Update 11/18 evening
Eli was thiiiiiissssss close to getting his first deer today. Doe snuck out right at dawn. He got in position so shoot, got locked in, breathed, I slipped the safety off for him, then when I was waiting to hear the bang, the doe threw her head up, stomped, and ran off. He and I looked at each other like WTH??? - neither of us had made a sound and the wind was perfect. We looked in the direction the doe had alerted to and here they come - about 100 head of cattle - straight for our area. So we left that spot, slipped into another, and within minutes had another doe slip out in front of us. Same deal. Perfect setup, plenty of time to aim, good breathing, safety off......BANG. I fully expected to see a doe dead on the ground but this one just trotted off. I asked Eli if the shot felt good? "Yes sir." Asked him if he was locked in on her behind the shoulder? "Yes sir." Asked him if he just gently squeezed the shot? "Yes sir." So now I'm like WTH? because I know the kid can shoot. Finally I said "Eli did you close your eyes before you shot?" "Yes sir." I'm like dude why did you close your eyes???? He said well I knew I was aiming right but the gun is loud and I knew it would kick so I just closed them right before the shot went off.....So that's the story of the one that got away. I was easy on him but reiterated the importance of keeping your eyes open to shoot. We'll be after it again in the morning. We saw several more deer later in the afternoon, but it was crazy windy so I think that was keeping them hunkered down. I saw a decent buck - basket rack 6 or 8 point but didn't want to shoot it. I did learn that my buddy's brother came out here last week and he and his wife and father in law each killed a nice buck, so I may be scraping the bottom of the barrel, antler-wise. Oh well. We're having a great time and we're seeing a ton of deer, and still lot of time left for Elijah to pop one. Wish us luck!