Parker's First Deer

By Darr Colburn

My oldest son Parker Coues Colburn turned ten this year and was finally old enough to hunt big game in Arizona.  Parker drew a juniors deer tag and was excited for his first deer hunt.  We did some shooting at the range and I was confident in his shooting.  Jay and I did some scouting the week before the hunt and found several coues deer bucks to go after.  Parker could not miss school on opening day so Jay and I headed out to glass in the morning while Parker went to school.  My plan was to glass in the morning and then drive back and pick Parker up from school and hunt the evening and the weekend.  We headed out with the Polaris Rangers loaded and ready for the weekend.  Friday morning Jay and I glassed up several bucks and ended up having 6 different  coues deer bucks bedded.  Jay stayed to keep an eye on the bucks while I headed back to Phoenix around noon.  I arrived at school and Parker jumped in the truck and the first thing he asked was did you see any bucks this morning?  I smiled and told him we had several bucks bedded that I thought we could get to before dark.  We raced back to our spot and arrived with about an hour of shooting light left.  When we got back to Jay he told us the bucks were up feeding and in the same spot.  He also said that another 4x3 buck joined the original group.  Parker and I hiked up to a point and I started glassing for the bucks.  I found the biggest buck and ranged him at 175 yards.  The buck was straight down hill and looking up in our direction.  I laid our packs down and made a rest for Parker to shoot off of.  I explained to Parker where the buck was and he told me he could see him.  Parker was able to find him in the scope and told me he was ready to shoot.  I told him to wait until I got the video camera rolling.  A few seconds later I asked him if he was very steady and he said yes and he was ready to shoot.  At the shot the buck jumped and disappeared down hill out of view.  The shot looked and sounded good so we gathered up our stuff and quickly hiked down to where I last saw the buck.  I quickly found his tracks and then blood.  100 yards farther down the hill we found Parker's first buck.  I don't know who was more excited, Jay and I or Parker.  We slept on our cots under the stars and headed home the next day.  Parker's coues deer buck has 4 points on his right antler and 3 on his left.  I could not have dreamed of a better experience for my sons first buck.  More pictures and video to come soon.