I took up bow hunting later in my hunting career. I bought a nice Hoyt Avenger XT 1000 compound bow and had good luck with it until it got increasingly difficult to draw back and hold. (The shoulder just wouldn’t cooperate any longer). At the same time, my 15-year-old grandson was showing interest after learning on a recurve bow. The timing was perfect to hand down my Hoyt to Henry.
When Henry got the bow he became driven! He maxed out the draw weight. He practiced relentlessly and quickly became a much better shot than I ever was. I was impressed!
I had painted small dots on the bow riser to count the deer I harvested with that bow. I told him he had to continue the tradition, but he had a way to go to beat Grandpa. He just grinned.
The problem was he had no one to mentor him as I live a six-hour drive away in Bridgewater, N.J., and he lives in Macedon, N.Y., and his is not a hunting family. I was frustrated that I couldn’t take him out. We had many conversations about shot placement, deer habits and more. He said, “Don’t worry, Grandpa, I’ll figure it out.” He spent hours online watching videos. He bent the ear of anyone who could offer advice. It’s amazing how hunters will help the new guy. He felt comfortable.
One of his good friends has a grandmother who owns some land that she was kind enough to let him use. Nice plot close to home, with corn, fields and trees.
Last year I was able to go with him one time just to watch. It was a spectacular morning, cold and crisp, the morning sun melting the frost off the grass. We had a great time just being together in the blind. No phones, no screens, no distractions and, of course, no deer. But, as most of us know, sometimes those are the best days.
This year he started early in the season and, like we all are, he was extremely optimistic. He really wanted to get a buck with Grandpa’s bow!
I was in the woods checking my trail cam when my cell phone rang—it was Henry. It was a Facetime call from his treestand. He spoke in whispers, and his voice was actually trembling: “Grandpa, I just shot the biggest buck I’ve ever seen.”
He described the 20-yard shot; he thought it was a good hit but the arrow did not pass through. He had heard the buck run through the standing corn but was not sure if he heard a crash. He wanted go right after it, but I suggested that he back out for a couple of hours then go back and look for blood.
I was at my son’s house when he called back a few hours later. As it turned out, the buck had only gone a short distance and the hit was better than we feared. Henry described a generous blood trail ending at a very nice buck. But now he was in unexplored territory.
Did you ever field-dress a deer over Facetime? It’s interesting!
His friend held the phone while Henry worked. His uncle Chris and I walked him through the process. When I saw the rack I said, “Henry, I think that deer may beat my best.” I sure hoped it would!
Henry said he wanted to make a Euro mount, so I told him to clean the skull and hang it in a safe place until our visit in a few weeks. In the meantime, his mom said all he could do was talk about how he and Grandpa were going to do the skull.
So we did the mount and it came out fantastic. Henry added a dot next to Grandpa’s dots on the bow. And finally, at 1365/8 inches gross, he beat Grandpa by about 5 inches!
Now that makes me proud!
