How I Badly Influenced My Granddaughter
Sept 24, 2018 4:22:19 GMT -5
daappleknocker and Dale Malusi like this
Post by ridge on Sept 24, 2018 4:22:19 GMT -5
Most of the folks on here know that I spent this past weekend hunting with my granddaughter who for a point of reference is 15. She has been a National Honors Society member since she was in junior high. She works diligently at a job all summer long and her boss says her effort exceeds that of the males employed there! I could name some other honorable achievements by this remarkable young lady but I am getting far away from the real story. Yes, I am a member of the proud Grandpapas Inc.
My granddaughter did not fill one of her tags during this past weekend. It was a first for her on the Youth Weekend BUT it was HER CHOICE. She could have taken a buck or a doe at what are given shot distances for her. One buck was at least a 5 point and had a rack of antlers that was two times greater in height than his ears. I kept making the international sign for shoot to her in the blind but alas she disregarded this old man for one of the first times (well that might be a little exaggeration but . . .) This would have been her largest buck by antler points and antler size to date.
A lot of the pro-MARs folks believe that I (we) badly influence our young people or kids be it children or grandchildren away from the MARs Dark Side. After the above event with my granddaughter, I thought that perhaps she HAD gone over to the dark side . She knows my passion for choice and she has always stated her independent agreement with it. She would always be my best hunting and fishing partner whether she agreed with me or not. It seems that her choice had little to do with my instruction and example but yes, a little with APRs. It seems that my granddaughter has an older boyfriend that has been giving her a real difficult time about taking larger bucks than her and that she should take more trophy like animals. Now he is not a real bad kid. He just reads too many magazines and watches too many TV shows. He also has worked at a known sporting goods store until recently getting a trades job while completing his senior year of high school. To continue the story, this outdoorsman/beau suggested that my granddaughter buy a certain game cam which she did. After analyzing 1000s of pictures on a lap top, he made the mistake of telling my granddaughter that two or three of the bucks on the cam on our property are larger than anything that he is seeing on his parents' property. That is all that it took to light a fire in my granddaughter to make sure that she took one of those bucks that must be hiding on the property. Far be it from me to point out that bucks do not necessarily stay where a camera points.
As for the rest of the story . . . this young man suggested that I really must have a rod of at least $100 in value to properly fish for bluegills. Shortly after this revelation, he and his parents took my granddaughter on a fishing excursion to a lake that we know well. While attempting to land a bluegill that appeared to be at least 13 inches in length, according to witnesses who are still laughing, his fishing pole and fish went to the bottom of the lake; and he went overboard. He screamed for help, only for his fishing pole. My granddaughter with the great heart that she has, swam down 20 feet and brought the fishing pole back to him. He promptly stated that he owes her forever. If I were a betting man, I would say the odds are that he will hear the echoes of those words for awhile. It is this boyfriend with his outdoor passions for bigger is better that has turned my granddaughter to the dark side and her new quest in search of a trophy buck, well at least a very large 8 point that is now somewhere in our county, I think, or the 9 or 10 that haunts her pictures or did until her camera puked on Sunday (yesterday) after a couple of weeks of work. Sometimes justice has no words and is not sweet. As of yesterday afternoon, a certain young man was only heard stuttering and a grandpa was not saying a word . . . until now.
My granddaughter did not fill one of her tags during this past weekend. It was a first for her on the Youth Weekend BUT it was HER CHOICE. She could have taken a buck or a doe at what are given shot distances for her. One buck was at least a 5 point and had a rack of antlers that was two times greater in height than his ears. I kept making the international sign for shoot to her in the blind but alas she disregarded this old man for one of the first times (well that might be a little exaggeration but . . .) This would have been her largest buck by antler points and antler size to date.
A lot of the pro-MARs folks believe that I (we) badly influence our young people or kids be it children or grandchildren away from the MARs Dark Side. After the above event with my granddaughter, I thought that perhaps she HAD gone over to the dark side . She knows my passion for choice and she has always stated her independent agreement with it. She would always be my best hunting and fishing partner whether she agreed with me or not. It seems that her choice had little to do with my instruction and example but yes, a little with APRs. It seems that my granddaughter has an older boyfriend that has been giving her a real difficult time about taking larger bucks than her and that she should take more trophy like animals. Now he is not a real bad kid. He just reads too many magazines and watches too many TV shows. He also has worked at a known sporting goods store until recently getting a trades job while completing his senior year of high school. To continue the story, this outdoorsman/beau suggested that my granddaughter buy a certain game cam which she did. After analyzing 1000s of pictures on a lap top, he made the mistake of telling my granddaughter that two or three of the bucks on the cam on our property are larger than anything that he is seeing on his parents' property. That is all that it took to light a fire in my granddaughter to make sure that she took one of those bucks that must be hiding on the property. Far be it from me to point out that bucks do not necessarily stay where a camera points.
As for the rest of the story . . . this young man suggested that I really must have a rod of at least $100 in value to properly fish for bluegills. Shortly after this revelation, he and his parents took my granddaughter on a fishing excursion to a lake that we know well. While attempting to land a bluegill that appeared to be at least 13 inches in length, according to witnesses who are still laughing, his fishing pole and fish went to the bottom of the lake; and he went overboard. He screamed for help, only for his fishing pole. My granddaughter with the great heart that she has, swam down 20 feet and brought the fishing pole back to him. He promptly stated that he owes her forever. If I were a betting man, I would say the odds are that he will hear the echoes of those words for awhile. It is this boyfriend with his outdoor passions for bigger is better that has turned my granddaughter to the dark side and her new quest in search of a trophy buck, well at least a very large 8 point that is now somewhere in our county, I think, or the 9 or 10 that haunts her pictures or did until her camera puked on Sunday (yesterday) after a couple of weeks of work. Sometimes justice has no words and is not sweet. As of yesterday afternoon, a certain young man was only heard stuttering and a grandpa was not saying a word . . . until now.