I made a promise to my nephew several years ago that I would carry him deer hunting with me when he turned thirteen years old. Well, this was the year. He completed hunter safety certification Thursday night, fired a "deer rifle" for the first time Friday afternoon, picked up his honorary youth tags Friday night, and then harvested a 5 pt. buck Saturday morning.
The hunt began with the "sweetening" of several scrapes along an old logging road during the walk to the stand. We settled in a wooden box stand just before the crack of day and watched the woods come to life on one of the most beautiful opening days in recent years. After a multitude of early shots he asked, "We are not going to see anything... are we?" I quickly reminded him of all of the hard work / preparation he had put into food plots and clearing of downed trees from the hurricanes and that hard work pays off.
Around 8 o'clock I heard a distant deer grunt twice, but did not see him until 8:25 am. I told my nephew I saw a buck to my right. The deer was about 40 yards away walking down the scrape line. We got the gun out the shooting window, but the deer spooked before it crossed the next opening. My nephew quickly changed shooting windows and asked where to shoot the deer, which was directly behind me. I saw the deer about 80 yards out facing directly away from us and told him not to shoot. I grunted with my voice (the grunt call was lying on the floor of the stand due to all of the shifting around in the stand) and amazingly the deer turned completely broadsided and threw his head up!
After three quick urges of "Shoot!", the .223 WSSM fired. The deer kicked his back feet, nearly went down in the front, and then ran further up the old logging road getting lower to the ground as he went. I knew everything looked real good, but there is always that little bit of doubt.
After everything calmed down, we went to confirm a hit by searching for the exact spot the deer was standing and a blood trail. We found the kick marks in the dirt and bright pink spray on the surrounding brush. What a relief! We then followed the blood trail for about 50 yards to a 140 lb (live wt.), 5 pt. buck. His first buck on his first hunt! This is what it is all about!
Sorry for be long-winded... just wanted to share our excitement with you.
The hunt began with the "sweetening" of several scrapes along an old logging road during the walk to the stand. We settled in a wooden box stand just before the crack of day and watched the woods come to life on one of the most beautiful opening days in recent years. After a multitude of early shots he asked, "We are not going to see anything... are we?" I quickly reminded him of all of the hard work / preparation he had put into food plots and clearing of downed trees from the hurricanes and that hard work pays off.
Around 8 o'clock I heard a distant deer grunt twice, but did not see him until 8:25 am. I told my nephew I saw a buck to my right. The deer was about 40 yards away walking down the scrape line. We got the gun out the shooting window, but the deer spooked before it crossed the next opening. My nephew quickly changed shooting windows and asked where to shoot the deer, which was directly behind me. I saw the deer about 80 yards out facing directly away from us and told him not to shoot. I grunted with my voice (the grunt call was lying on the floor of the stand due to all of the shifting around in the stand) and amazingly the deer turned completely broadsided and threw his head up!
After three quick urges of "Shoot!", the .223 WSSM fired. The deer kicked his back feet, nearly went down in the front, and then ran further up the old logging road getting lower to the ground as he went. I knew everything looked real good, but there is always that little bit of doubt.
After everything calmed down, we went to confirm a hit by searching for the exact spot the deer was standing and a blood trail. We found the kick marks in the dirt and bright pink spray on the surrounding brush. What a relief! We then followed the blood trail for about 50 yards to a 140 lb (live wt.), 5 pt. buck. His first buck on his first hunt! This is what it is all about!
Sorry for be long-winded... just wanted to share our excitement with you.
