The first deer hunt for 15 year old John-Paul O’Leary went well. So well that even if it were a Hallmark movie, most would dismiss it as unrealistic. Not cold, not early, sunny and in a comfortable European style deer stand at the edge of a Columbia County field of cut corn. Perhaps 15 minutes into the sit and sitting/looking the wrong way, a quick check over the shoulder and all we could see was antlers. A rut-swollen eight pointer, unwary and grazing broadside at 35 yards. What would not have appeared in the Hallmark version was half-panicked whispers of “huge buck” and the need to get turned around, set up, steadied and shot-ready “quickly.”

His shot was perfect – putting the deer right to ground for a quick, humane harvest.

The ritual blood-marking of the first kill for the young person is fun and does a good job of marking the occasion. More seriously, it makes tangible the responsibility, and messiness, that comes with taking a life.