Its a bit wordy but I wanted to share my experience this year with our hunt
A few weeks ago my 12 year old daughter and I had the chance to participate in one of the Texas youth draw hunts. We had gone on one last year and sat in a blind for 2 days in the snow and wind without ever seeing a deer. I worried that after last year she would not want to hunt again....Luckily she said she wanted to try it again this year and somehow she drew a hunt again.
After arriving the staff (and they are always amazing on the youth hunts) showed us some pictures of nice deer in the area. While in the blind we sat and chatted spending quality time together. After 3 hours I looked up to see what looked like a doe walking right to the blind. He could not have been 30 yards away when I first saw him and he would walk into 19 yards. I was excited and let my daughter know he was a little spike as he had tiny antler breaking through the skin.
I was so excited to have my oldest child with me as we had a deer right in front of us. I asked my daughter to get her 243 ready and she asked a question that caught me off guard.
"Dad if I shoot this one can I take a big buck if one comes in later?"
I explained that this would count as her buck but that it was still a great deer and this was a wonderful opportunity to take her first deer. I coaxed her into picking up the rifle as the deer moved off to an opening and provided a 49 yard shot. After seeing she was lined up I asked how she felt and she let me know that she was on him nice and steady. I let her know to take him when she was ready. She looked at me and said something to me that I don't often hear from the people I hunt with....
"I am going to pass"
What was she thinking. We are meat hunters and we are really not even good at that. I asked her who taught her to be a trophy hunter and she snapped back at me
"I am not a trophy hunter! I just like big antlers."
After laughing to myself I let her know I respected her decision and we watched the little buck for 10 more minutes. 3 more hours would pass as the sun started setting. My daughter asked me if I thought she should have shot the deer and I lied to her and told her I thought she made a fair decision (in honesty I thought she should have taken the opportunity.) She started asking me if I thought we would see another deer today and I was honest and said I was not sure but that we still had another day to try and get one.
As we packed up she poked me and predicted that we would have a big buck come in at the last few minutes and she would get it.
A few minutes later I happened to look up to see a huge bodied deer with lots of antler walking into the clearing we were watching. I instantly told my daughter to get into her shooting position and she started getting into place and whispered she could not see the deer. A moment later she would see him and start mumbling about how big he was. As I reached for my camera she scolded me to stop moving as he was looking at me. I obeyed her and decided to just enjoy the moment with her. After a brief pause the deer put his head down and she smoked him with a perfectly placed shot that put him down 20 yards from where she hit him.
He ended up being the biggest buck anyone in the family has ever taken. a 19 inch wide 10 point that broke off his cheater (so technically a 9). It was a great experience and we are grateful for all the state does to let the youth hunters have experiences like this. It is something neither of us will forget.
I should also express my thanks to the crowd that was out at the Garland gun range when my daughter was trying to get her last few practice shots in. She was really bothered by the concussion of the muzzle breaks and the guys shooting all agreed to take a brake and allowed her to shoot without hearing the shots around her. They even gave her pointers and told her she was doing great. My daughter let me know that she noticed that people at the gun ranges are all really nice.
I will try to get a pic of the buck up
A few weeks ago my 12 year old daughter and I had the chance to participate in one of the Texas youth draw hunts. We had gone on one last year and sat in a blind for 2 days in the snow and wind without ever seeing a deer. I worried that after last year she would not want to hunt again....Luckily she said she wanted to try it again this year and somehow she drew a hunt again.
After arriving the staff (and they are always amazing on the youth hunts) showed us some pictures of nice deer in the area. While in the blind we sat and chatted spending quality time together. After 3 hours I looked up to see what looked like a doe walking right to the blind. He could not have been 30 yards away when I first saw him and he would walk into 19 yards. I was excited and let my daughter know he was a little spike as he had tiny antler breaking through the skin.
I was so excited to have my oldest child with me as we had a deer right in front of us. I asked my daughter to get her 243 ready and she asked a question that caught me off guard.
"Dad if I shoot this one can I take a big buck if one comes in later?"
I explained that this would count as her buck but that it was still a great deer and this was a wonderful opportunity to take her first deer. I coaxed her into picking up the rifle as the deer moved off to an opening and provided a 49 yard shot. After seeing she was lined up I asked how she felt and she let me know that she was on him nice and steady. I let her know to take him when she was ready. She looked at me and said something to me that I don't often hear from the people I hunt with....
"I am going to pass"
What was she thinking. We are meat hunters and we are really not even good at that. I asked her who taught her to be a trophy hunter and she snapped back at me
"I am not a trophy hunter! I just like big antlers."
After laughing to myself I let her know I respected her decision and we watched the little buck for 10 more minutes. 3 more hours would pass as the sun started setting. My daughter asked me if I thought she should have shot the deer and I lied to her and told her I thought she made a fair decision (in honesty I thought she should have taken the opportunity.) She started asking me if I thought we would see another deer today and I was honest and said I was not sure but that we still had another day to try and get one.
As we packed up she poked me and predicted that we would have a big buck come in at the last few minutes and she would get it.
A few minutes later I happened to look up to see a huge bodied deer with lots of antler walking into the clearing we were watching. I instantly told my daughter to get into her shooting position and she started getting into place and whispered she could not see the deer. A moment later she would see him and start mumbling about how big he was. As I reached for my camera she scolded me to stop moving as he was looking at me. I obeyed her and decided to just enjoy the moment with her. After a brief pause the deer put his head down and she smoked him with a perfectly placed shot that put him down 20 yards from where she hit him.
He ended up being the biggest buck anyone in the family has ever taken. a 19 inch wide 10 point that broke off his cheater (so technically a 9). It was a great experience and we are grateful for all the state does to let the youth hunters have experiences like this. It is something neither of us will forget.
I should also express my thanks to the crowd that was out at the Garland gun range when my daughter was trying to get her last few practice shots in. She was really bothered by the concussion of the muzzle breaks and the guys shooting all agreed to take a brake and allowed her to shoot without hearing the shots around her. They even gave her pointers and told her she was doing great. My daughter let me know that she noticed that people at the gun ranges are all really nice.
I will try to get a pic of the buck up
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