(How a son taught his father the value of Patience.)
By John J. Guidy, Jr.

For John and Jordan Guidy the 2002-03 deer season began this past spring when my wife Angelique and I decided our son Jordan, age eight at that time, had demonstrated the maturity and skills required of being a responsible hunter. Of course our first stop was Mark's Outdoors where I knew we would get the professional advice and appropriate equipment for Jordan.

We traded an old shotgun of mine for a Ruger M77 MarkII, Compact chambered in a Remington 260 and proceeded to the rifle range so Jordan could learn the safety procedures, responsibilities and fundamentals of marksmanship as they relate to hunting. Jordan was caught off guard on his first big shot by the recoil of a high-powered rifle. His experience to that point had been with a BB gun; we conveniently skipped the 22LR step.

Undeterred by the imposing force, he asked me to brace his back after the first shot. From there he became quite a good shot from the 50 to 75 yard ranges. I taught him the five steady hold factors I was taught during my Army career. I told Jordan if he could not handle the recoil by himself he would not be carrying it hunting this year. It must have been quite a motivator for him because three more trips to the range we were able to eliminate the need for bracing.

I have always told Jordan how blessed we are to have several places within Alabama and Georgia to go hunting, this year he was itching at the bit to see what nature had to offer. We opened the rifle season with a trip to a day hunt place owned by a friend of mine in Wilcox County. We didn't see much during the morning but had a great hunt in the afternoon. Normally this trip is a Doe only hunt but my friend said Jordan could shoot a good buck if we saw one. Low and behold if we didn't see a nice 7 point come out on our field early in the afternoon to feed about 90 yards of our stand.

When he turned broad side to us I told Jordan this was his opportunity to put to use the skills we had been practicing on the range. To my surprise he respectfully turned down the shot because he thought it was out of his range (first lesson in patience). I understood and eventually he left the field, but Jordan was able to claim a doe later in the afternoon, this time she was closer to the stand and within his confidence level of responsible shooting. In reflection, I was very proud of his decision not to shoot the first deer he saw; I was nowhere near that mature at his age.

We hunted a few more times throughout the Holidays without seeing any deer (second lesson in patience) until we went down to my uncle's club in South Georgia. Jordan and I were sitting on a green field between a row of Plantation pines and a beautiful hardwood bottom for about two hours. Just when I started to complain about the lack of activity, we had two does come out on our field. He was going to shoot one of them when we started hearing movement in the bottom. Darkness was fast approaching when we finally could make out the silhouette of a good buck. From my position I could see his head down to his front shoulders, but Jordan could only make out his head and rack. This deer was within bow range so I told Jordan to take a shot and again he declined because of the angle (third lesson in patience). I must admit that Jordan did experience "buck fever" with this opportunity because he was shaking enough to keep us both warm. I asked him if he was cold. His reply was," No Daddy, I'm just excited." We got a good chuckle out of this back at the camp, but again, I was very proud of his decision.

On January 18th we were supposed to hunt in Oak Hill, AL at my brother-in-law's property but when we got to his camp late that Friday night he was overloaded with hunters. I called my club over in Crenshaw County to see if there was room enough for Jordan and I the next morning, at this point we would have taken last choice of stands. When they called back and gave us the "Second green road on the backside" we made plans to break camp early the next morning. We woke up about 4:15am the next day and made the hour plus drive to the club. I gave Jordan the center seat in the stand as I tried to ease over in the corner and catch up on some much-needed sleep with the instructions. "Wake me if you see anything". He started hitting my leg at 7:15am saying we had two does at the far end of the road. I scoped them out and we watched them feed off into the woods. I leaned back over and told him to wake me again if he saw anything.

At 8:15am he hit me again on leg saying he was seeing movement in the woods, again I began to look through the densely planted pines and could not make out anything. Just then it started to move again, it was a doe about 35 yards from the stand. We watched her move across the logging road but something was different about the way this doe was moving, her tail was tucked and she kept looking behind her. I suspected she was in heat so I told Jordan to keep watching the woods behind her. I gave up after about 5 minutes and proceeded back to some "shut eye". Not five minutes later Jordan hit me on the leg again saying, " Daddy, I see something white moving in the woods." I asked if it was a bird and he said, "No, just look about 5 yards deeper than where the doe was."

I looked but couldn't make out anything. Then it took two steps and I could make out a big body and antlers (fourth lesson in patience). I knew we had a buck coming so I told Jordan to get ready. I told him to take aim at the spot where the deer was going to cross the road and I clicked his safety off. The buck took two steps out into the road and turned to look at the stand. As he turned I said, "Oh my gosh!!" No sooner had the word gosh left my lips when I was rattled by the thunder of Jordan's 260. When the dust settled Jordan had a trophy 8 point laying in his tracks. Jordan placed the shot right above the shoulder and broke the deer's spine.

We watched for a couple of minutes to make sure the animal had ceased but, could no longer restrain our excitement and jumped out of the stand hooping and hollering. After all the "High Fiving" and other assorted adrenaline activities had settled down we loaded the deer up and headed back to camp. As we made our way back to camp I began to feel that "Father's Pride" begin to swell up inside, knowing he had shot a much bigger deer than anything I had ever shot. Jordan looked over at me and asked, "So Dad, are you more proud or jealous?"

Words cannot describe the elation and pride I experienced that cold Saturday morning in south Alabama with my son. I started taking Jordan deer hunting with me at the age of three and I don't think it would be a stretch to say this is an activity that we will share the rest of my days. I want to take this opportunity to challenge all the fathers reading this to make time and share the great outdoors with their children; the rewards are priceless and the memories are timeless. John J. Guidy, Jr.