fireguy
10-24-2016, 08:49 AM
I now know how a dad feels when his son takes his first big game animal. makes for the best day hunting ever.
Keeping a 12 year old interested in hunting and off the xbox can be trying at times and sometimes you have to hunt in ways you wouldn't normally hunt. this involved shorter hikes, more road hunting than I have ever done before and breaks just shooting the 22 at targets. Seeing deer helps a lot though so seeing 16 to 20 does a day helped out as the season progressed knowing it would be only time that a buck showed up.
This weekend we drove around more than I wanted on Saturday but we were seeing deer, unfortunately driving we saw way more hunters than I like to see.
After to many road hunters and only 10 does we switched back to getting out of the truck and going to our "spot" where I knew it would only be a matter of time.
"Try a deer call" my son said as we sat down overlooking a nice gully. Why not, and almost immediately a doe comes out and is interested enough to circle around and make her way almost right up to us. We let her walk away and moved spots after a while to overlook another valley. after a bit we heard a noise below us. "there is a bear" "I think I have a shot" he says. I reply that no we have to wait a bit. "It looks good but just wait" on a side note, every bear we have seen this year, including this one has been a brown bear. After a few seconds the second smaller bear walks out. This was a great teaching moment about making sure of your target before you just shoot it.
We moved back to our first spot and after a bit saw a deer at the end of the ridge going the other way so the stalk was on. Moving quietly down the ridge we began to see deer. Doe to the left, doe and fawn to the right. See another doe to the left. I made the comment that we have to keep looking because you never know where a buck might be. Took another look at the doe and fawn and there was a buck standing next to them.
He can see it but doesn't have a shot. To many branches in the way. Off we go again. I let him lead, let him decide where we would go and he didn't disappoint. We walked down the ridge and around a little pond and came out 50 yards from the buck standing broadside. "that's the buck" I say and he shoulders his 243 and makes a perfect lung shot.
Like I said, Best day hunting ever
He is more than hooked and even cooked up his own fresh steak from his deer that night
http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x477/fireguy4/IMG_1348_zpskenmgbzv.jpg (http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/fireguy4/media/IMG_1348_zpskenmgbzv.jpg.html)
Keeping a 12 year old interested in hunting and off the xbox can be trying at times and sometimes you have to hunt in ways you wouldn't normally hunt. this involved shorter hikes, more road hunting than I have ever done before and breaks just shooting the 22 at targets. Seeing deer helps a lot though so seeing 16 to 20 does a day helped out as the season progressed knowing it would be only time that a buck showed up.
This weekend we drove around more than I wanted on Saturday but we were seeing deer, unfortunately driving we saw way more hunters than I like to see.
After to many road hunters and only 10 does we switched back to getting out of the truck and going to our "spot" where I knew it would only be a matter of time.
"Try a deer call" my son said as we sat down overlooking a nice gully. Why not, and almost immediately a doe comes out and is interested enough to circle around and make her way almost right up to us. We let her walk away and moved spots after a while to overlook another valley. after a bit we heard a noise below us. "there is a bear" "I think I have a shot" he says. I reply that no we have to wait a bit. "It looks good but just wait" on a side note, every bear we have seen this year, including this one has been a brown bear. After a few seconds the second smaller bear walks out. This was a great teaching moment about making sure of your target before you just shoot it.
We moved back to our first spot and after a bit saw a deer at the end of the ridge going the other way so the stalk was on. Moving quietly down the ridge we began to see deer. Doe to the left, doe and fawn to the right. See another doe to the left. I made the comment that we have to keep looking because you never know where a buck might be. Took another look at the doe and fawn and there was a buck standing next to them.
He can see it but doesn't have a shot. To many branches in the way. Off we go again. I let him lead, let him decide where we would go and he didn't disappoint. We walked down the ridge and around a little pond and came out 50 yards from the buck standing broadside. "that's the buck" I say and he shoulders his 243 and makes a perfect lung shot.
Like I said, Best day hunting ever
He is more than hooked and even cooked up his own fresh steak from his deer that night
http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x477/fireguy4/IMG_1348_zpskenmgbzv.jpg (http://s1183.photobucket.com/user/fireguy4/media/IMG_1348_zpskenmgbzv.jpg.html)