OT - Son and I Did a little snow shoeing today.

[Sandman]

Hello all,

I've tried to teach my son over the years that it's not about the killing as much as it is about being front and centre with what nature has to offer.

I remember one of the things that my father taught me about being a responsible hunter and that was to "give back from that which we take".

This year I decided to help the local herd in the area of my sons Outdoor Leadership School that he is attending. After many walks of the local area with my son it was quite evident that the school property was a yarding spot for the local herd.

I headed to the school today and broke out the snow shoes and a sled packed with corn. My son, girlfriend and I trekked to an area where I found some generations trails (I had put out a couple salt blocks earlier in the year).

My girlfriend had never snow shoed before but carried on like a trooper;





My son has been at the school for over a year now and he can sure shoe circles around me. Pulling a sled with 4 bags of corn he pulled ahead of this old guy and made the tree line long before me;





He must have felt bad because he dropped the sled and came back for the old guy;





We dropped the corn at an area in the pines and set up one of my trail cams on the spot.

We then set out for a nice tour of the property and the wildlife it had to offer;















After a little scouting the weather started to turn so we headed back;



The old guy was worn out as we headed back and of course my son wanted to keep going but dad was tapping out so we headed back by way of the maintained road;





I sure enjoyed spending some quality time with my son and family, I'm thinking that dad may soon have to pass the leader role over to my son and take on a follower role soon~!

Cheers,
Robin

[Fletch2]

Good read and picks and I know about fallin behind

[xcaliber]

Great read, and pics. Good job!

[drkeenan]

Great read and parallel lives. I skied with my 15 y/o son on Thursday and couldn't keep up after a couple of hours. (first time) I think he wore me out on purpose so he could connect with a young lady he knew to be at the same mountain. He got his wish Stinks getting old.

[bubba]

That was a good read!! one that I can relate to, my son can also smoke me getting around in the woods, or at home, and have also passed the torch so to speak, its ok. Old farts, Young studs, the trail continues on.........

[leonk]

good stuff. the 'old guy' looked overdressed and hot..?

[Sandman]

good stuff. the 'old guy' looked overdressed and hot..?

Sure was overdressed and hot - I like to get as much weight control aka excercise as possible when I'm out so I intentionally dress to sweat.

Cheers,

[Bullzeye]

I did the same thing with my daughter on Saturday, we have five deer yarding near our deer stand.

Just keep in mind there is a lot of talk these days on how giving a lot of corn to the deer in the winter is actually not good for them and can kill them. During the winter the enzymes in a deers stomach are not the same as summer which is how they are able to digest and live off of cedar and tree bark etc in the winter, and corn apparently gives them problems. I need to read up more on this from credible sources, maybe someone here knows more. Now I know deer dig up the snow in the cornfields to get kernels around here so my guess would be that their stomachs are used to it, but maybe in areas where corn is not grown is a problem.

just something to think about.

[Sandman]

I did the same thing with my daughter on Saturday, we have five deer yarding near our deer stand.

Just keep in mind there is a lot of talk these days on how giving a lot of corn to the deer in the winter is actually not good for them and can kill them. During the winter the enzymes in a deers stomach are not the same as summer which is how they are able to digest and live off of cedar and tree bark etc in the winter, and corn apparently gives them problems. I need to read up more on this from credible sources, maybe someone here knows more. Now I know deer dig up the snow in the cornfields to get kernels around here so my guess would be that their stomachs are used to it, but maybe in areas where corn is not grown is a problem.

just something to think about.

Thanks for the info - I'll see what I can find out.

The yarded deer have access to several fields here of standing corn that the farmers could not get off before winter and judging from the tracks they are using it as their winter feeding area.

Cheers,

[dutchhunter]

yup you are right ,it makes a difference were you live as the deer down here in the southern part of Ontario live in the picked corn fields all winter at night .mayby up north were there is no corn fields the deer may suffer from corn brought in to them but down here I is fine ,I like to bring in a hay bale as well ,Dutch

[R.J.]

Awesome pic's Robin ! ... At first I thought Kevin was standing on a log and you were standing in a hole on the trail pictures ! Then I was the one of you guys walking along the road and realized > he's grown a lot since I saw him last !

[Sandman]

Awesome pic's Robin ! ... At first I thought Kevin was standing on a log and you were standing in a hole on the trail pictures ! Then I was the one of you guys walking along the road and realized > he's grown a lot since I saw him last !

He is not my "little boy" anymore for sure RJ - He's coming in at 6 ft 5 now. Makes me feel good that he has the outdoors passion like his dad and my dad.

Cheers,