Both of my older nephews, 18 and 15, have been bit by the hunting bug. Neither have killed a deer before. I was able to take them out a couple of times last year but we had horrible luck and didn't see a deer at all.
New lease and I'm confident we could get them each a doe. Our lease agreement is one buck this year and two does per share. We sit the first afternoon and saw six doe but decided since we had the whole next day we would wait and see what else we could put eyes on.
Next morning, on the way to the stand, we ended up literally surrounded by about 20 hogs in pitch black and in chest high grass. They've never even seen hogs. Needless to say, it was about 5 minutes of nerves until they moved on past us.
We get up into the stand and at first-light we can already see does starting to move. We waited until better light and the youngest of the two wants to go ahead and take one. We get him all lined up with his 30.30, he's shooting behind me off to my right shoulder where I can't see well. He fires and I catch a glimpse of the deer running then somersaulting. Looks like a good shot.
We give the deer about 45 mins and to hopefully see if we can get his brother a doe as well. No such luck, all the deer have moved off. So we get down and start looking and in pretty short order I find the deer. Hmmm, something is off. I called my nephew over to where I found the deer, he looks at me with an "oh poop!" look.
Turns out, after he spotted the doe and got his gun up and found his "target", he accidentally settled in on the buck that was behind the doe, who he hadn't seen yet. In his defense, this was in tall grass with overcast, very flat light BUT he realized the big mistake he had made. I explained how that could have been a HUGE mistake where we would have to call the game warden etc. and how important it is to know your target 100%. We had a good talk then laugh about it and then the celebrations began.
I now have a lifetime of cr*p to give him about this. Yes, that is my buck for the year but, after all is said and done, I wouldn't have got nearly the enjoyment out of it if I had shot him myself. I had an absolute blast sharing that with my nephews and for that to be his first deer will be a moment none of us will forget. Good uncle'ing moment!
Turns out he was a 6.5-year-old. Nice mass on his bases but his brow tines left a lot to be desired. However, he was HEAVY bodied!! He was super healthy and thick, lots of good meat on its way.
New lease and I'm confident we could get them each a doe. Our lease agreement is one buck this year and two does per share. We sit the first afternoon and saw six doe but decided since we had the whole next day we would wait and see what else we could put eyes on.
Next morning, on the way to the stand, we ended up literally surrounded by about 20 hogs in pitch black and in chest high grass. They've never even seen hogs. Needless to say, it was about 5 minutes of nerves until they moved on past us.
We get up into the stand and at first-light we can already see does starting to move. We waited until better light and the youngest of the two wants to go ahead and take one. We get him all lined up with his 30.30, he's shooting behind me off to my right shoulder where I can't see well. He fires and I catch a glimpse of the deer running then somersaulting. Looks like a good shot.
We give the deer about 45 mins and to hopefully see if we can get his brother a doe as well. No such luck, all the deer have moved off. So we get down and start looking and in pretty short order I find the deer. Hmmm, something is off. I called my nephew over to where I found the deer, he looks at me with an "oh poop!" look.
Turns out, after he spotted the doe and got his gun up and found his "target", he accidentally settled in on the buck that was behind the doe, who he hadn't seen yet. In his defense, this was in tall grass with overcast, very flat light BUT he realized the big mistake he had made. I explained how that could have been a HUGE mistake where we would have to call the game warden etc. and how important it is to know your target 100%. We had a good talk then laugh about it and then the celebrations began.
I now have a lifetime of cr*p to give him about this. Yes, that is my buck for the year but, after all is said and done, I wouldn't have got nearly the enjoyment out of it if I had shot him myself. I had an absolute blast sharing that with my nephews and for that to be his first deer will be a moment none of us will forget. Good uncle'ing moment!
Turns out he was a 6.5-year-old. Nice mass on his bases but his brow tines left a lot to be desired. However, he was HEAVY bodied!! He was super healthy and thick, lots of good meat on its way.
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