Final Jr. Deer Hunt!

[stanley]

This past weekend I took my younger son Nick on his final Jr. hunt (He'll be 18 next year.....). We hunted like we have many times before down South in 36A, taking advantage of the Jr. hunt that the G&F makes available in 36A/B. I've always enjoyed this hunt, and as mentioned have been down there MANY times over the years for either Jr. hunts or trash clean-up events.

 

Let me start off by saying BIG THANKS to AZSCI, AZG&F and ALL of the volunteers who helped and contributed time & donations to make this Jr. Hunt what it is. Bob Boido, Gabe Paz, Steve Paz, (their families), and so many others have been there year after year helping the kids with the awesome Jr. Hunter Camp that they host! I simply don't know all of the people's names, else I would recognize each and every one of them! All of these folks are great to share a camp with, and truly have a passion for helping the kids out! Huge kudos to the entire crew!!!

 

Our hunt started a bit late, as Nicky had a test that he couldn't miss on Friday morning (school first, I suppose.... ). We left Phoenix about 11:30, and by 2:00PM we were pulling into the Jr. Hunters camp just off the Arivaca highway. After setting-up our tent and visiting with a couple of old friends, we headed out to one of our favorite spots for a quick afternoon hunt. In just two hours of glassing we saw close to 30 deer, one being a nice 3 point muley. Unfortunately the buck was about 800 yards away, but we made plans to get back there early the next morning.

 

That night we had a great time keeping warm around the fire while the camp volunteers prepared an awesome dinner! After we filled our bellys with some great spaghetti, we enjoyed some fresh dutch-oven baked cakes & cobblers that Gabe prepared! He made EIGHT of them and the kids chowed down!!! What a treat! Right after dinner it started to rain a bit so we turned in early to get ready for the next morning's hunt.

 

Gabe and his amazing desserts

 

 

We woke on Saturday morning to clear and cold weather (there was ice on the truck.....). After some coffee and chroizo & egg burros we headed out to our spot. We hiked-in in the dark and set-up in the cool morning as the sun came-up. A little after first light we heard a lone shot on the ridge behind us. A little later 14 does came wandering up behind us as we were glassing a large canyon in front of us. They made their way around us and across the canyon and started to feed. We kept glassing and I noticed a few does feeding on the ridge across from us. I kept glassing around, occasionally coming back to the feeding does. Sure enough as I re-checked them again I noticed a new deer with them and quickly identified a little buck had joined them. They were quite a long way off, and I estimated them at around 450 yards. Nick got scooted over closer to me and got the .7MM settled on his shooting 'mono-pod' for a rest. He found the deer in his scope and I asked him if he thought he could make the shot. Due to the distance, i told him to put the cross hairs high on the deer. He said he was pretty steady and felt good and was ready. I couple of moments later he fired and the round hit low, right under the deer's torso! The deer kind of jumped a bit and trotted, then settled down again. Nick said he was holding right where I told him to, so I told him to hold about 1 1/2 feet over it's back this time. He did so and this time after the shot the buck dropped in it's tracks, kicked a time or two and was done!

 

While Nick was hiking to the deer (while I kept an eye on it through the binoculars) a fellow cw.com member (cflores) and his father & son walked-up on me. His son had just killed a javelina over the ridge behind us, and they had been watching some of the same deer that Nick shot at. (He said there was a bigger buck with the group but we never saw it.... ). We had camped together for the early Jr. hunt a couple of years ago and it was nice to run into him! Anyway, he had a range finder and confirmed that the shot was 423 yards.

 

Nick and his deer! (he shot it from the ridge in the back ground).

 

Cutting up the back-straps and roasts while watching football yesterday.

 

I've hunted MANY times with my kids over the years. With or without killing an animal, each and every hunt is special! Next up is 36C this weekend with my oldest son and a couple of good friends!

 

Happy hunting all!!

 

S.

 

 

PS: I noticed yesterday on here that there was a thread regarding 'questionable shots'. Made me think about Nick taking this deer at such a long distance, when based on the first shot we obviously didn't realize how far the bullet would drop. Luckily the deer was killed quickly after adjusting, but made me ponder none the less.......

[Adicted]

thats a great time...congrats

[Couestracker]

Great write-up of the Jr camp and hunt. Congrats to your son on his success.

[John O]

Gongrats to you and your son. Awesome!

[cramerhunts]

Awesome way to make the most of his last Jr. tag. Congratulations on the success!

[firstcoueswas80]

Congrats. Heck of a long shot with no lrf.

[stanley]

Thanks much for the kind comments, all.

 

Yes Casey, it was a long shot. I'm assuming lrf stands for 'laser range finder'...... As I said, it was a bit of a learning experience for us. I had 'guestimated' the range fairly accurately (later confirmed with Carlos' range finder). Our problem was that even if I would have had a range finder originally, I don't know if that would have mattered much. We don't shoot long range enough so didn't have a good idea of how much drop there would be at that range. This has convinced me we should prepare more for next time. We just kind of did it 'old school' by adjusting the second shot based on where the first round hit. I've never been good at holding steady for long shots myself, so I avoid them. My son, on the other hand seems to have a knack for holding much more steady than I. I think we'll now spend more time at the longer targets at the range so he can make them a little more predictably. Of course, I'll also carry my range finder for now on.

 

 

S.

 

 

[CouesWhitetail]

Congratulations and I am glad the shot worked out!

 

And many thanks to SCI and all the volunteers who run this camp! If you have a youth hunter with a tag down in those units, that's a great camp to attend!

[out2hunt]

Great job to all involved! Kudos