Lessons learned during hunt

Ihope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and was able to see your loved ones.

Our Christmas was pretty great and we celebrated Cooper's sixth birthday.

Christmas Eve started with Cooper opening his birthday presents.

We then enjoyed a nice big lunch of ham, collard greens, purple hull peas, cornbread, fruit salad, corn casserole, loaded potato salad, green salad, crescent rolls and deviled eggs.

After lunch, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Cooper and he blew out his candles on his Batman birthday cake.

Cake and other desserts were enjoyed and everyone was struggling to stay awake.

Full bellies and a fireplace are the perfect ingredients for going to sleep.

With my dad having to leave at 3:30 for work, we went ahead and handed out presents so we could all open gifts together.

After cleaning up the paper, tape, bows, tissue paper and bags,

everyone loaded up their gifts and Cooper collapsed for a nap after he promised us he was not sleepy or tired.

He laid down and was asleep in about five minutes.

Christmas Day was spent at my mammaw's for lunch and time with family.

Cooper went home with my parents to shoot his gun one more time before his big hunt the next day.

I went home and packed up my hunting gear and Cooper's warm clothes because winter decided to finally show up.

I did not want his first hunt to only be remembered as miserable and cold.

Tuesday morning rolled around and Cooper does not bounce out of bed at 5:15 a.m. easily.

After he woke up, his excitement was starting to show.

My dad, Cooper and myself made it to the woods and waited for daylight.

With a big blind and plenty of room, the Mr. Buddy heater made his hunt a lot more bearable and kept the cold out.

I'm pretty sure the temperature inside the blind was about 55 degrees.

The temperature outside the blind was about 35 degrees.

We didn't see a deer at all that morning but it didn't matter.

Cooper was warm and we would try again that afternoon.

Cooper, pappaw and mommy headed back to the woods about 2:45 that afternoon.

We got in the blind and I could see anticipation building in Cooper's face.

His eyes were sparkling like fireworks and you couldn't take the smile off of his face with a pry bar.

After about 45 minutes, my dad motioned to me that a deer was coming in from our right from a thicket.

It was a young buck with long spikes on his head. Perfect first deer for a kid.

He slowly made his way to us and hung up behind a group of trees where Cooper wouldn't have a clear shot.

We watched him in that spot for 15 minutes.

The feeder went off and he spooked into the brush.

After a few minutes, the deer made his way back to his patch of grass behind the trees that he was working on when he first came into the area.

I could tell Cooper was so anxious and he was slowly building up a big case of buck fever.

This can be a bad thing for a young hunter.

This deer was not in a hurry to get into the clearing to give Cooper an opportunity for a shot.

After almost 45 minutes, the spike stepped into an open space. Cooper got on him. I could see his legs were shaking, his breaths were filled with excitement.

I was praying he would calm down and make a good shot. We told him to put the scope on his shoulder and a shot rang out. The deer bucked, kicked an ran. He hit the deer, but I was worried immediately.

My dad walked out to look for blood so we can trail the deer.

I asked Cooper if he had the shoulder in the scope or if he pulled the trigger before he put the scope in the right spot.

He told me he thought he hit at the end of the rib cage.

He confessed that he was so excited and was shaking and pulled the trigger too soon.

My dad came back with no sign and I told him what Cooper told me about his shot placement.

I walked the route that the deer took and hoped I would find something.

I prayed the whole time that I could recover his deer just to see him smile.

You know as a hunter, you would do anything to recover an animal. I walked a long ways looking for a glimmer of hope but after walking for about 45 minutes, I had no sign of hope.

I walked back and told him he hit the deer in the guts so there was no blood. I explained to him that the shoulder is where you have to hit them to get a blood trail.

His pappaw and I both told him he had to hit the deer where we told him to aim.

Cooper hung his head a little.

I had been in his shoes before.

Every hunter has worn those shoes of disappointment and wishing they could go back and change their shot.

We made it back to the house and his disappointment had turned into wanting to try again.

He came to me and said that he wants to try again.

I asked him if he understood what and why he had to correct on his shot placement.

He said he knew he had to relax and not get so nervous. Cooper knows he let excitement get the best of himself, but he wants to try again.

I can say that him wanting to correct his mistake and try again shows his never-give-up mentality.

The fact that he told me exactly what he did wrong and his willingness to fix it shows his maturity.

I told him he did great and thanked him for his honesty.

That alone made me just as proud of my little man even if he didn't get his first deer.

Looking ahead to the youth hunt on January 6-7, the weather will not be so unbearably cold for a little guy.

I'm taking him again this afternoon for the last day of the modern gun Christmas hunt.

He gets three more days to try and I hope his perseverance pays off.

Pictures? Questions? Comments? Send them to katiem@eldoradonews.com.