Hunting with Mason, My Oldest- Part 2

After the hunt, Mason and I dubbed the little guy "Young and Dumb".  Now that we all know him by name, here comes Young and Dumb walking right in to our decoys.  He blows right past the toms and walks right into range without hesitation or regard for life.  I drew down on him and had him dead to rights for a long time but wasn't sure if I should pull the trigger.  I told Mason that he was young, and would be bigger next year.  Mason replied, "Shoot him dad!  Shoot him!"  I was still hesitant because I would have passed on him if I were alone.  I thought and thought until I realized that this kid needed to see where food comes from and see what hunting is really like.  I have always said that there is nothing wrong with meat hunting, I just prefer to trophy hunt but that switch got flipped real quick.

About that time, Young and Dumb started to figure out that something wasn't quite right and was about to head back to his buddies.  I told Mason to count down from three, and even then I was having second thoughts.  

"3".  

I thought, "I don't know, he's kind of young."  

"2".

"He'll be bigger next year." I said.

"1"

"Oh what the heck."

Bang!

Young and Dumb was down like a sack of taters and he wasn't going to get up.  The look on Mason's face was, well, like mine!  Priceless!  He said "I can't believe you got him!"  I was a little surprised myself because it has been a couple of years since I pulled the trigger on a hunt, but there we were, with a bird on the ground and a whole lot of smiles and high fives.  

We took a bunch of pictures and relived the moment a dozen times or so but one thing never left my mind: I just shared a successful hunt with my oldest son.  This was ten years in the making guys!  I had dreamed about this moment from the day he was born and here we were.  If you have never shared a moment like this with you child, not only is it as good as what you expect, it is even better!  I would venture to say that it was even better than he could have expected too!

Also, on an aside, we ate the bird the next evening.  I grilled some of it after tenderizing it and marinating it in olive oil and salt and pepper.  That's a recipe and a darn good one from my buddy Pat!  I pan friend the rest of it and it was AMAZING!  We shared it with some neighbors as well and I think Mason learned a valuable lesson about where food actually comes from, especially meat.