Killing your first deer is a powerful, complicated experience.

Hunting literature abounds with father-son first deer stories, as the hunting heritage has traditionally been passed from one generation of men to the next. But in this story the roles are reversed, as my dad only began deer hunting last year. With my encouragement, he took the classes, got the permits, learned about tree stands, broad heads, scouting, and took all the other necessary steps. He killed his first deer a few weeks ago at the age of sixty-seven, and over the course of a few days, I helped him take the animal from field to freezer.

I’ve been helping a few people get started hunting recently, and my father is the first of them to be successful. I’m glad we had the chance to talk about it while it was still fresh in our minds, I enjoyed our conversation and I hope you do too.