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.”