Megan's first hunting trip was to Blaine Township in Washington County, PA. She is eight years old, and was accompanied by Phil Weaver(Grandfather) and me, Shawn Weaver(Father). We all had a wonderful day and observed a lot of wildlife and enjoyed each others company. The fall foliage was at it's peak according to the weather reports and provided an absolutely pristine backdrop.
Originally, I thought that a squirrel hunt would be the best introductory hunt for Megan, but after talking with her the day before, she hinted that she wasn't too fond of the squirrel meals I prepared in the past. So, a in-line muzzleloader deer hunt would have to suffice for Megan and I-- An archery hunt for my dad.
On Monday, we started the morning off with a breakfast at Denny's in Washington, then off to Taylorstown for the hunt.
Though Megan is too young to hunt with a weapon, she was equipped with her digital camera and a walkie-talkie radio. I would recommend taking the camera and radio along to anyone interested in taking a young person hunting. She absolutely loved using both in the woods. She navigated well along side me through brush and downed trees and learned to pick her feet up to keep the leaves from crunching and limbs from cracking. She was excited to see deer jumping from their beds under hickory trees then bounding through the woods finally out of site. Squirrels were out and active just about everywhere we visited. Megan would report back to Grandpa via walkie-talkie every time something interesting happened.
We met back at the van at 1:00 for lunch.
That afternoon, my father and I coordinated an afternoon hunt where we had been seeing deer consistently. It involved two opposing hillsides with patches of brush in the valley and a lot of food producing trees around marked with scrapes in new leaf litter. It was synchronized so that Megan and I simply moved along one hillside and my dad along the other.
In a matter of 10 minutes, two doe and a buck were up-roosted. The buck went up past Megan and I; the two doe's started toward my father on the opposite hill(approx 250 yards away), but then turned and headed back my way. I told Megan to cover her ears. They slowed down just enough for me to find an open shooting lane @ about 50 yards and luckily the first one through was a nice sized animal. I put the cross-hairs on the doe's vitals and squeezed the trigger. After the smoke cleared, it was difficult to tell exactly where the deer went. My father called on his radio asking whether I hit it or not. I simply replied, "I don't know, but I put it right on."
We all moved down into the hollow looking for any trace of blood, but none could be found. Megan did an exceptional job of investigating the area. We then backtracked and restarted our search. Next, I started looking in unusual areas circling outward along logs and outside of the hollow. Finally, I spotted the doe. She managed to travel another 50 yards before collapsing between two logs. Megan got on the radio to tell grandpa.
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