Flatbrimmer
Well-known member
Well, I’ve been waiting for this time for many many years! Thursday was the opener for the 2 day Montana youth season and my oldest son never ceases to impress me.
For the last 4-5 years AJ refused to go with me unless I forced him. Hunting was boring and dumb. He didn’t like sitting still, didn’t like hiking, didn’t like glassing for more than just a second. And damn sure didn’t like the work involved with all things hunting. All that changed when he finally had a tag in his pocket…
We’ve spent the last year going out and shooting his .243 so he can gain confidence and comfortability. At 100 yards he was hitting clay pigeons first and every try. 200 yards was much more sporadic, with every shot somewhere on a paper plate. The 90 grain noslers shoot the best outta this rifle, but they’re nearly $70 a box and I just couldn’t do that when I was buying ammo. I’ve tried Hornady and now I have the the Core Lokt. None of them shoot as well as the Nosler. I tried to let him shoot the .308 and it hurt his shoulder… Oh well, we will just have to keep it under 200- no biggie.
A close family member was able to land some private for his son for the 2 day season and we were invited along. I told them and my son that I wanted this hunt to check all the boxes. I wanted him to see animals he couldn’t shoot. I wanted him to have to challenge himself to get to animals he could shoot. I wanted him to have to hike a little, but not get burned out. I wanted him to have to wait a little, but not get so bored that its absolutely not fun. I ultimately decided I would take AJ out to a public land BMA with a “youth only area” the first morning to see what we could find. On our way into town we see a pretty dang nice mule deer buck on some private, and it gets him excited!
When we pull into town we get signed in at the property and head up to this little bluff I wanted to peek over, where you can glass the entire youth area. As we’re getting to the area I wanted to park, we look to the left and there’s a NICE whitetail buck taking 6 does to safety across some private that’s connected to state land. We watched where they ran and decided to stick to the plan. As we’re walking across the small opening to the bluff, we hear a coyote singing his song. AJ thought that was cool! We get up to the small hill and sit down just on the other side. We hear a couple distant shots as shooting light is reached, but can’t see a single deer nor a single orange blip in the distance. It was strange to me; such an enormous area, at the primest of times, completely void of both hunters and the hunted… It didn’t take us long to determine its a waste of time sitting there for too long. We make the short walk back to the truck and drive 1/2 mile or so up to the entrance of the state land. We figured those whiteys probably got out into the middle of nowhere and calmed down, so we picked the coulee on the map that we think they landed in and start picking our way across the hilly landscape. We drop down the first coulee and up the second, glassing as we crest the hill. Nothing. Just as we head down into the second, a big group of huns flew up and scared the bajeezus outta both of us.
I told him it’s not something you grow out of either. When you’re trying to be quiet, sneaking along, anticipation mounting with ever stride and then some damned birds fly up. I’ll probably jump outta my skin every single time. 
We laughed it off as we come up the 3rd and largest coulee. We sidehill it around the peak so as not to skyline and get setup on the middle of the small hill. We can see for miles…… no deer anywhere on the public…. After glassing awhile we turn up a PILE of mule deer on private. No bucks. At some point my son decided to glass back behind us and spots the songdog at 880 yards. We blow the “death kiss” for awhile but he’s not interested even a little bit. I know he could hear me though as he’d perk up and look our way now and again. Eventually we decide to bomb over to a different BMA where I’d killed a buck in the past and spend a couple hours in there. This BMA ends up mostly uneventful. AJ did spot a young bull moose coming up out of the trees after a couple hours of sitting, making the trip not completely boring…
We pack it up and head back to Bozeman, knowing we still have the evening hunt on some prime private ground. Over at the ranch, the boys saw some GOOD bucks that morning but couldn’t get into a good spot by the time they headed into the cover. They took notes and decided to turn in for the day as well.
We all rendezvous around 3 pm to head up to the ranch. We decide we’ll sit opposite ends of the property and we split up after discussing where we’ll be setting up for safe shooting & wishing each other good luck. By this time Avery was over the tip toeing and sitting still, plus the grass was very tall and wet which didn’t provide great “sit and glass” ground. It’s sprinkling pretty good so we hunker down under a big cottonwood and keep our eyes peeled. At one point, I peek behind us and tell AJ, “Don’t move! Slowly look behind you. There is a doe and fawn feeding right next to us!” He looks to see them and he’s happy to see game so close. They feed off into the brush and all Ave wants to do is walk around the tree to try and see them again. I have to tell him that if anything comes out to our left, they’ll see him dancing around and to just sit back down and keep watch. No sooner than I say that, two does are watching him walk back and forth around the tree and I have to tell him to stop! He sees the does and recognizes the oopsie… thankfully they just continue to mill around in the trees- but they do not come into our field…
CRACK. “That must be them! I think they got one!” I shoot a text over asking what’s up and get the response “Buck down” woohoo!!!!!!! They say they don’t need help but if we’re not seeing anything to maybe work their direction and sit the evening in their spot. We only
Have an hour and a half of shooting light and easily a 40 minute walk skirting the property so as not to walk through the middle. It takes forever but by the time we get over there it’s closing in on sunset. We can see deer all around but most of them have already cleared the property boundary. We sit it out til dark watching the deer and then head back to the truck to go get their buck. Day one is in the books.
For the last 4-5 years AJ refused to go with me unless I forced him. Hunting was boring and dumb. He didn’t like sitting still, didn’t like hiking, didn’t like glassing for more than just a second. And damn sure didn’t like the work involved with all things hunting. All that changed when he finally had a tag in his pocket…
We’ve spent the last year going out and shooting his .243 so he can gain confidence and comfortability. At 100 yards he was hitting clay pigeons first and every try. 200 yards was much more sporadic, with every shot somewhere on a paper plate. The 90 grain noslers shoot the best outta this rifle, but they’re nearly $70 a box and I just couldn’t do that when I was buying ammo. I’ve tried Hornady and now I have the the Core Lokt. None of them shoot as well as the Nosler. I tried to let him shoot the .308 and it hurt his shoulder… Oh well, we will just have to keep it under 200- no biggie.
A close family member was able to land some private for his son for the 2 day season and we were invited along. I told them and my son that I wanted this hunt to check all the boxes. I wanted him to see animals he couldn’t shoot. I wanted him to have to challenge himself to get to animals he could shoot. I wanted him to have to hike a little, but not get burned out. I wanted him to have to wait a little, but not get so bored that its absolutely not fun. I ultimately decided I would take AJ out to a public land BMA with a “youth only area” the first morning to see what we could find. On our way into town we see a pretty dang nice mule deer buck on some private, and it gets him excited!
When we pull into town we get signed in at the property and head up to this little bluff I wanted to peek over, where you can glass the entire youth area. As we’re getting to the area I wanted to park, we look to the left and there’s a NICE whitetail buck taking 6 does to safety across some private that’s connected to state land. We watched where they ran and decided to stick to the plan. As we’re walking across the small opening to the bluff, we hear a coyote singing his song. AJ thought that was cool! We get up to the small hill and sit down just on the other side. We hear a couple distant shots as shooting light is reached, but can’t see a single deer nor a single orange blip in the distance. It was strange to me; such an enormous area, at the primest of times, completely void of both hunters and the hunted… It didn’t take us long to determine its a waste of time sitting there for too long. We make the short walk back to the truck and drive 1/2 mile or so up to the entrance of the state land. We figured those whiteys probably got out into the middle of nowhere and calmed down, so we picked the coulee on the map that we think they landed in and start picking our way across the hilly landscape. We drop down the first coulee and up the second, glassing as we crest the hill. Nothing. Just as we head down into the second, a big group of huns flew up and scared the bajeezus outta both of us.
I told him it’s not something you grow out of either. When you’re trying to be quiet, sneaking along, anticipation mounting with ever stride and then some damned birds fly up. I’ll probably jump outta my skin every single time. We laughed it off as we come up the 3rd and largest coulee. We sidehill it around the peak so as not to skyline and get setup on the middle of the small hill. We can see for miles…… no deer anywhere on the public…. After glassing awhile we turn up a PILE of mule deer on private. No bucks. At some point my son decided to glass back behind us and spots the songdog at 880 yards. We blow the “death kiss” for awhile but he’s not interested even a little bit. I know he could hear me though as he’d perk up and look our way now and again. Eventually we decide to bomb over to a different BMA where I’d killed a buck in the past and spend a couple hours in there. This BMA ends up mostly uneventful. AJ did spot a young bull moose coming up out of the trees after a couple hours of sitting, making the trip not completely boring…
We pack it up and head back to Bozeman, knowing we still have the evening hunt on some prime private ground. Over at the ranch, the boys saw some GOOD bucks that morning but couldn’t get into a good spot by the time they headed into the cover. They took notes and decided to turn in for the day as well.
We all rendezvous around 3 pm to head up to the ranch. We decide we’ll sit opposite ends of the property and we split up after discussing where we’ll be setting up for safe shooting & wishing each other good luck. By this time Avery was over the tip toeing and sitting still, plus the grass was very tall and wet which didn’t provide great “sit and glass” ground. It’s sprinkling pretty good so we hunker down under a big cottonwood and keep our eyes peeled. At one point, I peek behind us and tell AJ, “Don’t move! Slowly look behind you. There is a doe and fawn feeding right next to us!” He looks to see them and he’s happy to see game so close. They feed off into the brush and all Ave wants to do is walk around the tree to try and see them again. I have to tell him that if anything comes out to our left, they’ll see him dancing around and to just sit back down and keep watch. No sooner than I say that, two does are watching him walk back and forth around the tree and I have to tell him to stop! He sees the does and recognizes the oopsie… thankfully they just continue to mill around in the trees- but they do not come into our field…
CRACK. “That must be them! I think they got one!” I shoot a text over asking what’s up and get the response “Buck down” woohoo!!!!!!! They say they don’t need help but if we’re not seeing anything to maybe work their direction and sit the evening in their spot. We only
Have an hour and a half of shooting light and easily a 40 minute walk skirting the property so as not to walk through the middle. It takes forever but by the time we get over there it’s closing in on sunset. We can see deer all around but most of them have already cleared the property boundary. We sit it out til dark watching the deer and then head back to the truck to go get their buck. Day one is in the books.
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