Just getting over here to post this ... I've been way too busy this week.

Saturday morning I took my oldest daughter, Trevor, on her second youth hunt. Last year at 7 years old, she missed a doe on the opener. This year at age 8, she was out for redemption. We went to a new property that I have acquired and looked promising. About 1/2 hour before shooting time, we set up the Double Bull blind on the edge of a bean field tucked near a corner in the woods line. The wind was perfect and the location gave us a great vantage point over a small pocket of beans that were still green. We settled in for the wait. Trevor took several small cat naps while I kept watch.

At about 30 minutes into legal shooting time, I saw a lone deer pop out of the woods about 60 yards away. I told Trevor and she immediately locked in on the deer. I helped her get her gun up on the shooting stick, checked the red dot scope for power, and told her to wait. The young deer ran right up to us, stopping at 12 yards facing our position. I told Trevor to center the dot on his chest (the deer was facing us), but to wait to see if it would turn. The deer figured us out and did the foot stomp, so I knew our window of opportunity was slipping fast. I asked her "do you have the dot on it?" She said "yes". I said "shoot" .... BOOOOOOOM! The deer flipped over on it's back, stumbled to it's feet, and then snow plowed for maybe 15 yards in the beans and laid stone cold dead.

Trevor and I hugged, laughed, high fived, I'm pretty sure I teared up, and just celebrated in the blind. I told her I was so proud of her and told her to go get her deer. The moment was so perfect, watching your young daughter walk up and run her hands through her first deer ever. The deer was a small button buck. The excitement in Trevor was priceless. She kept saying "he's beautiful!" and "this is the best day of my life" over and over. She told me "thank you dad, you're the best". I told her, that I was the one that should be saying "thank you!" The moment was one of the greatest feelings I've ever had as a dad. I'm so proud of my little girl.

After some hero pictures, I did the honors of field dressing the deer, while she held the legs for me and I explained how the inner parts of the deer worked. She was fascinated with it. Then we loaded the deer up to check it in and then off to show Mom and get it butchered due to the warm temps.

I just might be one of the few that has a button buck on the wall.

I am so proud of Trevor. A deer with a muzzleloader is quite an accomplishment for an 8 year old. I'm so proud of the way she handled herself and how she seemed to understand the magnitude of what she had done.

Being a dad just flat ROCKS!