My son, Noah, and I went to Keith John's Outdoors (KJO) this past weekend and had an absolute blast. I scheduled this trip a few months ago and coincidentally three other TBH'ers (mars1107, elwhompo, and 134) and one future TBH'er were there as well. This was a great group of guys who were good hunters and a joy to talk/share stories with in camp.
Elwhompo gave a good run down on another thread about all of our successes, but I need to expand on my two.
Noah is 5 years old and is completely consumed by hunting. He eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff and that makes me a proud papa. We have had a several sits in the deer stand in the past, but had yet to seal the deal on anything. Kind of reminds me of that Trace Adkins song, Just Fishin' because he would say, "When we go hunting together, we never kill anything, but that's okay." I would always tell him that one day we would have the right opportunity. Well this past weekend offered two amazing opportunities and we capitalized on both.
Friday afternoon was a good sit, but we came up empty handed. However, three pigs were brought back into camp by some other members of the group. We hit the rack pretty early after a long day of traveling and hunting.
Saturday morning the action started early for Noah and I. A group of 6 pigs showed up around 6:30 and as soon as it was light enough, we picked one out and took the shot, but waited until after the hunt to do any tracking. Noah was pumped that we had finally shot something together. Because it was still a little hazy, I thought the pig was quartering away, but it was more broadside so my shot was a little back of where I wanted it. We found decent blood, but the arrow reeked of a gut shot.
When Keith and the rest of the group came by to pick us up we told them we had hit a pig. He asked how big the pig was and I told him it was a smaller one around 30 pounds. So Keith unhooked Blue (which I found out that he doesn't let Blue track pigs) and sent him on the trail. In a few short minutes, Blue was bayed up and we headed out. Keith was leading the way, but Noah was just a few short steps behind him busting through the brush, cactus, and mesquite.
He looked like a natural.
We got to the pig and Keith told Noah to grab his back legs and without hesitation he jumped right in and grabbed them. We pulled Blue off the pig and I stood on the pigs head to pin him down and got my pocket knife. Keith pulled the pigs front leg forward and showed Noah where he needed to stick the knife. Well, my knife wasn’t the right tool for the job, so ElWhapmo (Ryan) produced a real sticking knife and gave it to Noah. When he stabbed it, the pig went to squealing, but Noah stayed on task and with a little help from Keith, got the job done.
I have never seen as much pure elation and joy on my sons face. He was a pumped that he had some blood splatter on his arm and has retold this story countless times. I gave Keith a huge thanks for doing this and we hauled the pig out. Had that been the end of our hunt, we would have left 100% satisfied.
That afternoon we had a mighty fine meal of fajitas (thanks to 134 and Mars1107) and my charro beans and rice.
The evening hunt we sat in a great spot, but the 25+mph wind had most of the animals pinned down, so we didn’t see anything. Later that night I learned that Coop is a pretty good card player.
The last morning Noah wanted to hunt the Hay Ring stand since that was where three rams were killed the day before and Keith graciously obliged. We saw an axis doe, but she never got closer than 60 yards. I had asked Keith if we saw a ram could I upgrade our hunt package and shoot it. He said of course.
We were the last group to be picked up, so we loaded up and were headed to camp satisfied with our results and experiences. Then suddenly the truck stopped and Keith whispered that he saw Jenny out in the brush and asked if we wanted to do a stalk. Noah bailed out of the truck pretty fast, I put my release back on and grabbed by bow. This was truly the last minute of the last day of the last hunt…just like they always say on TV.
Cooper was leading the stalk and was working to get us in position, but the rams kept working away from us. We were easing through the cactus, mesquite, etc. and Noah was making every step. We got to a sendero and were trying to get ahead of the rams, when Cooper stopped and said, “Noah come here.” He picked Noah up and threw him over his shoulder and took off running for about 75 yards. We finally got well ahead of them and Cooper put us under this mesquite tree, he said the rams should make their way right by us in a few minutes, and he backed out toward the sender. All in all, it was about a 300 yard stalk to get in position.
So Noah and I settled in, I caught my breath so I could take a steady shot and we saw Jenny leading the rams right to us. She passed about 15 yards from us and 4 baby rams were the first to clear the brush. Next, this Corsican with a nice curl stepped out, so I drew and settled the 20 yard pin on his shoulder. I touched the release, sent the G5 Striker his way and right into the boiler room with a clean pass through.
The ram ran about 20 yards and piled up. As soon as Noah saw him fall he gave me a huge hug and said, “That was AWESOME!” He wanted to immediately run over to the ram, but I told him we needed to give it a few minutes. It didn’t take long to tell the ram was done, so we headed over to see our kill. I whistled at Coop, then saw him making his way back towards us and I gave him a thumbs up! He had a huge smile on his face. It was a great stalk and truly an awesome experience.
We left on a high note and were already talking about plans for a return trip. I know Noah has asked me at least 100 times, when are we going to eat the pig he killed. He wanted to eat it the day he killed it, but I told him we needed to wait. It is going on the pit this weekend.
I cannot say enough good things about Keith, Cooper, and the rest of the hunters we spent the week with at KJO. This was a great group, who took Noah in and treated him like one of the guys which is sometimes difficult when a 5 year old is in camp.
It’s funny how our priorities shift as we evolve as a hunter. I get so much joy from just sitting in the stand with my little snack eater and noise maker. Killing something is just icing on the cake. This weekend provided a lifetime of memories and stories that will get lots of mileage.
Thanks for reading.
Shawn
Elwhompo gave a good run down on another thread about all of our successes, but I need to expand on my two.
Noah is 5 years old and is completely consumed by hunting. He eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff and that makes me a proud papa. We have had a several sits in the deer stand in the past, but had yet to seal the deal on anything. Kind of reminds me of that Trace Adkins song, Just Fishin' because he would say, "When we go hunting together, we never kill anything, but that's okay." I would always tell him that one day we would have the right opportunity. Well this past weekend offered two amazing opportunities and we capitalized on both.
Friday afternoon was a good sit, but we came up empty handed. However, three pigs were brought back into camp by some other members of the group. We hit the rack pretty early after a long day of traveling and hunting.
Saturday morning the action started early for Noah and I. A group of 6 pigs showed up around 6:30 and as soon as it was light enough, we picked one out and took the shot, but waited until after the hunt to do any tracking. Noah was pumped that we had finally shot something together. Because it was still a little hazy, I thought the pig was quartering away, but it was more broadside so my shot was a little back of where I wanted it. We found decent blood, but the arrow reeked of a gut shot.
When Keith and the rest of the group came by to pick us up we told them we had hit a pig. He asked how big the pig was and I told him it was a smaller one around 30 pounds. So Keith unhooked Blue (which I found out that he doesn't let Blue track pigs) and sent him on the trail. In a few short minutes, Blue was bayed up and we headed out. Keith was leading the way, but Noah was just a few short steps behind him busting through the brush, cactus, and mesquite.
He looked like a natural. We got to the pig and Keith told Noah to grab his back legs and without hesitation he jumped right in and grabbed them. We pulled Blue off the pig and I stood on the pigs head to pin him down and got my pocket knife. Keith pulled the pigs front leg forward and showed Noah where he needed to stick the knife. Well, my knife wasn’t the right tool for the job, so ElWhapmo (Ryan) produced a real sticking knife and gave it to Noah. When he stabbed it, the pig went to squealing, but Noah stayed on task and with a little help from Keith, got the job done.
I have never seen as much pure elation and joy on my sons face. He was a pumped that he had some blood splatter on his arm and has retold this story countless times. I gave Keith a huge thanks for doing this and we hauled the pig out. Had that been the end of our hunt, we would have left 100% satisfied.
That afternoon we had a mighty fine meal of fajitas (thanks to 134 and Mars1107) and my charro beans and rice.
The evening hunt we sat in a great spot, but the 25+mph wind had most of the animals pinned down, so we didn’t see anything. Later that night I learned that Coop is a pretty good card player.
The last morning Noah wanted to hunt the Hay Ring stand since that was where three rams were killed the day before and Keith graciously obliged. We saw an axis doe, but she never got closer than 60 yards. I had asked Keith if we saw a ram could I upgrade our hunt package and shoot it. He said of course.
We were the last group to be picked up, so we loaded up and were headed to camp satisfied with our results and experiences. Then suddenly the truck stopped and Keith whispered that he saw Jenny out in the brush and asked if we wanted to do a stalk. Noah bailed out of the truck pretty fast, I put my release back on and grabbed by bow. This was truly the last minute of the last day of the last hunt…just like they always say on TV.
Cooper was leading the stalk and was working to get us in position, but the rams kept working away from us. We were easing through the cactus, mesquite, etc. and Noah was making every step. We got to a sendero and were trying to get ahead of the rams, when Cooper stopped and said, “Noah come here.” He picked Noah up and threw him over his shoulder and took off running for about 75 yards. We finally got well ahead of them and Cooper put us under this mesquite tree, he said the rams should make their way right by us in a few minutes, and he backed out toward the sender. All in all, it was about a 300 yard stalk to get in position.
So Noah and I settled in, I caught my breath so I could take a steady shot and we saw Jenny leading the rams right to us. She passed about 15 yards from us and 4 baby rams were the first to clear the brush. Next, this Corsican with a nice curl stepped out, so I drew and settled the 20 yard pin on his shoulder. I touched the release, sent the G5 Striker his way and right into the boiler room with a clean pass through.
The ram ran about 20 yards and piled up. As soon as Noah saw him fall he gave me a huge hug and said, “That was AWESOME!” He wanted to immediately run over to the ram, but I told him we needed to give it a few minutes. It didn’t take long to tell the ram was done, so we headed over to see our kill. I whistled at Coop, then saw him making his way back towards us and I gave him a thumbs up! He had a huge smile on his face. It was a great stalk and truly an awesome experience.
We left on a high note and were already talking about plans for a return trip. I know Noah has asked me at least 100 times, when are we going to eat the pig he killed. He wanted to eat it the day he killed it, but I told him we needed to wait. It is going on the pit this weekend.
I cannot say enough good things about Keith, Cooper, and the rest of the hunters we spent the week with at KJO. This was a great group, who took Noah in and treated him like one of the guys which is sometimes difficult when a 5 year old is in camp.
It’s funny how our priorities shift as we evolve as a hunter. I get so much joy from just sitting in the stand with my little snack eater and noise maker. Killing something is just icing on the cake. This weekend provided a lifetime of memories and stories that will get lots of mileage.
Thanks for reading.
Shawn
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