I wish I could remember that day, my daughter was 9 at the time. I was furloughed from work back the first week of Nov 2012 from a job I had just started in Feb that same year. She had an opportunity on a small buck the first evening in the blind, but wasn't comfortable and didn't take the shot. I was recalled to work the very next morning and I had leave OK for TX after the morning hunt. I left her in the capable hands of my good friend, and received this picture the last night of the 4 day hunt we had planned.
I was able to make her first pronghorn hunt when she was 12 three years later.
Her "uncles" saved me again fall of 2015 when I had an accident that shattered my right leg. They took her to mountains to get her first mule deer.
I was finally able physically to be there when she took her first elk two years later. Along with her "Uncle" Cody, who has been there for all her firsts.
While I couldn't be there for all her firsts, I'm greatful and blessed with good friends who made things possible for her.
She's doing more hunts on her own now and I miss the days sitting with her in the blind or on a hillside glassing for her next opportunity. Time just goes by faster than any of us want them too, I'm just proud she loves the time field and she's blossomed into a capable young woman.
I'm happy for all the young hunters experiencing their first hunts. I'm also more than a little jealous of all you parents and mentors out there with them. Congratulations all, and may you be blessed with many more successful hunts!