CanuckShooter
10-11-2009, 12:30 PM
My daughter Dayna and her MAN Mike [who I have now nick named one shot] drove up from Vancouver to the central interior arriving in the early hours of the morning of October 8th.
A few short hours of sleep later and I had the rig all set up to head out to our "zipper-mouth" 7-10 mule deer hunting spot. After stopping to buy some last minute necessities we headed out arriving at camp shortly after 11 am. Well we leveled the camper out, and started gearing up, digging out the long johns and camo as it was quite brisk out. I was busy digging out the rifles we had brought along to use and had just gotten the shells and clips out and passed them off to the young hunters when a doe and two small fawns came out about 60yds away from the camper. I brought them to the attention of Mike and Dayna and then they were really enjoying the close encounter and getting some great pics as all three of the deer were quite undisturbed by our presence. At this point I told them they should take the opportunity to 'scope' them and get used to finding deer in the cross hairs, which they proceeded to do. I was still jumping in and out of the camper grabbing gear when my daughter said "dad, there is a buck", I had just seen a deer go back into the small spruce trees where the doe and fawns had emerged and really hadn't looked at it that close as I assumed it was one of the fawns just milling around. I asked her are you sure? And she said yes positive, I was still a little leary as I usually would notice antlers on a moving deer so I jumped back in the camper scooped up my binos and stepped out onto the tailgate for a look. And by golly gosh and gee !! She was right as a 3 x 2 was moving back out of the small trees towards the doe and fawns. I said "your right it's a buck, shoot it Dayna" and her being gracious said "no Mike should shoot it as he hasn't ever shot one" and being the overbearing father I TOLD her no you should shoot it as that would be just toooo easy for Mike to get his first deer without having hunted for it. Needless to say Dayna made the shot and dropped her buck within 50 yards of the camper and Mike had an instant opportunity to observe the dressing / hanging and skinning process...without even having a chance to start his first ever hunt.
That afternoon we both took Mike for his first hunt, showing him tracks and having a dialog about deer movement and habits. We spent that afternoon in a shooting blind I had built a few days earlier in preparation for this hunt and never saw a thing. Early the next morning Mike and I headed out to the blind and I again pointed out the spots to watch where I had been seeing deer moving a few days before [I shot my mulie from this blind two days before], within the first two hours Mike had spotted six deer moving within shooting range proving that he had the natural 'eye' for spotting deer. It was really really windy and cold so we headed for camp around 10 am and had some hot drinks and food, and we were off again. My job was to teach and I entended to take him out on a hike and fill his head with as much information as I could...and make him work some for his deer! ;-) We were sitting on the edge of a very large clear cut and I was telling him a story about how I had almost missed out on a very nice buck once because I didn't notice him right away in a cut similar to this one until I used my glasses, and was expressing to him how important it was to not overlook what wasn't obvious when he lifts up his head and says " I see something" and by gosh....he did it again!! He spotted the deer [flattops] before the ol'man. Man I am thinking this young fellow is a natural !! No shooters here so off we go again, down old roads, across old cuts, bushwacking....giving the young man a real workout let me tell you !!
About four hours of trapsing all over the country we are nearing our camp again when I see a deer coming around a corner just ahead of us, right at the 'driveway' into our camp. I tell Mike to get ready as I can now see there is more than one deer and they are milling around a bit, getting close to bolting when one moves into the clear and it has a rack. I told Mike one is a buck...be careful...don't shoot the doe. The buck and doe are milling around behind a small spruce tree and they start to head out the doe goes first, wait Mike...that's the doe...the next one is the buck..that's the buck Mike..hammer him..hammer him...and Mike does just that ONE SHOT and his buck drops in his tracks !! And a good thing too because one more step and he would have been out of sight.
A story and a couple of pics of a memorable hunt. Mike had to work for his first mule deer [but not too hard] and right now they are off trying to find him his first grouse. I think we have another 'hunter for life' just joining our community
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Mike_May_2009_012.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15638&size=big&cat=500)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Mike_May_2009_011.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15636&size=big&cat=500)
A few short hours of sleep later and I had the rig all set up to head out to our "zipper-mouth" 7-10 mule deer hunting spot. After stopping to buy some last minute necessities we headed out arriving at camp shortly after 11 am. Well we leveled the camper out, and started gearing up, digging out the long johns and camo as it was quite brisk out. I was busy digging out the rifles we had brought along to use and had just gotten the shells and clips out and passed them off to the young hunters when a doe and two small fawns came out about 60yds away from the camper. I brought them to the attention of Mike and Dayna and then they were really enjoying the close encounter and getting some great pics as all three of the deer were quite undisturbed by our presence. At this point I told them they should take the opportunity to 'scope' them and get used to finding deer in the cross hairs, which they proceeded to do. I was still jumping in and out of the camper grabbing gear when my daughter said "dad, there is a buck", I had just seen a deer go back into the small spruce trees where the doe and fawns had emerged and really hadn't looked at it that close as I assumed it was one of the fawns just milling around. I asked her are you sure? And she said yes positive, I was still a little leary as I usually would notice antlers on a moving deer so I jumped back in the camper scooped up my binos and stepped out onto the tailgate for a look. And by golly gosh and gee !! She was right as a 3 x 2 was moving back out of the small trees towards the doe and fawns. I said "your right it's a buck, shoot it Dayna" and her being gracious said "no Mike should shoot it as he hasn't ever shot one" and being the overbearing father I TOLD her no you should shoot it as that would be just toooo easy for Mike to get his first deer without having hunted for it. Needless to say Dayna made the shot and dropped her buck within 50 yards of the camper and Mike had an instant opportunity to observe the dressing / hanging and skinning process...without even having a chance to start his first ever hunt.
That afternoon we both took Mike for his first hunt, showing him tracks and having a dialog about deer movement and habits. We spent that afternoon in a shooting blind I had built a few days earlier in preparation for this hunt and never saw a thing. Early the next morning Mike and I headed out to the blind and I again pointed out the spots to watch where I had been seeing deer moving a few days before [I shot my mulie from this blind two days before], within the first two hours Mike had spotted six deer moving within shooting range proving that he had the natural 'eye' for spotting deer. It was really really windy and cold so we headed for camp around 10 am and had some hot drinks and food, and we were off again. My job was to teach and I entended to take him out on a hike and fill his head with as much information as I could...and make him work some for his deer! ;-) We were sitting on the edge of a very large clear cut and I was telling him a story about how I had almost missed out on a very nice buck once because I didn't notice him right away in a cut similar to this one until I used my glasses, and was expressing to him how important it was to not overlook what wasn't obvious when he lifts up his head and says " I see something" and by gosh....he did it again!! He spotted the deer [flattops] before the ol'man. Man I am thinking this young fellow is a natural !! No shooters here so off we go again, down old roads, across old cuts, bushwacking....giving the young man a real workout let me tell you !!
About four hours of trapsing all over the country we are nearing our camp again when I see a deer coming around a corner just ahead of us, right at the 'driveway' into our camp. I tell Mike to get ready as I can now see there is more than one deer and they are milling around a bit, getting close to bolting when one moves into the clear and it has a rack. I told Mike one is a buck...be careful...don't shoot the doe. The buck and doe are milling around behind a small spruce tree and they start to head out the doe goes first, wait Mike...that's the doe...the next one is the buck..that's the buck Mike..hammer him..hammer him...and Mike does just that ONE SHOT and his buck drops in his tracks !! And a good thing too because one more step and he would have been out of sight.
A story and a couple of pics of a memorable hunt. Mike had to work for his first mule deer [but not too hard] and right now they are off trying to find him his first grouse. I think we have another 'hunter for life' just joining our community
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Mike_May_2009_012.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15638&size=big&cat=500)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Mike_May_2009_011.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=15636&size=big&cat=500)