Can I use that word when talking about does?..
Well after a super slow season out west for us, I needed to get out for one more hurrah to remove some female mouths before next year. I'm not as mad at the does anymore as I used to be, so I usually spread my allotment out among the deer lease kids, close friends who want some meat or bring out some folks that don't always get the opportunity to shoot a deer. So this year in early September, I called my long time college, fishing and dove hunting buddy Dave and his son Erik to see if Dave would like to kill a doe this year.... and of course he said yes. The last time he had killed a deer was in 2006 on my dad's MLD 3 place so he was raring to go. The original plan was to let Dave shoot a deer and bring his 11 year old boy along to watch. Erik dove and duck hunts with us now so we wanted to move him up to a seeing a little bigger quarry in person while his Dad hunted.....plus experience deer lease life/camp and all the animals you come across.. Once Dave got a deer, then we would just set them in blinds for the rest of the weekend and watch some good bucks and deer at in your face ranges out of our bow blinds. I figured they would enjoy that as much as the shooting. Fast forward to early November and my buddy Nick said he wasn't going to be shooting all his does either so we got it in our mind that we would give one of his to Erik if he could prove to us that he could handle his Dads .308 and make the effort to practice and get good with it. He was to go shoot with his Dad several times over the next two months and then pass a test at the ranch once we got there in front of me including shooting at a deer target for location.
So again fast forward to Chistmas and Nick now has two does left to my one, so I called my BIL to join us with the plan to go the last weekend of deer season. With me being sick most of January we pretty much were going to call it off but my crap finally broke and decided that the last weekend of doe and youth season would be a good time to getrdone. With a full truck packed like the Clampets, the four us headed west and arrived late Thursday night. The plan was to let Dave try to get his deer out of the way Fri am and then let Erik shoot the targets after the Fri am hunt in front of us. The alarm clock came early that am and I dropped them off at the blind in hopes a good sized doe would come in. They did see 11-12 deer that am but mostly bucks, yearling does and some deer out of their comfort range. On to the shoot test.
Erik was very calm cool and collected for a kid but he did admit to me when were alone he was nervous about doing it in front of me. I tried to assure him to just do what his Dad taught him and shoot well like he did with him and all would be well. 1st shot was 1" high of a quarter sized bull at 60 yards.....second shot 1/2" from that one. Third one was next to both of them. I said....son....you are done! You passed..with some fist bumps and a big smile! Whew you could feel the pressure roll off his back and mine ...lol..I did not want to have to tell him no. Thankfully the boy was impressive to say the least and he easily passed the shooting test at the ranch before he was to go. He was **** happy. After that we spent the next 2 hours shooting 17 HMRs and the new 22 Heritage pistols we all got from Academy at Christmas. We all had a blast plinking the target, cans, a softball and various other items that morning.
On to Friday afternoon. Everybody hunting got their showers and I dropped off Dave and his boy at the same blind they were in that morning. It is our best doe blind so I figured I'd see if others would show like on camera. I then drove my BIL to the other side of the ranch and dropped him off. Before I could get halfway back to camp I get a text....Doe Down for Erik! Man I fist pumped in the truck and congratulated them. Told Dave to drag that doe behind the bow blind and keep hunting. It was cool enough in the shade for that deer to keep. Get back to the cabin and marinated some chicken wings for the grill that night and go to sit down....about an hour later Dave texts me.... I got mine too! Awesome!
So I tell him I'm on my way to get them so we can get started with cleaning them. Get there with some big high fives, congrats on the double and Erik's first and take a few pics. While we are standing there Michael texts me that he has a doe down as well. We Done and its only Friday night! Gonna be a busy night at the cleaning rack.
The cleaning rack was an interesting experience for a kid that has never seen it done. He was full of questions and helped a lot plus he got the ritual warpaint from the blood of his first deer at our place.. Michael and I knocked them out and and put them on ice. We got back in the cabin, ate Bownanza style chicken wings and drank some good adult libations since it was way too windy for a fire..... Good times and a helluva memorable day for them.
Saturday was a fun day too. Fellow member Rickk and his boys showed up so it added some more folks in camp. We filled some feeders, visited all mine and Nick's pens to remove cameras and lower the corn times for the off season...all new stuff for Erik and a relaxation for his Dad.. It was cool to see the boy take it all in with his curious self. Blind time was no pressure watching of deer, porcupines, turkey, squirrels, ringneck doves etc etc. He told me "Mr. Jason it was really cool seeing all those different animals. Thank you for letting me come and shoot a deer" I admit had a big ol grin on my face and down inside.
After that Sat afternoon sit I had my pulled pork for sandwiches and my pintos ready to go when everybody got back. Luckily it calmed down enough for a good mesquite fire and allowed us all to sit around, drink some whiskey and cutup like we do. Erik loved the campfire. He poked around in it all night, infatuated with the poker and the red coals.....by the end of the night he had earned the camp nickname of Beavis "Fire Fire Fire!"... He loved it... lol
What a cool experience for us all. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this crew just sitting back and playing chauffeur. Pumped for Eric getting his first deer of hopefully many to come and glad he and his Dad could experience it together. He was a great kid and extremely thankful for the opportunity! All three were and that is I all I can ask. Congrats to them all. Helluva weekend and a fun way to end a tough season. Lotta good burgers and jerky coming. Next stop ....battling Tom while he is chasing his girlfriends...but for now we work and rest...LOL
On our way selfie!
First deer hunt....can you tell his Dad is a duckhunter?..
The "test"
Erick with his first deer!
Two thumbs up after his first deer..
Dave with his..
Erik with their double
Michael with his
War paint ritual!
And the campfire junkie..
I am the great Cornhoilo!! I need TP for my....
Erik's shot on video...like I said he's calm cool and collected. Dad was shaking more than him Dad didn't get the aftermath because he dropped the camera down. The before was about a minute of them waiting for the doe to clear the feeder leg. Shot was about 35 yards....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3SxUBuBo8o"]Erik’s first deer - YouTube[/ame]
Well after a super slow season out west for us, I needed to get out for one more hurrah to remove some female mouths before next year. I'm not as mad at the does anymore as I used to be, so I usually spread my allotment out among the deer lease kids, close friends who want some meat or bring out some folks that don't always get the opportunity to shoot a deer. So this year in early September, I called my long time college, fishing and dove hunting buddy Dave and his son Erik to see if Dave would like to kill a doe this year.... and of course he said yes. The last time he had killed a deer was in 2006 on my dad's MLD 3 place so he was raring to go. The original plan was to let Dave shoot a deer and bring his 11 year old boy along to watch. Erik dove and duck hunts with us now so we wanted to move him up to a seeing a little bigger quarry in person while his Dad hunted.....plus experience deer lease life/camp and all the animals you come across.. Once Dave got a deer, then we would just set them in blinds for the rest of the weekend and watch some good bucks and deer at in your face ranges out of our bow blinds. I figured they would enjoy that as much as the shooting. Fast forward to early November and my buddy Nick said he wasn't going to be shooting all his does either so we got it in our mind that we would give one of his to Erik if he could prove to us that he could handle his Dads .308 and make the effort to practice and get good with it. He was to go shoot with his Dad several times over the next two months and then pass a test at the ranch once we got there in front of me including shooting at a deer target for location.
So again fast forward to Chistmas and Nick now has two does left to my one, so I called my BIL to join us with the plan to go the last weekend of deer season. With me being sick most of January we pretty much were going to call it off but my crap finally broke and decided that the last weekend of doe and youth season would be a good time to getrdone. With a full truck packed like the Clampets, the four us headed west and arrived late Thursday night. The plan was to let Dave try to get his deer out of the way Fri am and then let Erik shoot the targets after the Fri am hunt in front of us. The alarm clock came early that am and I dropped them off at the blind in hopes a good sized doe would come in. They did see 11-12 deer that am but mostly bucks, yearling does and some deer out of their comfort range. On to the shoot test.
Erik was very calm cool and collected for a kid but he did admit to me when were alone he was nervous about doing it in front of me. I tried to assure him to just do what his Dad taught him and shoot well like he did with him and all would be well. 1st shot was 1" high of a quarter sized bull at 60 yards.....second shot 1/2" from that one. Third one was next to both of them. I said....son....you are done! You passed..with some fist bumps and a big smile!
Whew you could feel the pressure roll off his back and mine ...lol..I did not want to have to tell him no. Thankfully the boy was impressive to say the least and he easily passed the shooting test at the ranch before he was to go. He was **** happy. After that we spent the next 2 hours shooting 17 HMRs and the new 22 Heritage pistols we all got from Academy at Christmas. We all had a blast plinking the target, cans, a softball and various other items that morning. On to Friday afternoon. Everybody hunting got their showers and I dropped off Dave and his boy at the same blind they were in that morning. It is our best doe blind so I figured I'd see if others would show like on camera. I then drove my BIL to the other side of the ranch and dropped him off. Before I could get halfway back to camp I get a text....Doe Down for Erik! Man I fist pumped in the truck and congratulated them. Told Dave to drag that doe behind the bow blind and keep hunting. It was cool enough in the shade for that deer to keep.
Get back to the cabin and marinated some chicken wings for the grill that night and go to sit down....about an hour later Dave texts me.... I got mine too! Awesome! So I tell him I'm on my way to get them so we can get started with cleaning them. Get there with some big high fives, congrats on the double and Erik's first and take a few pics. While we are standing there Michael texts me that he has a doe down as well. We Done and its only Friday night!
Gonna be a busy night at the cleaning rack. The cleaning rack was an interesting experience for a kid that has never seen it done. He was full of questions and helped a lot plus he got the ritual warpaint from the blood of his first deer at our place.. Michael and I knocked them out and and put them on ice. We got back in the cabin, ate Bownanza style chicken wings and drank some good adult libations since it was way too windy for a fire..... Good times and a helluva memorable day for them. Saturday was a fun day too. Fellow member Rickk and his boys showed up so it added some more folks in camp. We filled some feeders, visited all mine and Nick's pens to remove cameras and lower the corn times for the off season...all new stuff for Erik and a relaxation for his Dad..
It was cool to see the boy take it all in with his curious self. Blind time was no pressure watching of deer, porcupines, turkey, squirrels, ringneck doves etc etc. He told me "Mr. Jason it was really cool seeing all those different animals. Thank you for letting me come and shoot a deer" I admit had a big ol grin on my face and down inside. After that Sat afternoon sit I had my pulled pork for sandwiches and my pintos ready to go when everybody got back. Luckily it calmed down enough for a good mesquite fire and allowed us all to sit around, drink some whiskey and cutup like we do. Erik loved the campfire. He poked around in it all night, infatuated with the poker and the red coals.....by the end of the night he had earned the camp nickname of Beavis "Fire Fire Fire!"..
. He loved it... lolWhat a cool experience for us all. I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this crew just sitting back and playing chauffeur. Pumped for Eric getting his first deer of hopefully many to come and glad he and his Dad could experience it together. He was a great kid and extremely thankful for the opportunity! All three were and that is I all I can ask. Congrats to them all. Helluva weekend and a fun way to end a tough season. Lotta good burgers and jerky coming. Next stop ....battling Tom while he is chasing his girlfriends...but for now we work and rest...LOL
On our way selfie!
First deer hunt....can you tell his Dad is a duckhunter?..
The "test"
Erick with his first deer!
Two thumbs up after his first deer..
Dave with his..
Erik with their double
Michael with his
War paint ritual!
And the campfire junkie..
I am the great Cornhoilo!! I need TP for my....
Erik's shot on video...like I said he's calm cool and collected. Dad was shaking more than him
Dad didn't get the aftermath because he dropped the camera down. The before was about a minute of them waiting for the doe to clear the feeder leg. Shot was about 35 yards.... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3SxUBuBo8o"]Erik’s first deer - YouTube[/ame]
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