By Mac Arnold
MAHFS Editor

A quick hitter from the backyard:

One would think that I wouldn't necessarily need much coaxing to shoot my bow but Tuesday was a day where I was happy with my past performance of a day ago and with the heat and all, well, I wasn't biting.

Yet, Zackie, my 7-year-old son, kept on pestering me into getting out the Martin and take a few shots with him.

Bless his heart.

But us older guys with a few OCD tendencies have to make sure all are chores are done so we're (ahem) comfortable with the task at hand, which is putting the shots into the vitals.

No problem there. I'm sure we can all agree on this.

But Monday's shooting left me somewhat frustrated because the sight I have on the bow is not cooperating with my left-eye dominance. (I shoot right-handed.)

And the other thing with this is I've been shooting mostly instinctive -- until the recurve limb busted three weeks ago -- and I've had just about enough of this Kentucky windage on a sighted bow. Might as well just pull the thing off if that's the way it's going to be, especially after I watched Team Fitzgerald's "North American Rhino's IV" the other day. That's how they shoot their compounds, instinctively.

Anyway, by the time I got out on the balcony, old Zackie -- who had been nailing the deer target from the deck the whole time I was bouncing back and forth from the kitchen and the laundry room -- was planted in front of the TV and "was done shooting."

I said, "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," he said with an ear-to-ear grin on his face, "I don't want to shoot anymore."

So I decided I might as well shoot a few arrows myself and went back to the balcony to take on the afternoon sun, which makes target practice rugged during the late afternoon. It shines directly over the trees and into your eyes.

(Another reason why I wanted to beg off.)

Despite a couple of unacceptable shots and more Kentucky windage, I was finally able to find some relief with better groups but couldn't get over how Zackie "tricked me."

***

And while we're on the topic of my son, I just wanted to laud both the Michigan Senate and House on passing the youth hunting bill to remove the age limit for hunters and allow parents and mentors to determine when their children are ready to hunt.

The bill has been sent to Gov. Rick Snyder and awaits his signature.

Hopefully all goes as scheduled so I can get Zackie out into the woods to bring down his own game.