Hey Gang, I thought I'd share my excitement for this upcoming youth season starting Sept. 1 and see who else is ready to go and what you and your kids have been doing to prepare etc.

My son, who is 11 will be hunting under my tags this year and with any luck, I won't even get the chance to shoot a deer for myself this season. We have been working on his shooting skills, including various shooting positions and shot placement discussions etc. He's been super excited for deer season all year long. He was convinced he'd harvest a deer as his first big game animal this fall, however, when I let him know he was ready to be the shooter during our spring bear season, he quickly changed his tune and was excited to harvest a bear as his first. (unfortunately only sows with cubs seen throughout the season)

We have a nice spot we've been focussing our attention at with a game cam. It should yield both mule and whitetail. It seemed to be a real hot spot last winter with the snow highlighting all the activity. So far there has been minimal pix on the cam but I think it should produce nicely come September and on.

Just last night we hung his tree stand and tomorrow we'll position mine right beside his as we've found a nice pair of trees overlooking our area. In an attempt to make the shooting portion of the hunt more reliable, we built a shooting rail on his stand. I'm happy with how it turned out and am certain it will be beneficial. I feel that ones 'first kill' should be a positive experience (quick and clean) so we are trying to increase the odds of that with lots of practise and any aids available. I've posted some pics of our setup so far and will continue to update any activity during his youth season.

Best of luck to all families getting out there this fall!

Montec