Great pic Justin!
Better late than never! This was the first year my kids here had ever went out hunting, where they were going to be the ones pulling the trigger. They've been out calling coyotes with me, and watched me shoot a couple of those. Maybe deer hunting once or twice, didn't want to bore them with the longer sit times of deer hunting before they were ready though. We started on the first Monday afternoon of season, since they were busy opening weekend and I was on call at work too. Saw a few deer, does and small bucks, had to tell my son not to shoot a spike on the 5th day of season. They were taking turns, daughter in the morning and son in afternoon. We had saw a good buck a couple times early, but never could get a shot. This being a new place for us to hunt, I wasn't sure of the deer movement yet.
The middle Saturday of season, my son and I went to sit in our little pallet blind we had put up on the creek bottom. This blind had not been as good as I had hoped, deer just weren't travelling the creek like I figured they might. Every deer we had seen from blind were almost straight to the right of it, and since my son shoots left handed, I had to sit him on left side of blind so he could shoot to the right easier. I told him to not fully commit to one side, because soon as you do, something will show up on the left, and guess what happened? Yep, this buck came out on our left and from behind us. He walked out into the clearing maybe 30 yards from us, and I told him to wait until it was straight in front of us to shoot, but the buck started walking straight away instead. I had my boy swap over to right hand with gun, and mouth grunted the deer stopped twice before it turned broadside. Perfect quartering away shot of around 60 yards, buck went 30 yards and piled up. Couldn't have been any prouder!
The middle Saturday of season, my son and I went to sit in our little pallet blind we had put up on the creek bottom. This blind had not been as good as I had hoped, deer just weren't travelling the creek like I figured they might. Every deer we had seen from blind were almost straight to the right of it, and since my son shoots left handed, I had to sit him on left side of blind so he could shoot to the right easier. I told him to not fully commit to one side, because soon as you do, something will show up on the left, and guess what happened? Yep, this buck came out on our left and from behind us. He walked out into the clearing maybe 30 yards from us, and I told him to wait until it was straight in front of us to shoot, but the buck started walking straight away instead. I had my boy swap over to right hand with gun, and mouth grunted the deer stopped twice before it turned broadside. Perfect quartering away shot of around 60 yards, buck went 30 yards and piled up. Couldn't have been any prouder!
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On the last Saturday of season, my daughter and I are hunting on a different spot on the same place. We had seen several does at this spot, and one decent buck, but could never get her a good or close enough shot. That evening, we had seen a few does and one spike already, but she didn't want to shoot a doe that had a yearling with it, which I agree with mostly. Then this big doe came out solo, and when I stopped her, my daughter made a great quartering towards shot of around 80 yards, doe went around that same distance and piled up. Turned out to be one of the biggest does I've fooled with in a while, couldn't be any prouder! Both kids got a their first deer, my son is 9 and my daughter is 10. Both deer taken with my 16" 277 Wolverine AR with suppressor; sure is nice without all the noise!
Very nice for both, but heck of a first buck for anyone!
I enjoy the kids hunting more than myself these days. Am taking the catcher from my softball team out tomorrow in attempt to get her first deer. She's like my other daughter with no father figure in her life, so I try to include her in as much as we do in our family as possible.
I enjoy the kids hunting more than myself these days. Am taking the catcher from my softball team out tomorrow in attempt to get her first deer. She's like my other daughter with no father figure in her life, so I try to include her in as much as we do in our family as possible.
Fantastic story and pics. Its unbelievable how much better it is for the kids when they dont worry about the noise.
I never even carried a separate gun the whole time! Killing one for myself was the absolute furthest thing from my mind. The only time I fired a shot was when we had 3 coyotes show up together during the hunt the evening before my son killed his buck...I will admit, I did grab and move the rifle and rest over in front of me in one piece, and killed 2 out of those 3 dirty canines
Spoiler alert. If you continue to read, you will have to endure a proud dad bragging on his daughter.
When getting ready to take my two daughters out for doe yesterday, the 13 year old asked if I would sit with her. Obviously I can't say no, knowing how infrequent such requests will come from her during her teenage years. I get my 10 year old set up in her stand, then we proceed to our hide beneath a cedar tree, overlooking a pasture the deer cross to get to a neighbor's wheat field. We almost immediately spot a big deer across the way, so big we originally thought it was a buck. She scoped it and said it was a doe, but pulled off because the deer was walking away and she said it wouldn't be a clean shot.
Fast forward 2 hours and we spot two deer come into a small opening all the way across the field and in the trees. They were just browsing and appeared to have no intention of coming any closer. With only 30 mins of shooting light left, I asked if she wanted to take the larger one. She said, "That is a long ways. Do you think I can make the shot?" I immediately said, "Sure you can." Then grabbed the rangefinder. 392 yards. She said, "Yah. I can do that."
So she checks the DOPE that she has saved on her phone and dials the scope in for 400 yards. I'm watching through my scope as I hear her take a breath and hold it, then "boom!" A second or so later, I see the doe buckle and go down on her chest. Another second passes and we hear the "whop" of the hit. The doe ran maybe 30 yards and slid down an embankment. No searching for this one.
When we got to the deer, my daughter had put the shot through both of the front legs, passing through the heart. Perfect shot. I asked her if that's where she meant to hit her and she said, "Yah. It might be an inch or so lower than where I was aiming." 392 yards and she missed her mark by an inch. I guess that's worthy of bragging rights.
Someone always asks, so here is what she was shooting. Remington 308 PSS cut down to a 16"barrel, topped with a Bushnell Elite Tactical, sending 165 grain Hornady SST at 2500 FPS.
When getting ready to take my two daughters out for doe yesterday, the 13 year old asked if I would sit with her. Obviously I can't say no, knowing how infrequent such requests will come from her during her teenage years. I get my 10 year old set up in her stand, then we proceed to our hide beneath a cedar tree, overlooking a pasture the deer cross to get to a neighbor's wheat field. We almost immediately spot a big deer across the way, so big we originally thought it was a buck. She scoped it and said it was a doe, but pulled off because the deer was walking away and she said it wouldn't be a clean shot.
Fast forward 2 hours and we spot two deer come into a small opening all the way across the field and in the trees. They were just browsing and appeared to have no intention of coming any closer. With only 30 mins of shooting light left, I asked if she wanted to take the larger one. She said, "That is a long ways. Do you think I can make the shot?" I immediately said, "Sure you can." Then grabbed the rangefinder. 392 yards. She said, "Yah. I can do that."
So she checks the DOPE that she has saved on her phone and dials the scope in for 400 yards. I'm watching through my scope as I hear her take a breath and hold it, then "boom!" A second or so later, I see the doe buckle and go down on her chest. Another second passes and we hear the "whop" of the hit. The doe ran maybe 30 yards and slid down an embankment. No searching for this one.
When we got to the deer, my daughter had put the shot through both of the front legs, passing through the heart. Perfect shot. I asked her if that's where she meant to hit her and she said, "Yah. It might be an inch or so lower than where I was aiming." 392 yards and she missed her mark by an inch. I guess that's worthy of bragging rights.
Someone always asks, so here is what she was shooting. Remington 308 PSS cut down to a 16"barrel, topped with a Bushnell Elite Tactical, sending 165 grain Hornady SST at 2500 FPS.
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Congrats on a great shot and the doe!
