Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting My son's first deer

I've been reading with some relish the posts and threads of the deer going down this year, especially the kids going out. Yesterday and today were MT's youth season, and my son's first. I've been waiting since before he was born to take my boy out hunting. At first it was just a concept, something I'd like to do someday. Then when he came, and got bigger that dream really fleshed out. This evening, it all played out. He shot this guy at 280 yards, sitting off sticks with his .243. Rem 700 youth, Burris FFII 3-9, 100 grain Hornady spbt, 40 gr H4350. First shot looked good, deer went down. YAY. Then deer got up and 3 legged it out stage right. Follow up caught him in the neck. I'm about to skin him out and see the full picture, but I can tell you right now it busted the shoulder but went no further. Lungs were intact, heart had one little hole from a piece of bone shrapnel. I almost bought a box of 80 gr ttsx's. Before next year I will.

Long story short I walked his legs off yesterday and today. Hit it harder than I intended, but after seeing some dandy 4X4's, we couldn't get to cooperate, and a pile of dinks, we sat and watched a tall, but very thin horned 4X4 for a couple hours this afternoon. Crawled to about 250. Daylight was starting to run out, and I wasn't keen on doing the whole dang dance after dark, so I whistled to get him to stand up. Low and behold off to our right this guy walked into the picture. My son was all ready to shoot the thin horned buck, but I said wait, loot at that one! We couldn't see the extra points, I just thought he was a decent little 3 point. Much shorter, but heavier and darker horned. After it taking him 2 hours to decide to shoot the thin horned buck, all it took was about 30 seconds to swing the rifle to the new target, wait for him to stop and drop him.

I have never been so proud of him.

Also, I bought him a knife from Rick Menefee here on the fire for his birthday and gave it to him a little early yesterday morning. What a quality knife, holy crap that thing is not only beautiful, but functionally awesome.

Fantastic! Congrats and backslaps all around.

Nice buck, nice shot, you both should be proud.

I know from watching my own kids shoot their first bucks what a great experience it is.

Thanks for sharing

Congrats to your son, nice little setup and great first deer

Very cool....

Congrats!!! My little sis is to old for the youth hunt this year and I definitely missed taking her out like I have the last 4 youth seasons.

OUTSTANDING!
Congrats.
Doesn't get any better than that.

Wow! Congrats bgg jr. Way to start it off!!

Awesome, a big congrats! How old is your son? His smile is priceless. You should get that first photo framed!

Eric

Congratulations.

Very cool!!!
Congrats all around.

That's what it's all about.

Big congrats to mini BGG and dad.

Big "Way to go!!!!" to you and your son. Great write up and pictures. Y'all did good to say the least!

Congrats!

Great news, Gruff. That's doing it the right.
You stuffed a lifetime of lessons into a couple days for your boy.
Really tickled for your crew.

Slave

Junior's smile says it all on a great buck with a ton of character!! Congrats to the both of you. But a .243 and not a fast twist .22-250.....

These threads always take me back to Pat McManus's story "A Yup of a Different Color". It all about when a kid gets his 1st deer and joins the Yups, an elite and highly respected group who can answer 'Yup' to the question of "gotcher deer yet?". The trick is to correctly announce to the others that you just became a Yup.

this montana youth hunt is great,
easy to stay involved with the kids make it there days and make memories,,,,

congrats to the son,,,

Man, that kid's smiling all over! I can see happy just drippin' off him! And I hope so much of it soaks into the rifle it'll never come out. My son shot his first while sitting in my lap. But his was closer to 28 than 280. And the rifle he used (different stock) is still his favorite. There is no joy greater than sharing such experiences with our children. Truly one of God's greatest blessings. Congratulations to you both.

Looks like that young man is off to a great start! Congratulations to both of you and best wishes for many more enjoyable hunts together.

Very cool beans BGG!

Congratulations to you, BGG and of course to young Gruff. That put a smile on my face.

Awesome deer, congrats young fellow.

Congrats to Jr and Sr goatgruff, well done all the way around. Now switch the kids loads to IMR 7828 and 100 gr Hornady SP's, what you experienced with the btsp is why I don't use them anymore the SP holds together better. Magnum man

That is awesome! Nothing better than seeing the kids getting out and enjoying the sport!

Congratulations bud! There simply cannot be a better feeling in the world

One heck of a shot for any age. The lesson of hard work, patience, and persistence will last forever. Congrats to you and your son.

Congrats

Congratulations. Great memories for the two of you!

Thank you ALL for the kind words. I'm still on cloud nine here. I gave him the option of having it mounted or doing a european and tanning the hide. He wanted the mount, So I need to get off my ass and finish the caping. I'm going to flesh out the back half of the hide and order a home tanning kit for the fun of it. We'll see how it works out.

He's been afield with me for several years, and many hours and miles already. Best hunting pard a guy could ask for.

Absolutely super! Congrats to both of you. I guarantee that'll be a day you two talk about for a long time.

BillyGoatGruff;
Thanks for sharing this special family hunt with us, it's threads such as this which are among my favorite here at our 'Fire.

Please extend hearty congratulations to your son on that cool rack - I love mulies with sticker points.

I'll send you my customary tip of the hat too though sir, as hunts with our children don't happen in a vacuum - as you note they are often years or an entire lifetime in the making. Well done sir.

Thanks again, all the best to you and yours this fall and good luck on your remaining hunts too.

Dwayne

Congratulations to young BGG!!

I'm surprised to hear that the Hornady didn't quite do the deed for you. Stuff happens though.

I've been shooting the 243 and 6mm remington for the last few years. My favorite bullets are the 95 grain Partition and the 95 grain Ballistic Tip. Both of them dig deep.

Very cool cutting tool you picked up for the young man! May he enjoy that knife in the game fields for a hundred more years before passing it on to his son.

awesome BGG and son!! bet you guys won't wipe that silly grin off for a week!!

That's awesome! Congrats all around.

The look on his face says it all.

Pretty nice one to get started with...congratulations!

Congrats to your son and you. Look like he has some good equipment and off to a great start.

Nice 1st buck and great shootin'

Good job

Awesome all the way around!

Awesome!

Tell him congrats for me.



Travis

Cool looking buck! Great job young man.

Good job and great buck!


BGG Jr. will remember that day forever.

Awesome job! These are my favorite threads all though I'm disappointed to see that BGG Jr.'s beard hasn't come in yet!

Awesome story, awesome deer!

Way to go Jr!

i remember you telling me last year that this year would be Mini-Gruff's first hunt. Been looking forward to your story.

Big congrats to you and your son. That's a great first deer! So...who is happiest?

Little surprised the Hornady didn't perform better especially at that range. I've heard good things about the 95gr NBT. Great birthday knife, as well. Nice to start him out with quality from the get-go! He'll always cherish that one.

Anyway, congrats again to the boy and to his, no doubt, �ber proud dad.

Best youth hunt story I have read. I used that same bullet many years ago on a control hunt near Mason, Tx. These deer needed to be removed due to sickness and overgrazing by the deer. My rifle was a 24 inch barreled 6MM remington. All my shots were under 125 yards and no deer weighed more than 100 pounds. I killed 86 deer with a few needed followups. Dramatic expansion and 40% exits. It killed with authority but if the deer had been bigger I don't think it would have worked out so well. Most of the does did not weigh more than 60 pounds. I would like to do that hunt again with my new favorite 6MM bullet the 85gr. Nosler partition.

Great job!

Thanks again all for the words of encouragement. At this point my season's been such an uber success, it doesn't seem to matter what I hang my tag on.

For them that care about such things, heres a pic of the recovered bullet. Looks just like the one I shot into a line of milk jugs before season. Had it impact been back a little it would've absolutely nuked the vitals, but I want something that'll punch a shoulder if I need it to. I've always had good luck with Interlocks, 165s and 180s in my 06, and 225s out of my 338 RUM (that were screaming) but this left me a little cold. No harm no foul, deer's down. Kick in the pants is I had a load worked up with 95 gr ballistic tips, but didn't have enough left over to practice with and have a pile on hand for season, and several stores had the 100 gr Hornady's so being my thrifty self I went with the Hornady's. I left the heart for the coyotes, and it was dark enough I didn't take the time to care it up. Wish I had now, as it could have been either a bone shard or a little piece of lead that put the hole in it.

Congrats to you and your son! that buck has some cool stickers too, what a cool first deer for your boy.

I can't hardly wait until my boy is old enough to go, seems like I have been planning since birth.

He is 3 1/2 now and has a 6x45 mini mauser with a short stock waiting for him when he is old enough. (their may be a full size stock on it now so I can do dome R&D before he gets it).

You can't put a price on the smile on your sons face holding up his buck. Thats a wonderful memory for you and him for sure!

Congrats BGG, this is the best thread I've read in a while. Absolutely awesome.

BGG that's pretty typical of boattails of any brand. Flat based interlocks stay together much better. Magnum Man

Congrats to your boy! Good job Dad!

That's awesome!

Congrats to you and the boy!

Nice buck and good shooting.

Father/son....that's the way it's done BGG! Congrats to you guys. Fantastic pics.

Yep. It looks much like any of the various Speer's, Sierra's and BT's I've recovered.

Wow Look at the smile on that young man. Congrats to both of you.

Too cool.

+100 !!

Gruff & lil' Gruff, just awesome !

Congrats to the young man on a great buck!!!

I know you have to be super proud. My boy is only 17mo and I've already got rifles and shotguns set up

Congrats to you and your son!

Congrats!! That's an awesome buck and a good story. For me it feels like looking into the future. I'll be a dad in December and I'll be doing this with my son one day!!

Happy Hunting!

Thanks again everybody. Been bragging on him all day.

It's neat to have a place to come on here and share moments like this. Them that have had their kids fill a tag have a pretty good idea how I feel now, and you guys that are waiting, savor it when it comes. It's even better than you think it would be. One of the few times I think I can honestly say it was worth the wait.

Nice job by the shooter! Good job raising the fine young man BGG.

Best feeling there is! For son AND dad. Attaboys all around!

Sweet....Nice buck, nice knife, nice son, nice story.....Congrats!

That's just awesome for both of you. My best friend and I have 4 boys between us between the ages of 5 and 2. To say that we are eagerly anticipating our boys first deers is an understatement!