How Having a Baby Improves Your Deer Hunting Skills
If you have been following DEER30 Outdoors, you are now well aware that my wife and I were blessed with a healthy baby boy back in January. Just like everyone said, your kids will teach you so much. After only five months I already see how my deer hunting skills are improving. Let me explain.
When you have a baby many of the skills needed for deer hunting will be sharpened with practice for your child. A new-born baby knows nothing about the world in which it has just arrived. You as the parent are responsible for teaching it everything it needs to know from walking and talking to becoming a good person. As I am sure any parent will tell you, your patience will be tested and so you learn to slow down, relax, and take it one day at a time. Good advice for those long days in the stand or on cold late season hunts when maybe the deer have not cooperated as you had hoped. Slow down, study the sign, and eventually you will find success.
A big part of deer hunting is being quiet and stealthy either in the stand or while stalking through the woods. When you have a sleeping baby, the slightest sound seems amplified as if it was being broadcasted from a loud speaker,much like a crunching leaf in November. You learn to do everything with more care and purpose to avoid waking the baby. You set the plate on the table slowly, you unwrap a granola bar with more care, you even learn to overcome the urge to sneeze and cough! I have made my wife laugh out loud as she watches me tip toeing through the house after having just laid our son down for a nap or bed time. I tell her that I am just practicing my Mohican sneak for the upcoming fall. When you can clean the house, wash dishes, etc. with the baby in the room and without disturbing him, you are honing your skills for the treestand my friend.
In any case, I am having a ball and loving every minute that I get to spend with my boy. He has taught me so much about life and myself in only the first five months. I can’t wait to see what I learn next.
- Randy