This was my 10 year old daughter Lauren’s first year deer hunting. We bought her a Browning Silver 20 ga with a rifled barrel and practiced with it about 5-6 times. At first, she was concerned about the noise and the kick, but after shooting it, she was pretty comfortable with it. When we first started practicing, it was off a bench with a lead sled that held the gun. Then we had her just use a backpack or rest for practice. This was a lot harder but she soon got the hang of it.
Day 2 Sunday
Lauren came out with me to a box stand on the east side of our swamp in west central Minnesota. We jumped a bunch of deer going into the stand and saw 2 while in the stand. One was in the swamp about 60 yards away and Lauren got her first case of buck fever (or deer fever as she called it).
After a midday break, we decided to sit in the Wheelie Hut that was between a big woods and the swamp near some tree rows (that were planted about 4 years earlier). About 3:45 pm, we saw a deer by the woods on the tree rows. Soon that turned into 4 deer (a doe and 3 fawns). Lauren turned to me and said, “Dad, why am I shaking? I am not cold!” This would be the second case of deer fever! I told her that it was fine to shake, but she had to control it. As it turned out, it took the deer about an hour to feed down to us which gave her plenty of time to quit shaking. First came a fawn and I stopped it with a “baaaahhhh”. Lauren tried to get lined up on it, but just couldn’t quite get the crosshairs where they needed to be before it started walking again. “Baaaahhhh” and it stopped, but again it just wouldn’t get in the crosshairs! Pretty soon, it got too far and I told her to take a deep breath and get ready because the 2nd fawn was coming into range. Lauren tried on this one too, but just couldn’t get it lined up right. Next, here came the doe and the last fawn together. She tried to get on the doe, but she needed to get up a little higher and asked me to lift her up! Ah, that wasn’t going to work. So I told her to shoot the fawn. She took her time, lined it up in the scope and BOOM! The fawn dropped in its tracks! At this point, the excitement boiled over. All the hard work practicing, all the time spent talking through scenarios, all the preparation….the emotions were incredible. Tears of joy slid down her cheeks and she gave her dad a big hug. What an incredible experience to have with your daughter!
Soon, it was time to take some pictures and field dress her first deer. My dad and brother came over to help and witness this momentous occasion and Lauren had to put on rubber gloves and help with the field dressing process. She didn’t think this was the neatest part of the whole experience, but she rolled her sleeves up and got it done. The next weekend we butchered our deer (foreshadowing there
) and she helped with that whole process. Last night, we made some of the most tender backstraps ever on the grill and were they ever good. Not many 10 year old girls shoot, process, cook, and eat their food these days! To say I am proud of her is a monumental understatement. I have the video, but it is broken up into blocks and I am going to work on getting it all together. Might play it at her wedding!
So how did I do? Well, it is probably more fun to read about little girls shooting their first deer, but I did pass up 11 small to medium bucks before I was lucky enough to shoot this guy. The key element to the success on this buck was a little canoodling. We were going to get out of our stands at 9:15 (it was COLD at 3 degrees and a stiff wind). I got to thinking, my brother is going to walk upwind of the woods to get one of our trail cameras. I better stick it out another 10 minutes. At 9:19, I heard a noise and here came this buck trotting from perzactly where my brother was goofing around. One shot took his plumbing out at the top of the heart and he ran about 50 yards. The new sabots make plenty big holes!
This was my favorite deer hunting year ever!
Day 2 Sunday
Lauren came out with me to a box stand on the east side of our swamp in west central Minnesota. We jumped a bunch of deer going into the stand and saw 2 while in the stand. One was in the swamp about 60 yards away and Lauren got her first case of buck fever (or deer fever as she called it).
After a midday break, we decided to sit in the Wheelie Hut that was between a big woods and the swamp near some tree rows (that were planted about 4 years earlier). About 3:45 pm, we saw a deer by the woods on the tree rows. Soon that turned into 4 deer (a doe and 3 fawns). Lauren turned to me and said, “Dad, why am I shaking? I am not cold!” This would be the second case of deer fever! I told her that it was fine to shake, but she had to control it. As it turned out, it took the deer about an hour to feed down to us which gave her plenty of time to quit shaking. First came a fawn and I stopped it with a “baaaahhhh”. Lauren tried to get lined up on it, but just couldn’t quite get the crosshairs where they needed to be before it started walking again. “Baaaahhhh” and it stopped, but again it just wouldn’t get in the crosshairs! Pretty soon, it got too far and I told her to take a deep breath and get ready because the 2nd fawn was coming into range. Lauren tried on this one too, but just couldn’t get it lined up right. Next, here came the doe and the last fawn together. She tried to get on the doe, but she needed to get up a little higher and asked me to lift her up! Ah, that wasn’t going to work. So I told her to shoot the fawn. She took her time, lined it up in the scope and BOOM! The fawn dropped in its tracks! At this point, the excitement boiled over. All the hard work practicing, all the time spent talking through scenarios, all the preparation….the emotions were incredible. Tears of joy slid down her cheeks and she gave her dad a big hug. What an incredible experience to have with your daughter!
Soon, it was time to take some pictures and field dress her first deer. My dad and brother came over to help and witness this momentous occasion and Lauren had to put on rubber gloves and help with the field dressing process. She didn’t think this was the neatest part of the whole experience, but she rolled her sleeves up and got it done. The next weekend we butchered our deer (foreshadowing there
) and she helped with that whole process. Last night, we made some of the most tender backstraps ever on the grill and were they ever good. Not many 10 year old girls shoot, process, cook, and eat their food these days! To say I am proud of her is a monumental understatement. I have the video, but it is broken up into blocks and I am going to work on getting it all together. Might play it at her wedding!
So how did I do? Well, it is probably more fun to read about little girls shooting their first deer, but I did pass up 11 small to medium bucks before I was lucky enough to shoot this guy. The key element to the success on this buck was a little canoodling. We were going to get out of our stands at 9:15 (it was COLD at 3 degrees and a stiff wind). I got to thinking, my brother is going to walk upwind of the woods to get one of our trail cameras. I better stick it out another 10 minutes. At 9:19, I heard a noise and here came this buck trotting from perzactly where my brother was goofing around. One shot took his plumbing out at the top of the heart and he ran about 50 yards. The new sabots make plenty big holes!
This was my favorite deer hunting year ever!
