It was opening antelope season here in South Dakota this weekend so my father-in-law and his brother ventured west of the Missouri to try their luck and enlighten my son Jackson in the ways of the old Pollock hunter. After a successful inaugural deer season last year Jackson wanted to have a go at antelope hunting this year.

Jackson’s antelope tag was a mentor tag which meant that he could only hunt while in the company of a responsible unarmed adult. Finding someone that met all three of those stringent requirements proved difficult so we did the best we could and loaded four grownup types into the pickup with the hopes that between the four of us we could provide some semblance of mentorship to the lad.

I met the “unarmed” requirement but was doubtful that a game warden would believe I was in compliance with the other two requirements. My father-in-law and his brother are both in their 70s so they presumably had the “adult” portion covered. My buddy Paul came along and was forced into the “responsible” role which mainly involved explaining to Jackson why he couldn’t or shouldn’t shoot various animals and objects. Paul hunts a lot so it was good having him there to share his pearls of wisdom with boy. Also, since Jackson is at the age where he believes his father to have the intelligence of a sack of hammers you need some credible back up.

There is a reason they want the mentor to be unarmed. It cuts down on self-defense claims and it’s a full time job making sure the business end of a fourteen year olds rifle is pointed in a relatively safe direction relatively all the time and asking “is it loaded” and “is it on safe” six thousand times every thirty seconds.

I didn’t mind going along as the chauffer and gun barrel watcher instead of toting my own barking stick. The parts I like most about hunting are walking and making jerky out of the unlucky game. The shooting part and the results of a successful, or worse yet, quasi-successful shot I don’t care as much for.

Yes, I know they need to be hunted to control their population I fail to see the beauty in seeing a living breathing creature absorb the impact of hot lead. I hunt occasionally but have never felt the “thrill” of the hunt but if my son does then that’s fine. I’m happy that he at least confided that he “sort of felt bad” after shooting his deer last year. I would rather have that than see him cheering wildly at the sight of a dying animal he just shot…that would be troubling.

It was enjoyable riding around with the mentor gang and spending time with Jackson away from technology and what not. It’s good for kids to be subjected to the banter of adults in an enclosed space for an extended period of time with no hope of reprieve. Given time they may even step outside their little teenage world and fully engage in the banter and learn a little bit about life outside of the little box teenagers tend to put themselves into.

I believe it is also good for a kid to see firsthand that video games are not an accurate reflection of the consequences potentially brought about by firing a gun. Jackson has a little ways to go before I would feel comfortable sending him out for a hunt without a few mentors close at hand but he’s a good kid and seems to enjoy hunting.

As for me, well I think I’ll stick to rock hunting. Safe hunting everyone.