Youth Hunts

Muskeez

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Joined
Aug 21, 2012
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NW Iowa
I love to see the kids out, and especially being with them to relive my own hunting childhood. So, I'll start, but lets see some more youth hunts:

Iowa Youth Deer season opened Saturday for any youth under age 16. My son is too old now, so I have been taking my nephews the last few years. I'll try to make this short... Sat. am my brother sat with his 2 youngest boys in a groundblind with one gun, (kids can use bow, muzzleloader, or shotgun slugs) and I took the oldest boy (Sam, 15) to a tree on the other side of the farm 1/2 mile+ away. I sat on a ladder stand and he was above me on a hang-on stand. He passed on a small buck and about 8 does and fawns. We were getting close to calling it a morning when I heard him stand up. The buck was already 25 yards away and snuck in on us. He scuffed the tree with his bow, the buck looked up, but then continued walking.. Sam drew, bleated to stop him, and released the arrow , all in about 3 seconds! I leaned around a branch to see the arrow hit the buck right in the front shoulder. It ran off hard and disappeared into the thick stuff in 30 yards. Well, we waited a while, then snuck out the back way to go get his dad and brothers. We found the buck only 75 yards from where he shot it. One awesome morning!!

So, we hurry to get the deer home and boned out on the 75 degree day. Late afternoon, we go back out. I take the middle son, Ian, age 13 to the far end of the farm again. He is not strong enough to hold the muzzleloader steady in a treestand, so we go to where I often see deer coming from the neighbors property into the land that I hunt. We get on a hillside with trails below us, and tuck in under a cedar tree and cut some branches to make a blind in front of us... 20 minutes before end of shooting light, here comes a buck, headed right at us...(he would have gladly taken a doe or any deer that wasn't a yearling) we are both breathing heavy and shaking :) unfortunately the buck was quartering toward us, just before it would disappear behind some more cedars and never be seen again, I told him to shoot. ...lesson learned... As the smoke from the muzzeloader clears I see the buck running and bouncing off, with his tail in the air. I thought for sure he had missed the 50 yard shot. We go look for blood and find some right away, and back out... I'm thinking any hit other than guts would have gotten a better, more promising, reaction from the buck... Ian didn't take into account the angle, and barely caught a couple ribs on the near side, ..and back.. yuck.. Well, we waited until morning and found him dead, 20 yards past where we last saw him bouncing away. One lung had a hole in the end of it, but the rest was guts...I'm glad we didn't push him right away that night. Anyway... Another great buck and a fun weekend for the boys. The 10 year old, Joe, didn't take a shot, but passed up a tiny forkhorn buck and some small does. He wanted to shoot a big doe, but none came in that didn't have real small fawns with them.

So, after all that , here's the pics. I hope the rest of our seasons go so well! I still have a neighbor kid to take yet in the next few weeks before the adults get to start hunting.
Thanks for letting me share, Lets see some more!
Clayton
 

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Awesome!

Here in IL we get one youth weekend, the first full weekend of the season (Oct 6&7) I'll be taking my 9 year old daughter out. Told her I wouldn't hunt the area until after youth season, so no pressure on the deer. Got to go this week and get her tag and license.
 
Congrats to the young hunters on some good buck! Kudos to you for sharing them. ;)

I don't qualify for the youth season, but I'd gladly hang my tag on either of those two.
 
another youth's hunt

Anyone else had the kids out lately?

I took a neighbor's son out Friday after school. (Youth Deer Season) Only saw one doe and she was 100 yards off and a skinny/small deer. It was fun to watch her walk along and across the river though.

Sat. am we head to another farm. We sat in a ground blind on the edge of a woodlot, between the trees and a cornfield. The corn had been standing and the local deer were moving in and out of it every AM and PM. Well, we got there and the corn had been harvested the day before. I'm sure a lot of truck and combine activity disrupted the deers usual routine. Plus, half of their home was now missing. Well, we sat for a couple hours and it appeared like it was going to be a bust, when I saw a doe standing on a fencerow. 5 minutes later, here she comes! I thought she would come through an open gate, just 40 yards away, but instead she jumped the fence and began running....uh-oh!, well, I got her to stop in about the only clearing that the young lad could have made the shot in. Talk about a blessing! He wispered and asked if it was ok to shoot, (he's WAY polite) and when I said YES, he pulled the trigger on my TC and put the bullet right through both lungs at 60 yards! She ran over the hill, so we went to get the truck and camera. He did all the tracking and found her at the bottom of the hill. His first deer ever! Another awesome hunt!! This is just as fun as shooting them myself!! We got her home, skinned and boned right away, and last night he got his first butchering lesson. I'm grateful that his parents let him experience another form of hunting. I'm sure we'll both remember the hunt for many years.
 

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Congrats to the hunter and good on you for taking him!

Having assisted a number of kids in getting their first deer, turkey, pheasant, whatever...I can honestly say I enjoy it more then getting a critter myself.
 
taking lil miss 1-shot-no-kills....yet (my 7 year old daughter),..for her first hunt,..she is going to use my Carbon Express Covert SLS crossbow,..so far up to 40 yards she is nailing the bulls eye at practice... I've got a lil 8 pt picked out for her,..hope he dodges all the road chrome until nov 2nd
 
My Buck

This Buck was harvested on November 5, 2011 in South Carolina. I shot him at 150 yards with a Howa .243
 

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Dandy!

Thats a beautiful buck!! Way to go Buckmaster!! Keep living the GOOD life :)
 

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