A person will never forget their first deer or their first buck.  Those are moments that are monumental, both as a hunter and as a Texan.  And this season I was fortunate enough to share those special moments with my oldest son, Waylon, during his first deer season as hunter instead of an observer.

Back in November 2023, he was able to harvest his first deer ever, a doe, on our family farm at age five. He made seven sits in a blind during the week of Thanksgiving before getting a shot opportunity at a doe. During one particular evening hunt, he made an excellent shot at a raccoon, right at dark at about 80 yards. There I was disappointed that he hadn’t gotten a shot at a doe, yet the youngster couldn’t have been more elated and pumped up about his raccoon. So you can imagine how excited he was, and how excited I was, when he made a great shot on his doe later that week.

My son’s reaction to harvesting a raccoon, was the first of many lessons I learned throughout our season together. I realized that from a child’s point of view, every time we went to the blind was an adventure, at least to him. Something that I had done who knows how many times, that I somehow managed to take for granted, he cherished.  And it didn’t matter how many deer we saw.  

Every time Waylon told me, “Thanks for taking me hunting, Dad, I had a lot of fun,” at the end of a hunt, I was reminded of just how special every minute in the blind with him was.

Several weeks after harvesting a doe, Waylon was in pursuit of a buck. He was now six years old, as his birthday is during the middle of our Texas deer season.  We played cat and mouse with a few bucks that we were after, but in the midst of the chase, he was able to harvest his first hog.  Again, his excitement and enthusiasm were through the roof, and I started to realized just how excited I would get each time that he was about to pull the trigger.

At the tail end of the season, there were some bucks patterning at one of blinds on our family farm.  There was one buck in particular that I just felt like would make a great first buck, so we made plans to pursue him. 

We got set up in the blind one afternoon for an evening sit, and I was pretty confident that this was going to be the hunt in which Waylon would harvest his first buck.  He was only 6, but as a Dad, I really wanted him to reach this milestone. I don’t know why, but I had it in my head that it was going to happen during that sit.  Probably because the buck that we were after had been coming to that blind every evening for the past week and a half, according to the recent game camera photos of him that we had.

As we sat there and the evening wore on, I began to become frustrated, because we hadn’t seen a single deer, and we were running out of daylight.  I realized that taking my son hunting was just as much about me as it was about him.  I wanted to see him excited.  I wanted to see him succeed. I wanted to see him wrap his hands around the antlers of his very first buck.

We were down to the last 20 minutes or so of legal shooting light, and I had just about given up hope, when the buck that we were after walked out.  All of a sudden, Waylon was breathing heavily, and so was I.

It wasn’t long before Waylon told me, “Dad, I’m ready to shoot.”

He took the safety off, and after what seemed like an eternity, he took the shot with .223 caliber AR platform rifle. The buck’s reaction immediately signaled that his shot placement was nearly perfect. The celebration began.

I’m not sure words can describe the emotions that overcame me that evening as we admired Waylon’s first buck. My hunting experience was now, forever changed. Hunting was no longer about me, but at the same time, it was about me, just in a much different way.

It was a milestone for us both, no doubt. Waylon admitted that harvesting his first buck was an important feat for him to accomplish.

“I worked hard to put a tag on my first buck,” he said. “I put in a lot of time practicing, and then sitting out in the woods and waiting for the perfect opportunity with the right deer.  It’s a moment I’ll never forget, and proves that the good things in life are worth working hard for. Now, I get to set my sights on a bigger buck for next year, and I can’t wait to begin that journey alongside my Dad.”

In Texas, harvesting a buck is almost like a right of passage.  It’s what you do as hunter, and I couldn’t be more proud of my son.  I’ve got a feeling, that it’s just the start of an even bigger set of adventures for us to share together.

Nate Skinner is an award winning outdoor writer, photographer, and videographer.  He works full time in the outdoor industry as a content creator, and owns/operates S & L Outdoor Productions.  S & L Outdoor Productions is a creative company that focuses on building bold content for brands and companies in the outdoor industry. Born and raised in Texas, Skinner resides in the south central portion of the Lone Star State in Floresville, with his wife and their two sons, and his black lab. Skinner has made the outdoors his lifestyle, and spends his time hunting and fishing, and sharing his passion with his two boys, as well as friends and family.  Skinner is also a fishing and hunting guide, and specializes in coordinating corporate entertainment hunting and fishing trips. He is also a professional angler, and competes in Professional Redfish tournaments up and down the Gulf Coast. Visit his web site at https://www.nateskinnerphotography.com.

Nate Skinner

Nate Skinner is an award winning outdoor writer, photographer, and videographer.  He works full time in the outdoor industry as a content creator, and owns/operates S & L Outdoor Productions.  S & L Outdoor Productions is a creative company that focuses on building bold content for brands and companies in the outdoor industry. Born and raised in Texas, Skinner resides in the south central portion of the Lone Star State in Floresville, with his wife and their two sons, and his black lab. Skinner has made the outdoors his lifestyle, and spends his time hunting and fishing, and sharing his passion with his two boys, as well as friends and family.  Skinner is also a fishing and hunting guide, and specializes in coordinating corporate entertainment hunting and fishing trips. He is also a professional angler, and competes in Professional Redfish tournaments up and down the Gulf Coast. Visit his web site at https://www.nateskinnerphotography.com.

www.nateskinnerphotography.com