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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2019)
8 // Grant County Hunting Journal 2019 // MyEagleNews.com ANDY DAY shares archery hunt experience with grandsons By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle W hen Andy Day of John snacks and something to drink Day went out for bow — something they didn’t usu- season in the fall of 2017, ally have at home. It keeps them he wasn’t hunting for a from getting bored.” Trail cameras were in place trophy deer but for prize memories with his grandsons, 6-year-old before they headed out, which Day Noah Cobb and 4-year-old Cooper Cobb, reviewed for the best times to hunt. now ages 8 and 6. “We had a blind set up with chairs The tradition of hunting has been a life- in there to sit on,” he said. long source of enjoyment for Day, and shar- “We saw little, ‘spikey’ bucks and ing the basics with these young boys was turkeys,” he said. “We were looking the goal. for a mature deer to shoot.” Teaching them to be quiet and patient Day went out with his grandsons as they waited for wildlife was four different times and went at the top of the list. three or four on his own. “I try to keep their “I took a couple enthusiasm up and shots and missed,” get them outdoors Day said. “Some- times, with a lit- as much as pos- tle extra pressure, sible,” Day said. The boys had it’s a bit more a lot of archery challenging to practice, both concentrate on at their grand- shooting, which father’s home I tell my 4-H kids and at their own every week.” home with their Day is a 4-H parents, Bob and leader for youths Shanley Cobb, in ages 10-18, teach- ing archery and shot- John Day. It was early in gun skills to kids September when in Monument Contributed photo and archery to Day started tak- ing his grand- Noah Cobb, 6, left, and his brother Cooper Cobb, kids in John sons out, usu- 4, of John Day enjoyed several outings with their Day. He works ally one at a time, grandfather Andy Day during the September 2017 with them once with sandwiches deer hunt. a week from the his wife, Maxine, time school is packed up for them. out until the competitions for the Grant “We would sit for a couple of hours and County Fair. have to whisper,” Day said. “We’d have With about three days left of the hunt, enter l Carp . e g n gle/A or t s a The E An d y Day s o work n a co m in h d bow poun is Day had Noah with him when he missed again. “(Noah) told his parents that he wanted to take his bow to help me out,” Day said. “He said he wanted to back me up.” His grandsons, of course, wouldn’t be able to legally shoot a deer until age 11 through a mentoring program, when they hunt off a parent or guardian’s tag, or at age 12 with their own tag. Day said, “I kind of laughed, then went out and was able to shoot one myself.” That time he hit the buck broadside using his compound bow, a PSE Carbon Air. “It was a good, ethical shot,” he said. It was early evening when Day called his older grandson. “Noah, I need some help,” he told ty o n Ci Cany shop , An d umb y ’s Pl ing a n d Sp him. “I shot a deer, and I need help to track it.” By the time the 6-year-old was able to join his grandpa, it was dark, so with head lamps on they set out to find the prize, along with Cooper, Bob and Shanley. Noah took the lead. “I had him follow the blood trail about 70 yards, and he about tripped over the deer,” Day said. “We dragged it out through weeds and a ditch then were able to load it into my truck.” Day said he loves seeing meat on the table from his hunts, as well as homegrown potatoes and beets. “The joy of hunting for me is being in the outdoors,” he said. “I enjoy the meat. It’s not always a trophy animal.” “Everything on the table was something that you’ve either grown or harvested out of the field to eat,” he said. “I appreciate those things and being outdoors and the opportu- nities on this earth that God has given us.”
