Brier's first evening off the ground

[Lefty]

This is my seven year old daughter Brier.  She has hunted alot with me for squirrels, rabbits and turkeys.  We have always hunted on the ground or from a blind.  She is a great little hunter.  She listens well, loves the woods, very curious, will hold squirrels for me while I dress them, helps blood trail deer and I simple love spending time with her.  
 This year. a good friend of mine, invited me to hunt his Illinois farm.  We put up a double stand and even though I am an Iowa resident, I always buy a non-res. hunting license for Illinois.  I grew up there and still chase small game and waterfowl there each year.  Illinois offers a non-res. antlerless archery tag, over the counter for $15.  Cheaper than an antlerless resident Iowa tag.  So with a farm to hunt, a double stand set, and a tag in my pocket, we started making plans for Brier's first deer hunt above ground.  We order a youth Hunter Safety Systems vest/harness from Cabelas (excellent product by the way!).  We have talked alot about how we conduct ourselves in a treestand the last couple weeks and brushed up our sneaky skills on some squirrels earlier this year.  Tonight was our first Saturday of archery season.  Weather was warm and dry and the wind was right for the stand.  We met up with a friend hunting another stand site on the same farm and heading out with high hopes.  We had a great evening hunt with a lot of action from many different animals, unfortunately with the exception of deer.  We enjoyed the wildlife and practiced our treestand  safety and skills.  Although, no deer offered us a shot tonight, we did shoot true when a bushytail did.  So here is a picture of our trophy for the evening and hopefully the beginning of many more hunts from the trees together.

[PastorSteveHill]

Very Cool! Very cool indeed!  Glad to see you have her in the woods, but even more proud to see a great father! Blessings,

Steve

[Chris Surtees]

       

[John Havard]

Congratulations to both you and Brier, Chris!  What a wonderful time the two of you had together.  Such times are more precious than gold.

[Huntrdfk]

That's pretty neat, good for the both of you.


David

[John3]

Great story and pics.. Thank you for sharing them.

[JAG]

Thanks for sharing!

[JEFF B]

now thats what its all about right there well done dad          

[Blasterjdh]

Looks like good times were had by all.  Congratulations

[Toecutter]

Awesome!!!

[Tom L]

You are a truly blessed man.
Tom

[amar911]

Darling little girl and good times for both of you! Nice of you to let us be there with you vicariously.

Allan