Hunting with Teagan

Hunting…but i’m not a hunter.

I have an 8 year old son named Teagen. He is 100% boy. He loves sticks and shooting things and football and he doesn’t like to take showers and will wear the same clothes multiple days in a row. 

He has fort out in the back and loves to go explore the property behind our house like he is Magellan. Yes, rocks end up in the washing machine and he wants to keep and collect empty gallon jugs to collect his secret potion in…(i.e. dirty water)

This all started somewhat out of the blue. But not really. He had this hankering for going hunting and killing something. Where he got this from I have no idea. I am not a hunter. I love the idea of it, but i am not dedicated to it. I don’t have all the stuff, i don’t have a place to go, but for some reason he has a desire to go. 

That desire I believe stems from us going to the beach in the summer without family. 

When we take breaks during the day to rest they get to watch TV and one summer Teagen gravitated to a hunting channel and has been hooked. 

Why did we go? 

Hunting is one of those things that I really believe is ingrained in our souls as men. Laugh all you want. I really truly believe that, so when he sees it on TV he is intrigued by it. He kept asking to go and we finally blocked off the last weekend of deer season. 

I called a buddy  who has access to tons of land and he allowed us to HUNT. I borrowed a gun from a friend and we went out to kill. I told myself, if it moved we would kill it. I did not care if it was a buck or a doe.  

We got dropped off on a dirt road and walked the 300-400 yards to the Shooting house. 

We climbed in and got settled. We talked through the process and what will happen. 

Then we SAT…..and SAT.  after about an hour  he was getting anxious and we saw 3 turkeys come out and he said …”Shoot Em “ I told him no, lets enjoy watching them in their normal environment. It was good because i gave us 20 min of watching a wild animal in his habitat. Doesn’t sound cool… but it was 

Hour 2- we both got a little anxious and i was getting on his nerves and he was getting on my nerves. At this point I gained my composure and knew there was a lesson here. I looked at him and explained that….nothing in life that is worth having is quick and fast. Great things take work and patience. I Explained that the work was, lining up the trip, getting the equipment, driving 2 hours, walking to the stand. 

I explained that the patience was sitting in the stand waiting to the time to come to reap the benefits to come. At the time he did not understand it, but he submitted to my teaching and truly listened.

Hour 3 – we were both quiet and i looked out the window and saw 4 deer walking past the stand. They continued on into the greenfield. I gave Teagen the phone to video. I pulled out the gun and aimed at the largest of the deer and shot. The deer fell on the spot. The adrenaline and excitement cannot be mimicked. Playing football in front of 100,000 people is a different feeling but real similar. I can see how it can be addicting. 

We hopped out of the shooting house and went to see our take. He was over the moon excited and we went and took a thousand pics of the deer. 

We drug the deer out of the greenfield and called “Big Bug” to come load up the deer and went out to meet him. 

Said our good byes to “Big Bug” and went and ate one of the best steaks i have ever consumed  at Diamond Jims and headed home. By this point it was a 12 hour day and we still had 2 hours to drive.

We talked we laughed, we argued and disagreed a little, we got excited and shared a meal and we were thankful for the valuable time. About 9:30 pm on the way home i looked in the rear view mirror and asked Teagen. 

“Did you have a good time”

T- “yes sir” 

Me- “ would want to do it again” 

T- “Oh…yes sir” 

Me “ Did you learn anything today?”

T- “Yes sir” 

Me – “whats that?” 

T- “Patience”

• Time with my son 
• Killed a wild animal
• Laughed a lot
• Learned a lesson

Hard to beat that. 

Why was this good? 

1. Focused Time
   1. This was time with me and him. No mom or sisters or friends. Just us, away from all the noise. 
2. Lessons 
   1. Hard work
   2. Patience
3. Experience 
   1. First time ever killing a wild animal and getting the meat. He will never forget it and hopefully it will fuel a life long hobby. 
4. Memories 
   1. No one can take them away.

Lastly… I am not a hunter. So, why did I do it? I explain that in the video below.