So my daughter and I have been hunting pretty hard for about 3 weeks. She is 11 years old and loves to hunt. She had her mind made up that she was going to shoot a buck or nothing. I tried to convince her to take a doe a few times, but there was no changing her mind. We had a few opportunities, and saw some great bucks, but just couldn't manage to close the deal for one reason or another. The last day of the season came, and she still wanted a buck or nothing!
We decided that the last day was an all day hunt, so we got up early and made it to our spot. There were no bucks out in the field, and after watching for a while, we decided to cover some more ground. We drove around the country for about 2 hours just looking around. We saw 2 bucks, but of course we never had permission to hunt on the land, so we watched them slip away. At about 11 AM we returned to where we normally hunt, and as we were driving, I noticed two deer laying out in the middle of a wide open field that we had permission to hunt. I quickly put my glass on them and sure enough, one was a buck.
We made a plan to see if we could get in close enough to get a shot. The snow was deep, but snowshoes were too noisy for the stalk so we decided to walk in the knee deep snow. After about 500 yards of this (very tiring) we decided to take a break and recover a bit before we started with the crawling to get into range. While we were taking a break, a coyote came out of the trees at the edge of the field and started making his way towards the deer. I thought maybe it would chase them our way, so I got her all set up just in case. After about 10 minutes, the coyote jumped the deer, but as they started running, we noticed that the doe had a broken front leg. She didn't go very far before she decided it was time to lay down again. We watched the coyote try to sneak in and get the doe (about 400 yards at this point), but the buck put himself between the doe and the dog. Well, the coyote wouldn't take no for an answer, and we actually got to watch as the buck stomped that coyote into the snow! He had his butt handed to him.
As we were sitting there, I asked my daughter what she wanted to do. She said that she wanted to shoot the doe to end its suffering. After the deer settled down again, we decided to see if we could sneak in to get a shot at the doe. We made it to about 300 yards when the buck heard the crunchy snow. The doe was behind a hill laying down, so there was no shot on her. We waited for a bit and decided to try again, but the buck spooked and the doe took off after him. They stopped at the edge of the field under some trees, so I ranged it to see if it was doable. 490 yards! We discussed the distance and our options. If the deer ran, they would be in the trees, but making a good shot at that distance would be tough. Since the doe already had a serious injury, we decided that the best thing to do was settle in and take the shot from there. Once she was in position, I asked her if she felt good about the shot and she expressed some concern about missing (there may have been tears involved) as she hates to miss. After some discussion I convinced her to take two shots.
She is not your average kid when it comes to shooting, she consistently shoots 1.5" groups at 100 yards, so me asking her to shoot this was not totally irresponsible. Her first shot connected a little far back (liver) and the deer lunged forward and stopped facing straight on. She took the second shot and nailed her. The doe ran 10 feet, layed down and died!
Now the reason I am so proud of my little girl isn't because she shot a deer a 490 yards, it is because there was no question in her mind that she needed to shoot the injured doe instead of the buck that she had her heart set on all season. After this deer was down, I gave her a big hug and she told me that she was glad she was able to end the deer's suffering. As we walked up to her, the buck wouldn't leave! I finally had to yell at him just 40 yards away!
What started out as a buck hunt 3 weeks ago, ended up with an unforgettable memory that I wouldn't trade for anything.
Reply With Quote
. F....g
""
