azhuntnut Report post Posted November 15, 2011 My son Austin just turned 13 recently, and is becoming quite the hunter and outdoorsman. He has been hanging with me every since he could walk. For the last 6 weekends he has been coming along with me to scout for the upcoming deer hunts, as well as his deer and Jr. javelina hunt. I have been trying to teach him the importance of glassing and trying to pick out small parts of the animal when scouting, and he has become very good at it. His deer season started back on the 4th of November and we had a plan already to go on opening day. We were able to get on some deer, but they gave us they slip. I might add that he was the one that spotted the herd. We decided to head over to our next spot and start glassing, but we couldn't find anything. On our way to the next spot we saw some deer headed to there bed, but they got into the thick brush where we could not pursue them. We were able to glass up a couple bucks, but Austin wanted to hold out for a little bigger buck. He was trying to beat the one he shot from last year. The rest of the day was uneventful. The second day found us back in the same spot as the first morning, but we were unable to find any deer. Our next spot found a small hard with a small 2x2 in the group, and again he decided to wait for a little bigger. I can't believe the patience he already has at this age. The third day we set up in a blind near a crossing point going to there bed, but after two hours and no deer I decided to get out of the blind. Of course right when I stood up I could see the deer about 450 yards away, and they saw me. They all busted out of the area and we couldn't get on them. We hunted for the rest of the day, but the deer were just not cooperating. I honestly think that with the amount of lions we had been seeing lately made a big difference on the deer herd this year. I had to get him back to school, so we headed home on Sunday night. Since his pig hunt was starting on the 11th, we decided to come back and hunt the last evening of his hunt. We glassed for hours, but the deer just were not moving. We moved to one last spot to glass and I thought in the back of my head that this hunt is over and he will go home without a deer this year. With just ten minutes of shooting light left, Austin spotted a doe on the edge of the brush. When I pulled up my binos, I could see some antlers sticking out of the tumbleweeds and could see it was the 2x2 he had passed up earlier in the hunt. He told me he wanted to shoot it. He grabbed the gun and I got the tripod set up and the gun locked onto it. The buck started to move through the brush and wouldn't give him a clean shot. I then noticed another buck moving through the brush behind the smaller one and pointed it out to Austin. I told him it was about 125 yards and then stopped the buck. He took the shot and we could instantly hear the smack of the bullet hitting its mark. I am so proud of the fact that Austin spotted these deer on his own. Its such a great feeling when you walk up to an animal that your child has shot, and you know you were the one that helped get them to this point. A couple mores years and I will be following him around. David Opening morning of pig season found us in the same general area since we had been seeing pigs during our scouting trips. I think the pigs knew the season had started, since they weren't showing up as planned. We hunted hard all day with out a single sighting. We went to a spot Saturday that had a ton of pig tracks, but no pigs were in the area. I had set up a trail camera the day before, but nothing had walked past. We spent most of the day glassing our favorite spots, but just couldn't find them. On Saturday evening we went back over to the area where we had found the tracks. Austin was able to find them right away and the hunt was on. We got set up on the tripod again and waited for a pig to give us a shot. One of them got started to move away from the herd in a hurry, so we decided to try an shoot that one. Austin made the mistake of trying to shoot it while it was moving to fast and missed it. The pig got into some thick brush, so we turned our attention back to the rest of the herd. Right away I could see a pig standing still and moved Austin into position. He could only see the head and upper back area of the pig when he took the shot. You can tell by the pics that it put the pig down quickly. He kept me busy skinning and gutting this weekend, but it was well worth it. David Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted November 15, 2011 Great write up, sweet buck and nice pig! That awesome that he is that good at finding deer! Nice AR! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gr8 White Jr Report post Posted November 15, 2011 Way too cool! Congrats to your boy on the double! Love to see the youth hunters out getting it done. I'm hoping for the same kind of luck next weekend as Angie and I will be out with Jackson on his first big game hunt. Hopefully we can pull off a double as well! Congrats again! You must be proud! -Tracy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkaddict Report post Posted November 15, 2011 Great glassing and shooting! Congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted November 15, 2011 AWESOME! Good for Austin! Thanks for sharing the pics and story with this site! S. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted December 2, 2011 You've created a spotting and killin' machine! I can imagine how proud you must be. Congrats to the both of you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
