Over the past year my 13 year old has really taken an interest in hunting and shooting, which she never really had before. In the spring we got her on her first pig a decent sized boar and the fire was ignited in her.
Next thing I knew she was looking up all the other things she could hunt in Victoria. “Hey dad, did you know we could hunt alligator”
So over the summer we put some more time in behind the trigger and the plan was set for her to try for her first deer this year. Being an MLD property with pretty good deer population we got started early.
Opening weekend of bow season we went in hopes of trying to fill a tag for her.
We saw a lot of deer but no shots I felt comfortable with since she was shooting a .223. The last morning she shot a pig right in the shoulder. I could see the wound at point of impact and he ran off with a broken front leg. No blood never found him.
So now I’m nervous, although I think it was an ammo selection problem on dad’s end (Hornady pdx because that’s what her AR shoots best that we’ve found) and we didn’t get enough penetration, I was really hesitant to shoot a deer.
So we moved up to the .243 the same gun my oldest killed her first with.
We arrived at the lease very late Friday night, actually early Saturday morning. A quick 4 hour nap and we were in the stand. Saw a handful of younger bucks and some doe with fawns, I learned that morning doe with fawn were off the table even if they were yearlings she wasnt going to shoot a mama I front of her baby.
Saturday afternoon more of the same doe with fawns and dink’s.
She remained patient and positive.
Sunday morning brought heavy fog, saw a good number of deer and a couple target deer, but with fog she didn’t feel comfortable. We sat 4.5 hours yesterday morning and she didn’t complain once.
We were planning on heading home after lunch, 5.5 hour drive, but since it was a holiday today we decided to give the evening a shot.
Very slow afternoon for our place. After sitting 2-2.5 hours and not seeing a deer I was starting to regret not going home. I knew I’d be tired today.
Right before sun set I spot a deer several hundred yards down the road making our way towards us.
Put some glass on it and determined he met the criteria.
We got her set up and ready. Just steadily stayed facing us, never really presenting a shot.
Finally at 75 yards he found the hand corn and turned broadside. She asked “Are you ready dad?” I start to reply ye... Boom
He’s hit and it looked good. Big jump and mule kick and he’s out of sight.
We high five and celebrate but I’m secretly nervous “was it a good hit”
We give him a few minutes I explain we really need to give him some time and tell her we don’t want to push him if he hasn’t died.
I decide it’s probably time to atleast go to where he was and look at blood and I spot the deer down roughly 30 yards.
We go to the blood anyway and I show her it appears to be lung blood and we blood trail, never hurts to practice. Shot was exactly where I’ve drilled into her.
Anyway I couldn’t be more proud of her.
Special shout out to Doug for being so encouraging and helpful this weekend.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Next thing I knew she was looking up all the other things she could hunt in Victoria. “Hey dad, did you know we could hunt alligator”
So over the summer we put some more time in behind the trigger and the plan was set for her to try for her first deer this year. Being an MLD property with pretty good deer population we got started early.
Opening weekend of bow season we went in hopes of trying to fill a tag for her.
We saw a lot of deer but no shots I felt comfortable with since she was shooting a .223. The last morning she shot a pig right in the shoulder. I could see the wound at point of impact and he ran off with a broken front leg. No blood never found him.
So now I’m nervous, although I think it was an ammo selection problem on dad’s end (Hornady pdx because that’s what her AR shoots best that we’ve found) and we didn’t get enough penetration, I was really hesitant to shoot a deer.
So we moved up to the .243 the same gun my oldest killed her first with.
We arrived at the lease very late Friday night, actually early Saturday morning. A quick 4 hour nap and we were in the stand. Saw a handful of younger bucks and some doe with fawns, I learned that morning doe with fawn were off the table even if they were yearlings she wasnt going to shoot a mama I front of her baby.
Saturday afternoon more of the same doe with fawns and dink’s.
She remained patient and positive.
Sunday morning brought heavy fog, saw a good number of deer and a couple target deer, but with fog she didn’t feel comfortable. We sat 4.5 hours yesterday morning and she didn’t complain once.
We were planning on heading home after lunch, 5.5 hour drive, but since it was a holiday today we decided to give the evening a shot.
Very slow afternoon for our place. After sitting 2-2.5 hours and not seeing a deer I was starting to regret not going home. I knew I’d be tired today.
Right before sun set I spot a deer several hundred yards down the road making our way towards us.
Put some glass on it and determined he met the criteria.
We got her set up and ready. Just steadily stayed facing us, never really presenting a shot.
Finally at 75 yards he found the hand corn and turned broadside. She asked “Are you ready dad?” I start to reply ye... Boom
He’s hit and it looked good. Big jump and mule kick and he’s out of sight.
We high five and celebrate but I’m secretly nervous “was it a good hit”
We give him a few minutes I explain we really need to give him some time and tell her we don’t want to push him if he hasn’t died.
I decide it’s probably time to atleast go to where he was and look at blood and I spot the deer down roughly 30 yards.
We go to the blood anyway and I show her it appears to be lung blood and we blood trail, never hurts to practice. Shot was exactly where I’ve drilled into her.
Anyway I couldn’t be more proud of her.
Special shout out to Doug for being so encouraging and helpful this weekend.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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