Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Graduation Present?

Want to take my 17yr old boys on a hunt after they graduate in '22...

Deer or mule deer..

Opinions?

In my opinion, you should.

Do it.

Were it me - chose the one you can't otherwise do easily. I can hunt whitetails easily. They're not big but going for big whitetails somewhere isn't as much of a "new" thing as maybe doing mule deer somewhere. If that makes sense. I'd want to do something a little outside of the norm.

Snow goose hunting - if you get on the right spot - also a blast and something I'll do with the boy once his enlistment is up.

Mule deer or antelope

Or both

Antelope. You can see them all day long in the open country and even if you're not the shooter you can be part of the action by watching or along on the sneak. Great fun.

Tough to do because typical graduation is in May/June Hunting season is Oct-Nov - He'll be starting college then, or just starting a new career (Graduating from HS or College).

May - Spring Bear hunting? Immediately post graduation, Or Africa, if the pandemic ends (Which it won't...)

Neither are going to college. Both are learning trades. One is learning machining and the other welding. ( both are nearly 2 years into their vocational training) I agree the time off from the new jobs will be difficult to arrange.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming!

I would recommend Mule deer hunting myself. I did the same for my son when he graduated in 09. We actually hunted the Oct of 08 as his graduation present.. We were pretty active white tail hunters, so wanted to switch it up with a trip to the mountains out west. We have some great memories and a mule deer head hanging on the wall that he took. I shot one as well, but a little smaller than his lol..We hunted out west a couple more times while he was in college, but now he's 30, married, building a house and lives 1800 miles from home and is wrapped up in his life and time away is tough to come by.

We hunted with Rocky Mountain Ranches out of Craig, CO - they are still in business, I've hunted with them several times since. The original owner passed, but Joe Moncholi took it over and has done well. Good guy to work with.

Took my nephew there on his graduation hunt and he shot a pig!! 8-10 year old Mulie that was on his way down, but still had a huge rack.. That is pretty unusual - generally on these ranches you are going to shoot a 2-3 year old deer.. Don't expect a monster as you are hunting local populations, the migration hasn't kicked in yet.

My nephew had a couple weeks to play with and we ended up making it into quite an adventure. We left early and drove to the red desert of WY.. We called coyotes for four days all over the red desert and up into the Wind River Mtns. No license fee for calling and shooting coyotes, beautiful scenery and fantastic memories.. We saw a bunch of wildlife, shot several coyotes, drove some wild mountain roads and saw some of God's finest country. Ended up heading south out of the Green River country down into Dinosaur country and seeing the sights there prior to our deer hunt.. We lived out of a pick up and cheap hotels, was an absolute blast.. I went back solo last year and did it myself for two weeks.

he and I were very close and did a lot together, was the hardest adjustment for me when he went to college, the memories helped...

Good luck and enjoy your time with them.

If you've never hunted out West on your own I highly recommend going after pronghorn. Logistically easier and IMO much more fun and better tasting than mule deer. Seriously a super good time.

Bravo on the trade school route! We need more kids like that.
Add my recommendation to the pronghorn hunt. Most hunts are 2 days, so you can make it a long weekend with lots of action and fun, plus a lot of my favorite meat!
SnT

Anticosti Island for whitetail.

Thanks, my opinion too many kids/young people don't know how to work with their hands.

Going price for an average guided Texas Panhandle Pronghorn like this is $3500 . Sometimes includes food and two days lodging.



Of course. there many exotic ranches in Texas where there is no closed season on exotics.

How about a Spring bear hunt out west ?

Bears aren't really at the top of our list.

I'm thinking deer or elk. Antelope would be fun as a deer/antelope combo.

Either that or a hunt for a big deer...Kansas or Iowa gun or muzzleloader.. those can be had without the draw. We already have 1 Iowa pp...

I’d go grizzly or cougar /mountain lion hunting. That just sounds fun as H E double hockey sticks

I took my teenage son to Montana last year for a 6 day guided combo elk/deer hunt. The outfitters had a deal where I paid for a one on one hunt and he was allowed to hunt with me for free, plus youth tags are half price and over the counter once the adult draws. Not sure how the outfitter deal would work with 2 though. The kid killed a 170 class mule deer at 252 yards. We got on a couple elk but couldn't close in enough. Great trip.

Who was the outfitter?

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