Opening Day Success for my Daughter!

[IA Born]

My 11-year old daughter, Sydney, drew the youth antlerless tag as her second choice again this year. She was bummed to not have a buck tag after having a great antlerless hunt last year, but was very appreciative of the opportunity to hunt deer again. We took off early Thursday morning, hoping to cross paths with a turkey after setting up camp. That didn't pan out, but we ended up seeing several mature does in the areas we planned to hunt. She asked me if we could get up even earlier Friday morning to be the first in our area and beat the others that might be there! Its hard to argue that logic, so I set the alarm for 15 minutes earlier. We went to bed excited Thursday night. Friday morning arrived and we drove past all of the camps in our area while their lights were still off. We planned to hike the line above a canyon so we could see down in and the flats above the canyon. Shots started ringing out around 0615, but we weren't seeing anything move yet. Long story short, we started seeing deer moving, but couldn't close the deal. We ended up driving down another road and hiking down into a canyon, thinking the road hunters would have pushed them down in and off the ridges. We were in deer again, but couldn't make it work. She decided she was ready to go have lunch at camp and rest a bit, so we hiked up to my truck. As we were driving out, I noticed a few faces looking our way through some jack pines. I pulled ahead and we started to close some distance, but got busted. We watched where the deer ran off to and made a wide circle back to intercept. It worked and we got back on them. I found a big doe 60 yards in front of us, facing our direction, but trees blocked her view of us while allowing a clear shot at her vitals. I pointed her out to Syd and we got set up. Right as I was getting ready to tell her where to aim on the facing shot, a group of road hunters drove by and spooked the deer. Back at camp, Syd was getting bummed and depressed. Her mom and brother came up Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with us, and my wife is extremely supportive of our hunts. She and I offered words of encouragement and perspective. We talked about the "Law of Averages" and how, if you stick with it and stay persistent, all the encounters will eventually turn into a filled tag. I laid down for a quick nap, but was awaken by Sydney "Dad, I'm ready to go fill my tag. Can you wake up?" Again, hard to argue with that! We got ready and made a plan. Actually, she made the plan. She made it clear what she wanted to do. We were going to head back to the second canyon and hike in, but head farther down the ridge this time. We loaded up and this is where it gets GOOD!

 

As we were driving in to our destination, we were both opportunistically looking for deer on the side of the road. Over the last couple of years, I've learned to trust Syd's spotting ability. As we were cruising along, I hear "Dad, Deer!" I didn't see them, but she said she saw a doe bedded down in the shade 80-100 yards off the road. Then she says "Just keep driving and I'll tell you where to pull over." All I could do was say "Ok. I didn't see them, so you're in charge." "Just pull over up there by those two pine trees, dad." After getting pulled over and geared up, she says "We're going to hike in from here and circle in from behind her since she was facing that way." I told her I had no idea where they were, so I would follow her lead, looking ahead as we walked in. We made it about 70 yards in and found a doe bedded in the shade of a bowl 50-60 yards from us. We got Syd set up on the sticks, but the doe stood up and walked off. That triggered the original doe Syd spotted to stand up and look our way. She was slightly quartering away from us, so I told Syd to hold slightly back on her ribs. Syd let her 7mm-08 bark and the doe trotted off, followed by a fawn. I didn't see a reaction like she was hit hard, but I told her to get ready just in case we had a second chance. I happened to look at my watch and it was 1400. I watched two deer circle back on the hill above the bowl. Syd was getting teared up at the thought of missing, but I quickly told her about my misses and explained that it happens to everyone eventually. We walked into the area where the deer was standing to look for blood and found blood and pieces of liver! I told her about gut and liver shots being fatal, but taking longer to kill. We followed blood for a bit and then lost it. We walked a few steps in the direction of travel and I happened to look and see her doe bedded down against a big Ponderosa pine, looking at us. I told Syd she'd have to finish her and that shook her up pretty hard. She didn't like the idea of her deer suffering, but was having trouble looking her in the face to finish her. I reminded her of our role as ethical hunters and the respect we owe the game we hunt, which helped calm her down. As we got set up, the deer stood up and bounded off, up and over the ridge above us. We could see blood spraying from the exit wound. It looked like an abdominal wound, but I also remembered the quartering away shot, so I figured there must be some chest cavity damage. We found a big pool of blood where she bedded down. I suggested we take a look up towards the top of the ridge and maybe peek down over the hill to see if she was bedded somewhere nearby. I explained that we didn't want to bump her again because they can run. We needed to give her time to expire. We had good blood from the pine tree, so we crept slowly along the blood trail, glassing ahead as we went. We got about halfway down the hill when I happened to see a deer head on the ground sticking out from behind a stump. I had to look three times, including from different angles to verify it was a whole deer and not someone else's carcass from earlier. When I was able to verify it as her deer, I turned to her and said "Hey Syd, why don't you go tag your deer so we can head back to camp!" The look on her face was priceless!! As I was getting my gear out to field dress her, I overheard her paying her respects to the deer and saying a nice prayer. I chose not to eavesdrop as I thought this was her special moment with her harvest, but the words I happened to hear were beautiful. We got her field dressed and lined up for pictures. It turns out the shot destroyed her liver, put a hole in her stomach, and took out part of her offside lung. All the bounding away caused her to pump out quickly. I told Syd I'd have to drag her back up the hill and to the truck and she offered to carry some of my gear to lighten my load. This doe was definitely bigger than last year's doe, which was kind enough to drop 10 feet off a road. She's one tough 11-year old, but then she's also a die-hard goalie on her soccer team, so she's a special kind of tough, physically and mentally! Syd reminded me of the old logging road we crossed following the blood, which was nice. I dragged her up to the tree she was bedded by after the shot, dropped her off in the shade and took off for my truck. I asked Syd to help me get her in the back of the truck and she gladly took the back legs and we hefted her up. We were back at camp before 1500, got her skinned, loaded into the cooler and on our way to Jacob Lake Inn for supper by 1600! Those bacon cheeseburgers never tasted better! The other cool part about this harvest is that she used the exact same brass case from last year's deer. We saved it, marked it, and she reloaded it herself so that she could harvest another animal with it.

 

I told Sydney that my favorite part of this hunt was not the tag being filled, but how it was filled. This deer was 100% her. She found it, gave me directions, and planned the stalk. She told me she learned about patience, not getting discouraged, and persistence. She now believes in the "Law of Averages", too. She also wants to spend more time studying quarter away and quartering to shots so she can be better prepared for next time. I am so stinking proud of my daughter and the hunter she is becoming. She told me last night that her math teacher (who LOADED her with homework for the hunt) was excited for her, but asked her how she felt shooting another animal. She told her teacher that her heart hurts every time she takes another life, but went on to explain that its out of respect for the game and that hunters play an important role in conservation, keeping populations in check. I wish I could say she was one of my Hunter Ed students. I took the class with her before becoming an instructor, but since becoming an instructor, we talk hunter ed, ethics, wildlife management, etc. constantly, so she's a defacto student of mine. So. Stinking. PROUD!!!

 

[Edge]

Good job.

[stanley]

VERY awesome!!!! Nothing like hunting with your kids!

 

Thanks for sharing with the site!

 

S.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Awesome story, awesome deer, awesome huntress and values. Great job on raising her correctly.

[jim]

Awesome story and Congrats to Sydney.

[PelaPapas]

Way to get it done, congrats!

[Stallone A.]

Thanks for sharing. Great story.

[Couestracker]

Awesome hunt, story and especially an awesome young lady! Good job too dad!

[Big Browns]

Very, Very Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[8OWHUNT247]

Thats something to be proud of sir. Well Done!

[6ANut]

Well done congrats.

[CouesPursuit]

Absolutely fantastic job! Congratulations, Dad and Sydney!

[lucky2hunt]

Wow! What an incredible hunt... Congrats to you and especially Sydney! As I prepare to get things packed up for my adult sons' general deer hunt up on the Kaibab, I find myself envious of you! I miss the innocence, excitement and wonder when my boys were your daughters age! I feel fortunate that my son still wants his parents hunting with him, but seeing that priceless smile on Sydney's face makes me miss my little boys!

[Flatlander]

Totally awesome!

[Will K]

Good job.