Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting MT Youth Hunt 2022

"Alright Trevin, when this doe takes five more steps get ready to shoot".

"Ok"

"Are you sure you see the right one? He is the one on the left closest to the fence"

"Yeah, I see him"

"Make sure you are solid and keep your eyes open"

"OK"

"Ok, she is clear, get up on the gun and shoot him..."

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


We had already had a great day out on a friends ranch. Trevin's mom and older brother Carsten came along to hunt coyotes and help locate game.



We glassed a lot...



...some more than others...



...walked a bunch



...made some good stalks that just didn't work out (tough to shoot over brush when you are 4' tall!)...



...a few that didn't even come close to working out...



...used some impressive stalking skills to outwit a porcupine (arguably North America's brightest and quickest game animal).



...and even called in a few deer.



About mid-day Trevin showed some true sportsmanship and gave a nice mature doe a warning shot.



He then informed me he had closed his eyes just before the shot. It was that revelation that prompted my reminder a couple hours later...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

At last light he was lined up on what was possibly the biggest buck he will have a chance to shoot for many years. He was big enough that when my older son Carsten and I were glassing him we both looked at each other and mouthed a silent "HOOOOLLLLYYY CRRAAAAAP"! Neither of us wanted to get 11 year old Trevin too excited as we still had to finish the stalk, not spook the other deer that were around and somehow manage to avoid a collision course with a yearling doe that was hellbent on walking across the open prairie right into our laps.

In our effort to get into position we had set up several times and then moved. Each time I would remove the round from the chamber and hand the rifle to Trevin. When approaching our final spot, the little doe forced us to freeze and we had a lengthy Mexican standoff for several minutes while the doe was inside 30 yards. I had ranged the buck at 250 yards and he was slowly working his way closer to us.

By the time the doe decided to skirt around us the buck was probably close to 200 yards and mostly broadside. The doe had spooked a bit and the buck and his companions were keyed up a little and staring right at us. It was then that I told Trevin to get up on the gun and shoot.

I had the deer in my binos waiting for a report and hoping to get a visual on the impact. I was focused, Trevin was calm, the buck was holding his ground...


"CLICK"


When the doe had forced us to freeze I didn't dare reload the gun and when it was finally time to shoot I had failed to have Trevin load it again. We were safe...but unfortunately so was the buck. We quickly got a shell loaded but the buck was having none of that and he exited stage left.

I stood up and silently bit my lip and tried not to puke. We live where there is a lot of deer and big whitetails are killed every year. Even so, whitetails pushing 150" on the heavily hunted areas I typically have access to are not to be taken for granted. Poor Trevin was about to notch his tag on a dandy and his idiot dad failed him. I actually pulled up the syllabus for Killing Big Bucks 101 and sure enough right there after the sections on "Corn Application", "Proper Deer Piss Distribution" and "Camo Coordination" was the section titled "Load Your Gun Prior to Pulling the Trigger....Dumbass".

I am not going to lie, hearing that rifle click on an empty chamber hurt my soul a little bit. Trevin was a good sport about it all but I felt terrible.



Sometimes the big ones only give you one shot before they spend the rest of the season on the neighbors where they are protected. I knew our chances of seeing him again, although not zero, weren't good.


To be continued...