Forming a stronger bond through hunting

When Adam Kay was around 11-years-old his father Roy took him hunting for the first time. For Roy this was a continuation of a tradition passed on to him from his father – who took Roy on his first hunting trip when he was eight.

According to Roy on that first trip Adam was impatient and kept asking “are we there yet” to his father before the trip even began But something changed in his son when he was about 14 and got his first kill – a deer Roy called “a little muley-buck.”

“It all happens after they make their first kill,” Roy said. “It goes from ‘are we there yet’ to ‘are we going to go yet.’”

For Roy, the experience of seeing his son get his first deer was “awesome” and he compared it to when a coach pats himself on the back after seeing his players execute what was taught in practice.

“It’s family tradition,” Roy said of hunting. “I really think that hunting, Montana-wise, is the roots of all families.”

Being a key influence in his son growing the roots of hunting has always been a special experience for Roy. A particular moment of pride was in 2008, the same year the Superior Bobcats won their first football championship, and his son killed a 168-class buck.

“Dad was pretty jacked about that one,” Roy said. “I told him not to get used to that because it’s a once in a lifetime thing. I don’t even have anything like that.”

Like most hunters, Roy won’t say where exactly they got the buck other than “in the woods ” and that the area has always been a prime location for hunting big bucks.

“I saw one about the same size walking up the hill while he was going to get the tag,” Roy said. “There’s generations of that buck back there.”

Another particularly memorable day for Roy was when both he and his son had doe tags and went out in “the fields” hunting.

“There was a four-year-old doe and I’d say a two-and-a-half year old doe coming across the field,” Roy said. “I went ‘ok when they stop I am going to drop mine and as soon as you see mine drop go ahead and get the other one because it’s going to go ‘huh.’ It was picture perfect – I dropped mine and then his just went down. Basically a double kill and that was a cool story to tell.”

As a point of pride, Roy also gladly tells the story of when Adam got his first cow. Of how he instructed his son on the proper breathing and when to hit the trigger before he successfully killed it.

“It’s always been close (our relationship) but we have connected a lot through hunting and sports,” Roy said.

Roy hopes that his son will someday follow in the same tradition of instilling the roots of hunting into his children.

It’s such a big connection for kids and parents, especially fathers - it’s just a kick to see them get one.

During his junior and senior year Adam didn’t hunt as much because of his commitment to football. Roy said that because of this, and because his son is now enrolled in college in Dillon, it is important to take kids hunting as much as possible while they are young.

“It was short times out there,” Roy said of his time hunting prior to Adam leaving for college. “You have to get them when they’re young.”

In Dillon, Adam still sees big bucks and bulls and always gives his dad a call with a scouting report of the hunting conditions. “Just the other day he was grouse hunting with some friends where he got his big buck and he told me ‘dad they got the whole area slashed and cut down and it’s much better,’” Roy said. “I told him ‘yeah you can actually see something.’”

The relationship of father and son was strengthened through the sport of hunting, through the pursuit of game to feed the family. From the phone calls between father and son, often about hunting, it is clear that the relationship will continue to grow and that hunting will always play a big role.