley popped out of bed ready to hunt again. While she and I didn't see anything, Dad got a button buck. Riley was just as excited the second day.