Glenn
Senior Member
My oldest son (14) killed his first deer on Saturday, January 13, 2024 at Joe Budd WMA here in Tallahassee.
I bought him a new CVA Wolf II muzzleloader for Christmas and we got it dialed in at the range as we seem to hunt more black powder hunts than rifle hunts here in Florida.
Joe Budd WMA is a place I hunt a lot as it is close by and I never have an issue getting a deer in January. My son William has been making the long one mile trek (walk) to hunt my honey hole for the past 4-5 years. He came close to getting a nice buck last year, but it just wasn't in the stars. He did bag his first turkey during the Spring Youth weekend.
Long story short we hunted Friday before the front came through and saw nothing but squirrels. Saturday was looking much better with the cold front passing through just before daybreak and I just had a feeling we would see something.
We were sitting in a double ladder stand on a steep hill that goes down to a big bottom. About 8:45 am I look back behind us and a doe with a spotted fawn fed by us eating mushrooms and other browse. The spotted fawn was fluffy and frisky, so we enjoyed watching them feed off out of sight.
Right at 9:00 am I catch movement straight across the bottom and could tell it was a buck right away. I caught a quick look in the binos and told my son he was legal and to get ready. I lost sight of him for a few tense seconds until he popped out at 80 yards with his head to the ground and moving quickly. Told my son I was going to stop him and to get the crosshairs on him.
I made a quick grunt and he slammed on the brakes and just stood there. My son's scope was fogged up due to his and my excitement, so I quickly rubbed my glove to clear it and cocked back his hammer. Two seconds later smoke filled the air and cleared for us to see a big white belly.
William had drilled the buck with a perfect heart shot at 80 yards and dropped the buck in his tracks. I'm still speechless on how well he did everything by the book.
Buck ended up being an 8 pt that field dressed at 115lbs and was aged to be 3-3.5 yrs old.
He is hooked!
I bought him a new CVA Wolf II muzzleloader for Christmas and we got it dialed in at the range as we seem to hunt more black powder hunts than rifle hunts here in Florida.
Joe Budd WMA is a place I hunt a lot as it is close by and I never have an issue getting a deer in January. My son William has been making the long one mile trek (walk) to hunt my honey hole for the past 4-5 years. He came close to getting a nice buck last year, but it just wasn't in the stars. He did bag his first turkey during the Spring Youth weekend.
Long story short we hunted Friday before the front came through and saw nothing but squirrels. Saturday was looking much better with the cold front passing through just before daybreak and I just had a feeling we would see something.
We were sitting in a double ladder stand on a steep hill that goes down to a big bottom. About 8:45 am I look back behind us and a doe with a spotted fawn fed by us eating mushrooms and other browse. The spotted fawn was fluffy and frisky, so we enjoyed watching them feed off out of sight.
Right at 9:00 am I catch movement straight across the bottom and could tell it was a buck right away. I caught a quick look in the binos and told my son he was legal and to get ready. I lost sight of him for a few tense seconds until he popped out at 80 yards with his head to the ground and moving quickly. Told my son I was going to stop him and to get the crosshairs on him.
I made a quick grunt and he slammed on the brakes and just stood there. My son's scope was fogged up due to his and my excitement, so I quickly rubbed my glove to clear it and cocked back his hammer. Two seconds later smoke filled the air and cleared for us to see a big white belly.
William had drilled the buck with a perfect heart shot at 80 yards and dropped the buck in his tracks. I'm still speechless on how well he did everything by the book.
Buck ended up being an 8 pt that field dressed at 115lbs and was aged to be 3-3.5 yrs old.
He is hooked!
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