I have always enjoyed journaling my noteworthy hunts on here both for posterity and entertainment. Although this is not MY hunt, it is noteworthy as it is my sons FIRST hunt. Not just of deer but of ANYTHING..
My son has never shown ANY interest in hunting. ZERO. Not even in VIDEO GAMES. I mean ZEEEERO. So when he said he would be interested in applying for the deer draw I was somewhat surprised. I think we were ALL shocked when he actually got drawn.
I spent a LOT of time planning and preparing and begging for advice (a HUGE thank-you to all that sent info to me) I had a pretty good game plan of how to get him a deer. All that went out the window after we learned he is HORRIBLE at shooting. We practiced and practiced and got help from some extremely good teachers(not me) but he just couldn't find the rhythm. He developed a pretty bad flinch even with the lightest of deer rifles. So I switched him to my 223ar and locked him into a pretty decent tripod system(field optics research) to help with the flinch and stability. He was shooting good this way but it severely limited our range and options for hunting. I decided we would be limited to 100 yds or less and in a controlled environment. So that means sitting water.
So now our epic journey begins,,,,,,
Day one.
Opening morning.
It's over.
The end.
Our view
curios visitor
The best part of the entire hunt for HIM
The end......
Sat until 10 am when it started getting hot and I figured they might come get a drink. First saw the above doe and watched her for quite awhile. Then another and another. Eventually two small bucks showed up. There was a larger buck farther back behind the water hole but Easton could not see it well. The small one was standing broadside at 80 yds. After about 5 min of watching and waiting for the bigger buck he decided the little one was good enough. Calm as a rock he he went through the process we practiced. Pretty much a bang flop. I was a "little" nervous about the 223 but it WRECKED that little deer. Never had a chance.
He was a ROCK. ZERO nerves. ME on the other hand. I was a nervous wreck. Took me forever to calm down. I was so bad I for got to video it. Oh, I HAD the camera set up and I turned it on. I even followed the deer around for 5 min all the way through the shot. I just neglected hitting the record button. I so totally suck at video. It is my Achilles heel.
About 5 min after the shot 2 buggies came up the trail. I think if he waited for the bigger buck any longer we might have gotten nothing. I commended him for his good call and his excellent shooting.
Funniest part of the entire event was afterwards. I asked if he had fun and he said it was awesome. I asked if he wanted to do it again and without pause and very emphatically he said...
Nope.
Oh well. We'll see,,,,,