HuntingJudge
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2019
- Messages
- 95
It all started out Thursday, for the youth hunt opener. Its my sons last year to do the youth hunt. Honestly for me the youth hunt has been one of the greatest things that Montana FWP has come up with. It gives an opportunity to the youth/new hunters to hunt Deer that have not been pressured and gives parents and or mentors a opportunity to set the young generation up on deer that are not skittish, it allows them to have the time to make the shot with out the pressure of the orange army.
We have never really been Whitetail hunters, taking the opportunity on a whitetail doe now and then to fill the freezer. I have dreamed of putting a good-looking Whitetail on the wall just because they have eluded me when I have spent the time hunting them.
My son found out Wednesday night he would have to miss the last football game of the season, he has been starting varsity since day one and was really bummed out, thankfully his MRI came out that he will recover fully with no surgery. So, now I have a one-armed youth hunter. We have always stopped at the local gas station the morning of the youth hunt and bought snacks, this year we were joined by my brother and his two boys 3,5 years old. So of course, we must get the suckers that are shaped like a toilet, and pops for later in the day.
Right out of the gate we found a group of Muledeer does, my son had a tag, and I was thinking with 4 packages of burger left from last year we needed to get on the board. Sneaking out was hard for us being he could only really use his one hand to scoot across the 6” high stubble field. We got with in range and I tried to set him up, swing and a miss. He said he was not steady enough and we would need to do something different. After checking all the little spots I like to glass and seeing plenty of deer we had to get him home for his team lunch before the game the next day. I got a flat tire and had to get a couple new ones from the tire shop.
We did not get back out till around 1:30 in the afternoon. I stopped at a crossroad and asked him where he wanted to go, he said his sister’s spot. His sister claimed this spot being that she had shot all of her bucks there. Driving in we topped the hill and I started scanning the hill side. My son said there is a buck thinking I was going to see a mule deer buck, my eyes popped out of my head when I saw 7 whitetail bucks and 10 does bedded in a field full of hay bales. We made a plan and my brother jumped out of the truck with him as I took the little ones down the road a while. They had about a ½ mile sneak from bale to bale. I rolled down the windows of the truck as the little boys were asking me all sorts of questions about hunting when suddenly, we heard a shot. Walking out in the field I could see them over a deer they met us about a hundred yards away and I asked if he shot one of the good bucks he said it was “O.K.” I could see horns from there. This buck in my book was better than ok it was a awesome deer one most Montana hunters would be thrilled with. I asked him if he wanted to get a shoulder mount of it and after thinking a while he asked if it would be ok to get one done. As we were taking pictures of his buck a doe popped out from behind a hay bale. My brother told him to shoot the doe as well, my son replied with I only have one bullet, and I replied that’s all you need. One more shot and the freezer is starting to fill up on day one of the youth hunt. It was such a cool day sharing it with the little boys my brother and most of all my son. The little boys had some many questions about what is, this how does this, work why did we do it that way. One of the boys walked in front of the gun while taking pictures, I told him that's one of the biggest rules to hunting is not walking in front of the gun...well when we got back to the truck with the deer my brother drug the deer in front of the gun, well I was told how I broke the most important rule of hunting.
We have never really been Whitetail hunters, taking the opportunity on a whitetail doe now and then to fill the freezer. I have dreamed of putting a good-looking Whitetail on the wall just because they have eluded me when I have spent the time hunting them.
My son found out Wednesday night he would have to miss the last football game of the season, he has been starting varsity since day one and was really bummed out, thankfully his MRI came out that he will recover fully with no surgery. So, now I have a one-armed youth hunter. We have always stopped at the local gas station the morning of the youth hunt and bought snacks, this year we were joined by my brother and his two boys 3,5 years old. So of course, we must get the suckers that are shaped like a toilet, and pops for later in the day.
Right out of the gate we found a group of Muledeer does, my son had a tag, and I was thinking with 4 packages of burger left from last year we needed to get on the board. Sneaking out was hard for us being he could only really use his one hand to scoot across the 6” high stubble field. We got with in range and I tried to set him up, swing and a miss. He said he was not steady enough and we would need to do something different. After checking all the little spots I like to glass and seeing plenty of deer we had to get him home for his team lunch before the game the next day. I got a flat tire and had to get a couple new ones from the tire shop.
We did not get back out till around 1:30 in the afternoon. I stopped at a crossroad and asked him where he wanted to go, he said his sister’s spot. His sister claimed this spot being that she had shot all of her bucks there. Driving in we topped the hill and I started scanning the hill side. My son said there is a buck thinking I was going to see a mule deer buck, my eyes popped out of my head when I saw 7 whitetail bucks and 10 does bedded in a field full of hay bales. We made a plan and my brother jumped out of the truck with him as I took the little ones down the road a while. They had about a ½ mile sneak from bale to bale. I rolled down the windows of the truck as the little boys were asking me all sorts of questions about hunting when suddenly, we heard a shot. Walking out in the field I could see them over a deer they met us about a hundred yards away and I asked if he shot one of the good bucks he said it was “O.K.” I could see horns from there. This buck in my book was better than ok it was a awesome deer one most Montana hunters would be thrilled with. I asked him if he wanted to get a shoulder mount of it and after thinking a while he asked if it would be ok to get one done. As we were taking pictures of his buck a doe popped out from behind a hay bale. My brother told him to shoot the doe as well, my son replied with I only have one bullet, and I replied that’s all you need. One more shot and the freezer is starting to fill up on day one of the youth hunt. It was such a cool day sharing it with the little boys my brother and most of all my son. The little boys had some many questions about what is, this how does this, work why did we do it that way. One of the boys walked in front of the gun while taking pictures, I told him that's one of the biggest rules to hunting is not walking in front of the gun...well when we got back to the truck with the deer my brother drug the deer in front of the gun, well I was told how I broke the most important rule of hunting.
