Lawnboy
Well-known member
Finally got the chance to head out with my son on his first deer hunt. Missed the golden opportunity last week with the 2 early days for the youth to hunt deer but I had committed to the helicopter hunt. He has been real excited to hunt and we've shot the guns this summer. I bought him a Marlin xl7 in a 308 caliber and he's been shooting it great. We started out Friday night hunting along a creek bottom that I thought would give us our best chance at a buck. It turned out to be a bugger because the Cottonwoods had dropped their leaves and was like walking on potato chips. A beaver had made a mess of the stream and we used the waders to get across the channels. We ended up scaring a couple nice bucks and some does before I realized that this was not going to be a good beginners hunt. Saturday morning we focused on field that the was connected to some sage foothills. We spotted two bucks feeding a ways out and some muley does a bit closer. We snuck up to the edge and a quick range found the bucks at 300 yds
They weren't really feeding closer and I didn't think that the odds of him getting one at that distance were realistic.
We soon saw a doe come out to our right at 150yds. He felt like that was a better shot opportunity. He set up and the doe would stop and then continue eating heading in the bucks direction. I was dying with all the suspense. I've forgotten what it's like to not be quick on the draw. Before long the doe had made it's way all the way out to the bucks. I told him he could make the shot but he would need to aim on the bucks back in order to allow for the drop. He was nervous but I told him he could do it. It's now been about 20 minutes since we had been aiming at the animals. I'm thinking that we aren't going to get a chance. He finally got the confidence and pulled the trigger. I heard the bullet whack the buck and they all scattered. It was soon apparent that the deer had been hit as it stayed back and looked sick. It eventually layed down and we were able to move up and finish him off. His shot was only about 3 inches off of a clean lung shot. He hit it dead center just a touch back. I never realized how small whitetails are. He really shot well considering the distance, Hopefully we won't need to make those type of long shots in the future. It was a sweet experience for me and was neat to hear him call his mom and grandpas and tell them that he got a "big one". Surely a day I won't and hopefully he won't forget. Now for an elk.
They weren't really feeding closer and I didn't think that the odds of him getting one at that distance were realistic.We soon saw a doe come out to our right at 150yds. He felt like that was a better shot opportunity. He set up and the doe would stop and then continue eating heading in the bucks direction. I was dying with all the suspense. I've forgotten what it's like to not be quick on the draw. Before long the doe had made it's way all the way out to the bucks. I told him he could make the shot but he would need to aim on the bucks back in order to allow for the drop. He was nervous but I told him he could do it. It's now been about 20 minutes since we had been aiming at the animals. I'm thinking that we aren't going to get a chance. He finally got the confidence and pulled the trigger. I heard the bullet whack the buck and they all scattered. It was soon apparent that the deer had been hit as it stayed back and looked sick. It eventually layed down and we were able to move up and finish him off. His shot was only about 3 inches off of a clean lung shot. He hit it dead center just a touch back. I never realized how small whitetails are. He really shot well considering the distance, Hopefully we won't need to make those type of long shots in the future. It was a sweet experience for me and was neat to hear him call his mom and grandpas and tell them that he got a "big one". Surely a day I won't and hopefully he won't forget. Now for an elk.
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