Youth Deer Hunting – A Father/Daughter Perspective

Youth Deer Hunting – A Father/Daughter Perspective

By Kyle and Hope Dana

Many of our family’s greatest memories are made in the outdoors. For as long as they can remember, my daughters have watched me prepare to go and return from hunting, and occasionally bring home wild game. About five years ago, my oldest daughter, Hope, asked if she could go on a pheasant and deer hunt with me. Up to this point, I had invited both girls to join me, but I didn’t want them to feel like they had to “tag along” or start hunting just because Dad does. After those hunts, Hope asked if she could start deer hunting during Iowa’s youth deer season. To be honest, that fired me up. I remember hunting with my Dad, and to now have the opportunity to take my daughter hunting was pretty sweet.

I’m grateful Iowa offers youth seasons. The youth deer season has become a memory builder Hope and I look forward to annually. As she gets older and more active, we’ve had to become more creative with making time to get to the field. Because it’s an interest we share and enjoy together, it’s something we don’t neglect. I hope what we started with our first youth deer season, carries on for years to come. We’ve been able to see some cool scenes, like amazing sunsets or deer oblivious to our presence and feeding five yards in front of us. We’ve been able to make some valued memories, like Hope shooting a mature buck at 12 years old. It took me well into my 30s to accomplish the same feat. We’ve been able to learn how to communicate better, like when Hope was struggling to be confident in her shot, or when I wanted her to shoot a deer she wanted to pass. Also, we’ve increased our bond, like when we pray driving to the farm or Hope jokes that she’s a better hunter than me (which she might already be).
Rather than just reading my stories and thoughts about youth deer hunting, I asked Hope to share some of hers. Enjoy!
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How many years have you been deer hunting?
How many deer have you harvested?
What made you decide to start hunting?
I have been hunting for four years and I have harvested three deer in those four years. What made me decide to start hunting was seeing my Dad hunt and seeing all of the memories he had made while hunting. Another thing that made me want to hunt is some of my friends hunt and they talked about how much fun it was to be able to go out and it made me want to try it.

What gear do you use to hunt deer?
I shoot a 350 Legend off of a tripod. I wear an orange vest and hat, earplugs, and shooting glasses. We take binoculars so we can see deer from far distances. Sometimes we hunt from a portable ground blind. I shoot sitting down so I sit on a hunting chair or a bucket.

What kind of mental and physical work does it take to hunt deer?
One thing that is hard to do while hunting for me, is getting up early and staying up late. When I shot my buck in 2022, after finding, cleaning, and cutting up my deer I didn’t get home until 1:15 A.M. Then the next morning I had to get up early for church. If you want to hunt, you have to practice shooting your gun. You have to learn where to shoot a deer, you have to learn how the gun works, and you have to have confidence that you can stay calm while you pull the trigger.

What kind of obstacles have you encountered and had to overcome?
One of the obstacles I encountered was the fear of pulling the trigger during my second deer season, even after I shot the gun and harvested a deer the year before. I went the whole season without pulling the trigger once. I had a small buck about 35 yards in front of me that stood broadside for at least a minute straight and I couldn’t get myself to pull the trigger. I overcame that by watching and listening to my Dad shoot the gun and then shooting it multiple times, myself, before my third hunting season. Watching my Dad shoot the gun helped me remember the recoil and sound of the gun. Another obstacle I encountered was not being able to look through the scope properly because I couldn’t close one eye. My Dad helped me with that by buying clear shooting glasses and covering the lens of my non-dominant eye (my right eye) with a piece of paper.

What have been some of your favorite moments hunting?
One of my favorite moments hunting is outshooting my Dad in the last couple of years. I’ve made a lot of cool memories with my Dad in the truck and in the field, like shooting a 140-inch buck last year or stalking deer through a cornfield.

This year’s hunt was a little different than last year’s hunt. What was different?

What was the same? What did you learn?
This year and last year looked a little bit different. Last year I went out and shot a really nice buck the very first night out. This year we went out a half dozen times, sometimes not seeing a single deer before I shot my buck, which is much smaller than the buck I shot in 2022. I learned that you have to be patient and that joy isn’t found in the size of a deer.

If one of your peers was on the fence about getting into deer hunting, what would you tell them?
I would tell them to go. I would share my experiences with them. It’s not always going to be easy. It’s going to be frustrating at times, but the rewards and memories far outweigh the challenges.

If a parent had the opportunity to take their child hunting, but hasn’t yet, what would you tell them?
I would say take them out, it’s a learning opportunity for both the parent and the child. The memories you make while hunting are pretty awesome.