I am the blessed father of 2 daughters. I had kind of thought neither of them were going to be hunters and have been working at making peace with that. Last spring my 11 year old went turkey hunting and took a great gobbler with her 20 gauge. This Aug. she told me she'd like to try deer hunting. I scrambled to make it happen and put together a .243 on my TC Encore, with a short stock for her to use.
I had seen a great mature 150 class main frame 9 with matching kickers off his G2's, that I thought I could get her onto. We had some encounters with this deer (MS 9) which led up to an encounter at 25 yards at last light one night. She was so nervous at this point that she couldn't take the shot but we do have in on camera even though it was pretty dark for the camera.
Fast forward through the rest of KS youth season to the general firearms season. We hunt several times on the field MS 9 had called home but don't see any deer standing still for very long within her self-defined range of 50 yards. She's shot targets to 168 yards with her little .243 and I know she can do it but SHE doesn't know. So, Sat. night a friend of mine offered that we could come out to his place where he had lots of deer coming in close to a permanent blind he'd built. He said he was fine with her shooting any deer she wanted.
My friend sat in the blind with us and I was filming. We didn't see anything until the last half hour of legal light when a spike buck came out. I told my daughter to get ready. I focused the camera on the deer and started coaching her. I asked her if she wanted to try for him and she said "if I get the right shot." So, when the deer stops at about 90 yards, with his head behind some brush I tell her to put the gun up and look at him through the scope. She tells me she can't see him well enough. My buddy tells her that she should take the shot and she says, "I don't have the shot. There's too much brush. I don't want to make a bad shot." At the time I'm frustrated but looking back at it, she made the right call. The camera footage shows that most of the brush in front of him was just grass but she couldn't see the deer all that well.
About that time I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Where the spike had been across the draw at 90 yards, this deer was at 60 yards in the bottom of the draw. I whisper to Hannah to look in the bottom of the draw, as I turn the camera to focus on this new deer. I can tell it has no horns but since I also bought her an antlerless tag, we're good. The deer looks like a button buck but my buddy already told us he has no trouble with her taking any deer she wants for her first deer.
So, Hannah looks through her scope at the deer. She asks me to turn up the power (we are only at 60 yards and it's kind of dark) so I just turn it up to 4X and that's good enough for her. The deer is quartering toward us just a bit, so I tell her to put it right on the shoulder. She (being smarter than I) waits for the deer to take a step forward to expose the vitals and aims right behind the shoulder instead. At the shot, the deer dropped in it's tracks.
The whole thing is on camera, including her squealing, laughing and cheering. She had no regrets. We field dressed the deer, got it home and she mentioned she'd sure like to try a deer steak for the first time (I usually save my steaks for when the family isn't home). We cut out the tenderloins, I fry them in some butter with onion, some lawry's seasoning salt and a bit of garlic powder and she proclaims it the "best meat she's ever tasted."
Now we still have a tag for an antlered deer and we are working on that, but hopefully that will be another story.
Think I'm proud? You bet I am!!!!
Matthew
I had seen a great mature 150 class main frame 9 with matching kickers off his G2's, that I thought I could get her onto. We had some encounters with this deer (MS 9) which led up to an encounter at 25 yards at last light one night. She was so nervous at this point that she couldn't take the shot but we do have in on camera even though it was pretty dark for the camera.
Fast forward through the rest of KS youth season to the general firearms season. We hunt several times on the field MS 9 had called home but don't see any deer standing still for very long within her self-defined range of 50 yards. She's shot targets to 168 yards with her little .243 and I know she can do it but SHE doesn't know. So, Sat. night a friend of mine offered that we could come out to his place where he had lots of deer coming in close to a permanent blind he'd built. He said he was fine with her shooting any deer she wanted.
My friend sat in the blind with us and I was filming. We didn't see anything until the last half hour of legal light when a spike buck came out. I told my daughter to get ready. I focused the camera on the deer and started coaching her. I asked her if she wanted to try for him and she said "if I get the right shot." So, when the deer stops at about 90 yards, with his head behind some brush I tell her to put the gun up and look at him through the scope. She tells me she can't see him well enough. My buddy tells her that she should take the shot and she says, "I don't have the shot. There's too much brush. I don't want to make a bad shot." At the time I'm frustrated but looking back at it, she made the right call. The camera footage shows that most of the brush in front of him was just grass but she couldn't see the deer all that well.
About that time I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Where the spike had been across the draw at 90 yards, this deer was at 60 yards in the bottom of the draw. I whisper to Hannah to look in the bottom of the draw, as I turn the camera to focus on this new deer. I can tell it has no horns but since I also bought her an antlerless tag, we're good. The deer looks like a button buck but my buddy already told us he has no trouble with her taking any deer she wants for her first deer.
So, Hannah looks through her scope at the deer. She asks me to turn up the power (we are only at 60 yards and it's kind of dark) so I just turn it up to 4X and that's good enough for her. The deer is quartering toward us just a bit, so I tell her to put it right on the shoulder. She (being smarter than I) waits for the deer to take a step forward to expose the vitals and aims right behind the shoulder instead. At the shot, the deer dropped in it's tracks.
The whole thing is on camera, including her squealing, laughing and cheering. She had no regrets. We field dressed the deer, got it home and she mentioned she'd sure like to try a deer steak for the first time (I usually save my steaks for when the family isn't home). We cut out the tenderloins, I fry them in some butter with onion, some lawry's seasoning salt and a bit of garlic powder and she proclaims it the "best meat she's ever tasted."
Now we still have a tag for an antlered deer and we are working on that, but hopefully that will be another story.
Think I'm proud? You bet I am!!!!
Matthew
