I guess since this is my first journal entry, I should take a little time to introduce myself.  My name is Dusty Burkhalter and I am a High School football coach in Savoy, TX.  I have been here for almost a year now trying to restart the football program that not too many years ago I played for.  Enough about that though, this is a hunting website.  All that said my time to go deer hunting is very limited.

I remember the first time I ever went deer hunting with my dad in Coleman, TX.  I wasn't hooked right off the bat.  The long drive, the early morning, the cold weather, there are some things that just don't appeal to a 7 year old.  I went back time and again, but I guess I was just too young to find enjoyment in what we were doing.  My hunting days came to a quick halt just a few years later, being from a small town, sports became the focus of my life and there was no longer time for us to buy into a lease 250 miles from home.  Then, at  13 my dad found the opportunity to hunt a local place that was said to have a few nice deer on it.  A few deer is music to anyones ears around here, as we are excited just to maybe catch a glimpse of a doe or any deer for that matter.  All things aside, I was excited about the opportunity and hunted as hard as I could until Christmas Eve, when I had gone to stay with my grandmother.  We were sitting in the living room watching The Man from Snowy River (which I did almost daily) when the phone rang.   It was my father, who had decided to sit in my stand that morning and he had a big one on the ground.  I couldn't believe it, I was actually mad.  He had killed many deer in his life and he knew I really wanted to get a deer that year.  I didn't hunt another day that year or the next, and before long hunting was a lost passion.

Fast forward.....At 22 years old, my first year in the coaching business and fresh out of college my first job was not what I had planned.  The long hours, the heartache of a sub-par season, the stress of everyday life, I needed some type of relief.  A few days after football season, my cousin gave me a call.  He is a farmer and has several places leased along the Red River.  He told me of one place in particular where they had seen some deer and that I was welcome to hunt if I wanted to.  Why not, I had nothing else to lose, and it would be a good release from all that had been going on.

I hunted that place for two years and saw only three doe, but there was something about it this time that kept me coming back.  Maybe I had matured, maybe it was just me being allowed to enjoy it at my own pace, but whatever it was I was glad to be doing it.  Finally last season all of my time in the woods paid off and I took my first buck, a 4-point.  Twenty-four years old, it took me long enough.  Now before you management guys get me about a 4-point, he was a spike-3 and needed to be gone.  

I took my second buck later in the season on my wife's families place in Oklahoma, this time, a 9-point.  Now I spend every free moment in the woods, or studying about whitetails and their habits.  I have learned a lot of lessons off of places like this website that if it weren't for some of these posts and forums I would have never learned.

I guess the reason I am writing all of this is for the dad's out there who are trying to get their kids involved in hunting.  I had some bad experiences early on and hope that some of you can learn from what I went through.  I have learned that teaching a kid to hunt and coaching have a lot in common.  When I enter a program, the first thing I have to do is teach kids the proper way to do things and correct them when they fall out of line.  Second, and most importantly, I have to allow the kids to see success, otherwise they will never buy into what I am teaching them.  So here goes....Teach your kids proper management and all other things that your know about hunting.  Teach them about the animals, the guns, the safety.  And most importantly make sure they are successful, even at the expense of a successful hunt for yourself. Kids will never buy into what you are trying to sell if they cannot taste success for themselves because with success comes a sense of pride and a passion for doing something new.  Finally, allow your kid to enjoy hunting at their own pace.  Force feeding kids things usually drives them away eventually.  I know all of this probably sounds like I am bashing my dad pretty hard, but that has nothing to do with it my dad and I have a great relationship and enjoy hunting together today, the way I wish we could have several years ago. 

I have now become an avid hunter and outdoorsmen, but as I was sitting in my stand the other day, I was trying to figure out why it took me this long to take onto hunting and it all came to perspective, and I hope that maybe by me sharing this, we can welcome many young kids into wonderful world of the whitetail.