A boy's first big game hunt

[BAKPAKR]

Great parenting!! The only thing that will top this trip will be when he takes his first big game animal.

BTW - Nice looking rifle. Who built it?

 

[Scott85]

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us and congrats!!!

 

[88man]

good stuff

 

[seeth07]

Seeing a smiling kid in these posts while out hunting whether or not it's with an animal or not makes me jealous everytime wishing I had a kid. Congrats and thanks for sharing this special trip with us!

 

[JLDemo]

He's hooked now, I started my son out the same way. Now he expects all hunting trips to include chocolate milk, s'mores, and good weather.

Congrats on the hunt and good times!

 

[sneakypete]

Nothing better than making positive memories with your son!! Congratulations!

 

[Hammsolo]

My oldest boy turned 6 this year, and finally with an appropriate tag to take a young kid on, he got to go with me. He's been excited about it since we found out in May. We both have been excited.

He's been rabbit and bird hunting a few times and enjoyed it. He's always fascinated with the animals- as children often are.

His school is out on Fridays so that allowed us to slip away opening day without missing anything. An early 4 AM wakeup, some donuts and chocolate milk, and we were eastbound to our hunt area.

We waited until sun up to start driving two-tracks. Mass flooding the weekend before had cut and washed out roads all over the place. Several roads and trails in the area were completely closed. We had to turn around a few times.

We headed up into the foothils where I've heard the pronghorn get pushed into after the general rifle season. Hiking was kept reasonable. We did some glassing and turned up deer, horses, cattle, rabbits, ravens, magpies...everything but antelope. I did find some areas that I wouldn't mind hunting deer in.

We decided to make a short drive into another valley where the biologist said most of the herd was hanging out. The road in was trashed but mostly passable.

Heading into a canyon I spotted the tell-tale tan and white of a couple of pronghorn. They were at about 400yds when spotted and ran to 650 or so when we stopped. I confirmed there was a doe and a small buck. We strapped on our packs and made a plan.

The animals were spooked but didn't just book it out of the area. Their mistake. They trotted up into the mouth of a draw a bit further and milled around a bit. I decided they were stalkable after I noticed there was a big wash between us and them. Perfect.

We worked our way through the ankle high scrub into the wash and followed that up to where the animals hopefully were. There was an offshoot that pointed to the draw where we had last seen them. I slowly peeked over the edge. The doe was standing perfectly broadside well within my self imposed range limit.

I sat my boy down out of sight of the doe with a quick "stay quiet." I slid my pack off, chambered a round, and slunk up to a small rise that looked like would be a good spot. Able to get prone over my pack I was rock solid. I ran through a quick rehearsal to fight off the rush of adrenaline that suddenly hit. Satisfied, I settled the crosshairs.

She took a couple steps and fell over. I turned to my boy and said "guess what?" "What?" He said. "We got one!" I exclaimed.

Excited, we took off our jackets, drank some water, and headed up.

He was apprehensive to touch it at first. I assured him it was fine. He said her hair felt weird. He still doesn't believe me that it's hollow. We gave our thanks to the animal. I explained that we love these animals, even though we occasionally kill one. I told him it's OK to feel a little sad but there is only one way to get meat. He's always been aware that meat comes from animals, but I do my best to explain things while we're processing anything.

We took our photos and then started the breakdown. He helped hold legs and helped move game bags. Once everything was removed we loaded up packs and headed to the truck. He was happy he got to help carry meat.

We did some more exploring throughout the afternoon and went to a well known creek to camp. Junk food and roasted marshmellows capped the evening. It was a short hunt, but a pretty dang good day.

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The joy on his face is mother effin’ priceless!

 

[brownbear932008]

That's awesome and you guys will remember this forever.

 

[p_ham]

Fantastic pics and write up. I love the pic of the little packer with game bag peaking out Awesome day. Congratulations to you both!!

I offered to have him carry the head but he was insistent on carrying meat. It made for a better photo than the head would've anyways.

Great parenting!! The only thing that will top this trip will be when he takes his first big game animal.

BTW - Nice looking rifle. Who built it?

Some dude in NV decided I needed to test out his integrally suppressed 308...

He's hooked now, I started my son out the same way. Now he expects all hunting trips to include chocolate milk, s'mores, and good weather.

Congrats on the hunt and good times!

Every time we go fishing or hunting we have to stop for donuts and a chocolate milk. I'm not complaining.

The joy on his face is mother effin’ priceless!

He was full of silly for 4 hours after.

 

[3855WIN]

Looks like you’ve got yourself a fine hunting buddy.

 

[Sytes]

Fantastic! Top threads here... family based.

I dig your boy's smile with that shoulder or ham pack out!

Way to go pops! Classy work, classy hunt!

 

[Wapati44]

My oldest boy turned 6 this year, and finally with an appropriate tag to take a young kid on, he got to go with me. He's been excited about it since we found out in May. We both have been excited.

He's been rabbit and bird hunting a few times and enjoyed it. He's always fascinated with the animals- as children often are.

His school is out on Fridays so that allowed us to slip away opening day without missing anything. An early 4 AM wakeup, some donuts and chocolate milk, and we were eastbound to our hunt area.

We waited until sun up to start driving two-tracks. Mass flooding the weekend before had cut and washed out roads all over the place. Several roads and trails in the area were completely closed. We had to turn around a few times.

We headed up into the foothils where I've heard the pronghorn get pushed into after the general rifle season. Hiking was kept reasonable. We did some glassing and turned up deer, horses, cattle, rabbits, ravens, magpies...everything but antelope. I did find some areas that I wouldn't mind hunting deer in.

We decided to make a short drive into another valley where the biologist said most of the herd was hanging out. The road in was trashed but mostly passable.

Heading into a canyon I spotted the tell-tale tan and white of a couple of pronghorn. They were at about 400yds when spotted and ran to 650 or so when we stopped. I confirmed there was a doe and a small buck. We strapped on our packs and made a plan.

The animals were spooked but didn't just book it out of the area. Their mistake. They trotted up into the mouth of a draw a bit further and milled around a bit. I decided they were stalkable after I noticed there was a big wash between us and them. Perfect.

We worked our way through the ankle high scrub into the wash and followed that up to where the animals hopefully were. There was an offshoot that pointed to the draw where we had last seen them. I slowly peeked over the edge. The doe was standing perfectly broadside well within my self imposed range limit.

I sat my boy down out of sight of the doe with a quick "stay quiet." I slid my pack off, chambered a round, and slunk up to a small rise that looked like would be a good spot. Able to get prone over my pack I was rock solid. I ran through a quick rehearsal to fight off the rush of adrenaline that suddenly hit. Satisfied, I settled the crosshairs.

She took a couple steps and fell over. I turned to my boy and said "guess what?" "What?" He said. "We got one!" I exclaimed.

Excited, we took off our jackets, drank some water, and headed up.

He was apprehensive to touch it at first. I assured him it was fine. He said her hair felt weird. He still doesn't believe me that it's hollow. We gave our thanks to the animal. I explained that we love these animals, even though we occasionally kill one. I told him it's OK to feel a little sad but there is only one way to get meat. He's always been aware that meat comes from animals, but I do my best to explain things while we're processing anything.

We took our photos and then started the breakdown. He helped hold legs and helped move game bags. Once everything was removed we loaded up packs and headed to the truck. He was happy he got to help carry meat.

We did some more exploring throughout the afternoon and went to a well known creek to camp. Junk food and roasted marshmellows capped the evening. It was a short hunt, but a pretty dang good day.

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Good job and congrats!

 

[BEvans]

Posts like this are the reason I keep coming back to Hunt Talk. Thanks for sharing

 

[Black Elk]

This is awesome. I have the opportunity to take my 5 year old on a LE pronghorn hunt in the Book Cliffs this coming weekend. I plan to take way too many pictures and write down the funny things my son says. Hunts like this one are some of the most important. Well done

 

[7mm08mo]

Just AWESOME!! Congratulations!!

 

[Wallow]

Congrats and great job explaining the part about it being ok to be sad and the reality of the need to kill to have meat.

 

[BradA]

Congratulations so awesome to have your son there with you. Can’t wait for that day for myself.

 

[406bobcat]

Awesome! I can't wait for these days, myself. My first son will be 2 on Sept. 17. My 2nd son is due Nov. 5th...I've been told I need to take up shed hunting because I seem to 'rut' in the spring....

Can't wait for 'Birthday Hunts' in the coming years. Cheers!

 

[TOGIE]

man, i can't wait to start doing this with my first little one. just. can't. wait.

 

[2rocky]

You are doing it right!

I truly believe kids need to go participate without pulling the trigger to build that yearning to hunt. That way when they do go for the first time the only thing new is carrying a gun and getting the crosshairs on target. The rest requires no additional thought and they can concentrate on safe gun handling.

Pronghorn seem like the perfect kids along hunt...