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Thanks to the efforts of
the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
in setting up the
Mentor program, my nephew was able to
harvest his first buck at the age of 14. I think this is a
great program as long as young & old hunters are following the rules
closely.
Joseph had sat numerous
times with me over the past two years learning safe gun
handling, game identification and where he could shoot
safely (lines of fire). He is one of the lucky ones in that
all of us are avid outdoorsmen and think safety first. If
anyone of us feel someone is unsafe...their asked to leave,
no questions asked. read more...
This program is not set-up
to just turn 14 & 15 year olds loose in the woods. Joseph
followed the rules in that he was visible at all times to
one of us that each have better than 30 years of experience
of big game hunting (mentor has to have at least three years
of experience with a big game tag).
Joseph also understood
that he needed to identify his target with the use of
binoculars or eyesight in that he was 100% sure that it was
a deer before raising the gun (scopes are not used to
identify objects!). He also understood where it was safe to
shoot and where not to shoot.
This
evening he ended up sitting in his uncle Keith's honey hole
with his father Joe close by. He had just got to the spot
where he was to sit when he spotted the deer around 30 yards
below him. The buck finally showed his horns but wouldn't
give a way to place a good high percentage shot.
Joseph
waited the buck out until it finally turned broadside.
Joseph pulled the hammer back on his 30-30 lever action and
let it go. The buck dropped but was still moving when his
father walked over too him. They quickly dispatched the deer
I had
heard the shots and headed in that direction knowing it was
Joe or Joseph that had shot. When I came upon the scene,
both were dragging the buck up the hill. I noticed it had
been previously wounded in the hind leg and after a quick
smell, knew it was gang green. I told Joe to go ahead and
get back on watch and I would supervise Joseph getting the
deer field dressed.
Joseph's comment was that he didn't feel he could do it
without throwing up. My reply was that if you want to be a
hunter and harvest deer...you need to be able to follow it
through from start to finish. I had him get out his new
knife and guided him through the process.
Midway
through he said that he thought he might puke and what would
he do then. I responded by saying that he was to step aside
the deer, puke and then get back to finishing the task that
lay ahead. Joseph did a great job with it being his first
time at field dressing a deer and I only had to do a few
things to help.
That
night the bragging rights were given to Joseph and he was
allowed to boast of how great of a hunter he was....ummmm...did
he said thank you to uncle Keith for giving up his spot?
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The New York Hunter
