Am I out of line on this?

Question by Newell: Am I out of line on this?
I plan on taking a boy on his first deer hunt this year in the Angeles National Forest.

This is the way I normally hunt. I have a friend in the U.S Forest Service. One of his jobs requires him to spend the night outdoors watching. He doesn’t tell me exactly why he does this, but I suspect he is watching for illegal marijuana growing or meth labs in the forest. He doesn’t say why. He says I have a “big mouth.” In the course of his stake outs, he sees deer activity. When he sees a place that he feels is sure fire, he lets me know. In this particular forest, the terrain is very steep, going up to the 10,000 foot level. The terrain is very steep. The water runs straight down. So you have an unusual situation. All the deer browse is at 4,000-6,000 feet, but all the water is much lower. So the deer need to come down to drink. And when they come down to drink, they normally don’t look up. So he normally finds me a spot downwind and above a drinking spot.

So I go out with a backpack the day before opening day. I get my tent, and my sleeping bag, and I spend the night there. . Honestly, it usually is not very restful for me. I am afraid to sleep in the forest by myself. Then I get up, get in position on my stand, and wait for my deer.

So the boy and I will need to camp out overnight. Now, here is the problem. I do NOT want the boy to spend his first night camping out in a remote place, the night he goes hunting. It will be just too much strangeness. I want him to be prepared to spend the night out in the woods. Otherwise he will be exhausted and fatigued when it is time to shoot. So I want to take him on an overnight camp out at least two or three times. Before we go. That way he will be familiar with spending the night out of his house and his bed. His grandmother is raising him. She had to take custody after his Mother who is in prison for drugs and his father who is autistic, abused him by starving him and making him live under filthy conditions. Obviously, and for good reason, she doesn’t trust other people with him. Why should she? Her own son treated her grandson badly. .So she wants to chaperon him. No problem. But she waitresses/manages a restaurant, and she takes care of a sick husband who really never wanted children around. Her time is limited. She isn’t sure she could spend two or three nights away from her house. Her relationship with her sick husband is already strained, because he specifically told her (this is her second marriage) that he absolutely did not want children in the house….and now he has two grandchilren that they are paying to raise. So the grandmother thinks I am crazy, and I guess is suspecting I simply want time alone with the boy in the middle of nowhere. Am I out of line for wanting to have the boy familiar with sleeping away from his house and bed? I am an adult, and I feel a little bit uncomfortable out in the woods. I think expecting a boy to spend his first night out in the woods, and get up bright eyed and bushy tailed and then shoot a deer at dawn is asking a bit much. And I want this to be a good experience for him.
Walking up a steep trail in the dark is not an option. Perhaps I failed to mention the terrain is very steep.

Best answer:

Answer by Tzara
I would recommend waiting until early in the morning before going into the woods. Even if that means having to pick him up in the wee hours from his grandparents. Overall the pros of having him sleep at home the night before opening day far out way the cons. It’ll make his grandparents more comfortable and will ensure that he gets a better night’s sleep.

I trust that you’ve taken this young man to a shooting range and familiarized him with gun safety?

Before you take him out to hunt please make sure he’s a decent shot; you owe that to the deer. I would also recommend taking him to the location you plan to hunt several weeks in advance to build a blind for you both to sit in.

What do you think? Answer below!