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 Jimmy Davis Pro Staff at Monster Raxx

Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. Today we’re heading over to Wisconsin, actually River Falls, Wisconsin, and we’re going to talk to a young man named Jimmy Davis. Now Jimmy has been hunting since about 12 years old. He is Pro Staff at Monster Raxx out of Buffalo, Minnesota.

And Jimmy lives down pretty close to — or I shouldn’t say “lives” — but he has hunting on a family farm, his wife’s farm, in Pepin County, which is really close top Dunn County, and Buffalo County, Trempealeau County. Right along that Mississippi River, where we all know some big bucks come from.

So Jimmy Davis, welcome to the show.

Jimmy: Hey, Bruce. Glad to be here.

Bruce: Now let’s start right off and let’s talk about something that happened this fall. You had your son with you and he watched you take a buck. He watched you shoot a buck with a bow. Let’s just talk about that, what that experience meant to him, and what it meant to you.

Jimmy: Yeah. It was a great experience for sure. Basically, last year he started coming with me hunting. I’ve taken him hunting with me; he would sit with me, and he was seven years old. And then he’s sat with me a few times in the bow stand and he’s kind of antsy, being seven years old. And this year he said he really wanted to go with me a lot.

So early October, it was a Friday it must have been, him and I went down to that land and he sat in the ground blind on a Friday night. We saw a lot of deer and weren’t able to shoot anything. And then, the next morning he wanted to sleep in so I gave in to him and said, “Sure.” It happened to be my birthday and I said, “All right. Well tonight you get to pick out where we’re going to go.” He said, “All right. I want to go in the creek bottom and I want to sit in the double-ladder stand.” I said, “All right.” And I said, “Well, we’ve got to make sure we stick it out, because you never know what could happen.”

So we got down there in perfect wind for our spot and we were surrounded in mostly corn, and a thick swamp behind us, big [inaudible 00:02:24]. And we were sitting there and he was starting to get antsy. I said, “Well, we have to stick it out.” And I was looking over to my right. I never noticed this buck coming out of the creek and it came right by our tree stand. That’s only the second time I sat there this year.

I was pointing that way and all of a sudden here come a doe and a fawn, dropped down in the creek and they walked right underneath of us. He sat there and he was watching them. I said to him, “Make sure you don’t move,” you know, whispering to him. They walk right by us and that was pretty cool. We let them go.

About five minutes later, off in the distance in the bush, I saw bushes moving and I showed him. He thought that was pretty neat and he kept watching. And then the buck — it was a smaller buck — came about 25 yards from us. He wanted me to shoot him and it was just a little basket rack. He walked away and I was like, “Oh, man, maybe I should have,” Because that would have been his first experience ever with getting a deer, you know. He’s been tracking them and that kind of thing.

But about five minutes later, all of a sudden big herd, just like a bear coming through the corn, just trashing and everything. I was already standing and he was sitting. All of a sudden [inaudible 00:03:42] my voice goes, “Dad, shoot her! Shoot her!” And I couldn’t see him. I’m like, “Where?” And he’s like, “Right there!” And he’s pointing, you know. I’m like, “No, keep your hands in,” you know, and trying to whisper, and still looking.

Finally I did see the deer and I’m like, “Oh! He looks pretty dang good!” He started walking out and I drew on him

Finally I did see the deer and I’m like, “Oh! He looks pretty dang good!” He started walking out and I drew on him. Then he stopped and then I was waiting for him to walk forward a little bit more. And my boy was hitting me on the side, saying, “Shoot him, Dad! Shoot him!” So I had to try to relax and focus. And the buck took a step forward and I let the arrow leave, and off he went. He looked up at me after we put [inaudible 00:04:23] and his eyes were as big as basketballs. It was pretty exciting.

Bruce: Now is that the photo that you sent me for the show?

Jimmy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Bruce: That’s great. I mean, that’s a memory that will stay with you forever, and it’s going to stay with him forever.

Jimmy: Oh, yeah. He was so excited. He was giggling and he was so super excited after that. And yeah, we thought we saw him fall over. We snuck out of there quietly. My dad was hunting on the ridge above us, so we went over there and waited for him. And my dad didn’t even know I… I had sent him a text and so we got back to the cabin. And we went back down there and we did a search for him and we never could find him that night.

We landed at creek bottom and there’s a shelf that dropped off like six feet. And like he circled around on us so we couldn’t find him. So we had to wait till the next morning. We had to go back, because we were kind of getting confused because we were coming over blood back and forth. So I was only 20 yards from him the night before, when we found him the next morning.

Bruce: Now you said that he circled on you, so the blood was confusing. Did I hear you say that right?

Jimmy: Yeah, like you follow the trail and I mean, it was a good trail. It went right to the edge of this bank and then he went back around it. And he came back across on the original trail he came in on, so he did almost like a figure eight on the original blood trail. So it was super duper thick in that creek bottom and it was really hard to follow. So we weren’t sure, so we backed out of there and went back the next morning. And low and behold, we were right next to him and didn’t know it.

Bruce: And he already had died.

Jimmy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Bruce: Did you double lung him? Or where did you hit him?

Jimmy: Well you know, it should have been just perfect, from what I saw, you know, the entry hole right behind the shoulder. I should have caught both lungs. But when I did shoot him, he [inaudible 00:06:37]. I don’t know how. It must have been deflected off a rib or something, and actually caught the back of the lungs and the liver. And then the hole must have plugged up on the blood trail too. Yeah, so it was a goofy deal.

Bruce: Hmm.

Jimmy: Yeah.

Bruce: Yeah, you know, once you put a hit on, even if it looks good, sometimes it doesn’t turn out quite the way we saw it happen.

Jimmy: [inaudible 00:07:03]. Yeah.

Bruce: Well you’re fortunate it didn’t rain that night; that’s for sure.

Jimmy: Oh, yeah, the weather was cooling off yet, so I wasn’t worried about that part. So, yeah.

Bruce: Well in your bio, you said, “He’s hooked, to say the least, and can’t wait till the next two years to go by. And then he will start hunting with his own bow.” What kind of bow are you going to get your son?

Jimmy: Well actually, right now, he’s been shooting a Diamond Nuclear Ice, after two years. And he is growing like a weed and has got long arms and everything. I actually just went out and bought him a new Matthews Hype DT and we’re actually going to pick it up tonight yet.

Bruce: Now is that one you can expand the draw length and the limbs? You can change out limbs so he can grow into it?

Jimmy: Actually yeah, I don’t think you have to change anything. It goes from 15 pounds to 70 pounds.

Bruce: Right.

Jimmy: And then the draw length goes all the way to 30, so that should be good for him for a while.

Bruce: Yeah, I hope so! Merry Christmas! Right?

Jimmy: Right, exactly. Yep.

Obviously your son is primed and raring to go.

Bruce: So in warm-up we talked about getting youth in the outdoors. Obviously your son is primed and raring to go. How do we get other kids? How do we get your son’s buddies in school to get excited about the out-of-doors? And just enjoy the out-of-doors?

Jimmy: Well I think it’s just giving them the opportunity to experience just being out there. Like my boy, I never really pushed it on him. And that was one thing that my wife didn’t want me to do was push hunting on him. She wanted him to be able to want to do it kind of thing. I never really did, but like, we watch hunting shows, and this and that. I have a four-year-old daughter, and just from us watching shows, she’s actually come out and tracked a couple of deer with us.

At an early age, like she you know, being that early, and introducing her to that and letting her see that kind of thing. I don’t know. I think that just kind of gets in their blood a little bit, you know, just exposing them to it without pressuring them.

Bruce: Now what do you say to your son’s friends’ parents, when you meet them, about hunting and about the hunting experience?

Jimmy: Well like our neighbor, we have a neighbor across the street. His boy is ten and he just got introduced into hunting. And the stories that we tell him makes him and his dad just get fired up to go and that kind of thing. They really want to go and his dad is a bow hunter, a newer bow hunter I should say. He asks for advice on this and that, so yeah, it’s pretty cool to be able to share that with them, to get them to be fired up about it.

Bruce: Was that what you were talking about? You’ve got some stories about introducing people to the out-of-doors.

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