Last Friday night, my 16-year-old son, Robert, and I went to the turkey shoot at Bronco Rod & Gun Club.

Our first shoot was a $100 winner, and yours truly took the cash. It was looking to be a really good night. Throughout the rest of the evening, we didn’t win a thing.

On the last shoot, Hunter Billups beat us out of a $25 Bass Pro gift certificate. What a great way to spend a Friday evening; you should give it a try, if you haven’t already.

As a reminder, shoots will start every Friday at 7 p.m. and last until about 11, depending on the number of shooters. The last shoot will be on Dec. 10. The club is located on Delaware Road near Route 258. Contact Joe Stutts at 562-7939 for additional information.

OPENING DAY

Saturday is opening day of the regular deer season, and to get you excited, I want to share the story of my first deer hunt.

I was 12 years old, hunting in my home state of Pennsylvania with a Winchester Model 94 30-30 with open sights. My dad was using the same model rifle.

I want to remind you fathers that kids can get so excited when deer hunting that their mind may wonder at times, but their senses are better than yours. Their hearing and eyesight are young and not yet damaged by time, and you should depend on their senses, but make sure they think about what they are doing.

Well, we had been on watch for more than a couple of hours, and I had been listening to a buck rubbing in a thicket about a 100 yards below us on the ridge. I had told my dad about it, but he had convinced me that I was hearing things.

A hunter was moving across the ridge, and when he hit the far edge of the thicket, that buck busted out on a dead run 50 yards below us.

Dad started yelling “shoot, shoot!”

Well, I couldn’t remember if I had put a shell in the chamber that morning so I worked the action. My Dad was shooting and yelling between his shots “shoot, shoot!”

When a shell came out, I was sure I didn’t have one in the chamber. “Shoot, shoot!” I worked the action again. “Shoot, shoot!” And again I worked the action. “Shoot, shoot!” One more time, I worked that action, and the buck was gone. Thank God that was over.

Now I could figure out what went wrong. Has anyone other than me ever had buck fever?

On Saturday, walk your sons and daughters through each and every step of preparation. Out in the field, if they hear something or see something, believe them.

Once again, if you have news or a good story to share about the outdoors, please send me an e-mail to outdoors@tidewaternews.com.

Please be safe while enjoying our outdoors and just like your Momma says, pick up after yourselves.