Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Part II...A Pretty Good Afternoon

Other thread was getting pretty long, so I thought I'd post Part II in a new one - since I was a little slow getting it done, anyway.

Hope y'all enjoy....

Well, time for Part II. Pesky work kept getting in the way...grin.

I had taken my 9 and 11 year old hunting buddies out before Big Sister got her deer (if you missed the story on her hunt and are interested, it's here: Pretty Good Morning... ) , but we had a little norther blow in and suddenly we weren't downwind anymore...Adios whitetails!

I had promised that if their Big Sis got a deer in the morning, that I would take them out again in the afternoon.

Note to self: Read the weather report before making rash promises of hunting trips...grin.

After showing off our morning kill and getting the nice doe squared away, we ate a late breakfast. As I was hustling to get chores done before our afternoon hunt, it clouded up and started raining. Not just drizzle - big ole cold drops that found their way down my collar as I was unloading wood.

When I came in to dry out a bit, I had a couple of sweetheart daughters come up (smiling sweetly) to ask, "Are you ready to go, Daddy?"

"Well, it's raining..."

"We don't care!"

"Ummm...Well...lets see if it lets up."

"But you're taking us either way, right?"

Little eyes pleaded...and Daddy folded like a cheap suit..."Of course I am. We'll figure something out."

My mind began to race about hunting locations close to reasonably firm roads that would keep me from having to pack out a deer in the mud.

Problem was, we weren't likely to kill anything in any of those places; at least not with little girls on the triggers. These spots would be iffy at best, and probably involve a 300 plus yard shot.

Nope...we'd hunt the field by the river and figure out how to get our deer out through the mud if we had such a nice problem to solve.

My 9 year old had been the shooter on our last outing, so it was her older sister's turn to be first up this time.

The rain let up, and I knew that we would see lots of deer if it stopped altogether. My oldest son wanted to help guide, (and serve as shooter number 3 in the event a mass deer suicide pact of some kind might unfold before us) so the four of us set out.

The rain quit as we were easing up to the field, but the wind was howling and it seemed the rain might not be done, so we set up in the ramshackle old house we sometimes use as a blind when we have lots of hunters. My 5 year old son had killed a deer from there a couple of weeks earlier, and we had pretty well chased out all the varmints on that trip, so I felt pretty comfortable heading in there - even though unexpected furry occupants and visitors are pretty common (have run skunks off and a whole family of coons once - and had a feral cat jump in the window almost in my lap once when I had no idea he was there - he landed at me feet and we almost gave each other heart attacks - that was pretty western for a little while until he found a hole...grin.)

We got very muddy and pretty wet getting in there, but we made it and settled into our makeshift shooting house along one edge of the field in a strip of oaks and cedars which connect it to another field to the north.

We were there for perhaps 30 minutes when we started seeing deer. After failing to connect on our last outing, both girls were in a "Shoot now and ask questions later" sort of mindset. Kind of tickled me, and I was all for it.

As we waited and glassed the wood-line across the field where deer often wait for darkness before entering the field, we noticed 4 big does with a buck fawn almost as big as they were.

They were coming our way...

Our hearts sped up, and suddenly uncomfortable cold began to feel pretty warm...

Among the four does, one showed a little more age, and this is the one I told my daughter to shoot. It seemed to take forever as I tried to watch the deer and give the right directions on when to shoot and how to analyze the angle so that placement would line up properly.

Since we were running Barnes 52 TSX's in the little 223, we had to watch for other deer behind our target doe...the next bullet to fail to exit out of this combination will be the first.

So, to avoid a daily double and the kind of shot placement that can make the best meat pretty nasty, we waited patiently (well, fairly patiently) for the matriarch to make a mistake.

Finally, she did.

"She's quartering away. Stick it behind this shoulder and aim for the off shoulder, and kill her."

BOOM...

I watched through my binoculars, expecting to see the doe crumple at the shot as the doe had this morning...but she didn't.

Instead, the doe rocked at the shot and began to race straight away at full speed.

Straight away from us, and straight away from the truck parked on the gravel road.

As I watched her go, I was thinking about carrying her out of that muddy field and how much fun that would be. I helped my daughter chamber another round and told her to get back on the deer, but the doe was running straight away.

Suddenly, she came to an abrupt, spraddle legged stop...still facing straight away. She stood a moment, started to sway, and fell hard and lay still.

"Daddy, she fell," my daughter said breathlessly.

"I saw her. You hit her perfect! Stay on her, and shoot her again if she gets up, but I think she's done."

Another minute, and the doe had not moved. She was done.

"Nice shot!"

The familiar blush and smile, followed by momentary surprise then dawning understanding that the hunt was still on when I whispered, "Quick! Trade places with your sister!"

My daughters excitedly traded places.

We weren't done. A big doe had stopped when the old doe fell, and we could just see her at the edge of the field.

Younger sister switched with older while I watched the other doe. I smiled as she started a stiff legged stalk back toward the other deer...

"You see her?"

"I see her Daddy!"

Brown eyes now sparkled in place of the blue ones of her successful older sister...

"Can you get on her?" I asked.

"I am on her!" came the confident reply.

While older sister had just dropped her eighth deer, her 9 year old companion was no slouch with 5 of her own under her belt.

Success had bred confidence, and she was ready.

I took a quick look at the mature doe which had now stopped and was staring at her dead companion. I could just see her tail, she was perfectly broadside.

"Put it right in the middle of her shoulder, and squeeze the trigger," I whispered as I snicked the rifle back off safety.

She steadied it a split second after I disturbed it and flattened the second doe in her tracks just as I got the binoculars back on her.

"Got her, Daddy!" she cried.

"I'll say you did! Stay on her, but I don't think she's going anywhere." I replied, as she chambered yet another round.

The doe never twitched. Two down...

"Great shot!" Bigger smile, no blush from her, just the sparkling brown eyes that always melt her Daddy's heart...

"Trade places with your brother!" I grinned.

The smile got bigger (if possible), and my 7 year old - the first child in the family to kill a deer (at the tender age of 4 - an act which inspired his sisters to get in the field post haste) - slipped confidently into the chair to my left.

His sisters could barely contain themselves, whispering excitedly and congratulating each other. "That was fast! Two deer in two minutes! Wait 'till we tell Mama!!!"

I grinned at them, and turned back to see a young buck crossing the big field at 350 yards.

"See that deer, Daddy?" my son asked.

"I see him." I replied as I focused on him, hoping he was a shooter.

"I think he's a little six," my son said in a rather matter of fact tone.

"That's exactly what he is." I replied.

"Can I shoot him?" He asked with a grin, already knowing the answer.

"Think you can hit him that far?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! I'm on him!" There was a little more hope in his voice, and I really thought about letting him whack him if he stopped.

"He's just a year and half old, son. Be a good buck in a few years, I think." I said.

Silence....

Finally my son spoke, "I guess we ought to let him walk. Maybe another big doe will come out. They taste better anyway."

I was a little surprised, but pleased. "I think you're right. Besides, he's awful far and hasn't stopped." I replied.

"I could bust him if he stopped, Daddy. I'm real steady."

"I expect you could, son." I looked at his sisters and we smiled, but we all knew he could probably back up his confident assertion.

The buck made it easy, as he hit a little trot and went out of sight.

No more big does, but there will be another day, Lord willing.

This one was plenty good enough.

Better than that, actually....



There is just a bit more to the story...

We now had two big does down in a plowed mud hole, and I hadn't quite worked out logistics on getting them out of there.

I had a piece of cotton rope in one pocket, and my plan had been to make a backpack out of a deer if we got one and pack it out on my back, but my children wouldn't hear of it.

"We'll help you carry them out, Daddy! You took us hunting like you promised, even though it rained! We'll help you!"

I honestly wondered how much help they would be, but decided to let them try. One thing was sure - we couldn't drag them. They would weight double from the mud in 50 yards, and we needed to get them several hundred yards just to get them out of the field to more solid ground.

If we could do that, I had an idea of how to get them the rest of the way, even though we couldn't get a truck in there. I was raised on "Don't tear up the pasture! It takes years for the grass to come back! Keep on the roads, or stay out when it's wet!" That lesson stuck.

We slogged out to the furthest deer. Might as well do the hardest one first.

I grabbed the hind legs and let 3 children get on the front end - one on the head and one on each leg - and those little scamps hung right with me and carried that doe to the edge of the field with only a couple of rest stops.

Same process with a little lighter doe, not quite as far to go, but a little more tuckered out crew - and we had two does to the edge of the field and some cold and winded kiddos...and a proud Daddy.

I then walked them out to Nana and Pa Pa's house (where we had parked on their gravel road), and borrowed the wagon they use to haul wood from the pile to the back door.

We aired up the tires, left the girls inside drinking hot chocolate with their grandparents, and the boy and I had those does on solid ground and gutted in thirty minutes - slick as a whistle.

Worked like a charm. Think I'll repackage this cart, paint it green, add $100 to the price, and get Cabela's to carry it as the ultimate deer cart.

What do y'all think?



Good hunting!

DJ

I could sit around a campfire with you, and listen to them stories all night long. Awesome story DJ.

DJ,

great narrative of grand happenings.

Thank you.

C.

Awesome post... absolutely awesome. Hunt with your kids... and you'll never have to hunt for your kids. You're a great guy Tex... I truly appreciate your contribution to this site.

Got two small boys and a girl of my own... I know what you mean about brown eyes melting a Daddy's heart. Can't wait to get them out with me... though the oldest is only 3, he can spot critters with the binocs right well.

I knew you would'nt let us down. Great read! I'm impressed with your innovation. Great pics of the girls. Tell 'em all hey.
Amigo

Sure appreciate the kind words, guys.

Really don't deserve them, but appreciate them none the less.

More and more, I really enjoy writing about our hunts. It has become kind of an enhanced hunting journal for me, with the added fun that other folks enjoy the hunt along with us.

I really think God uses family to relate to us and strengthen our faith. I know my family often (regrettably not always, but I'm working on it) brings out the best in me, and I often see the same in other men. It's no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of biblical instruction regarding child training is directed to a father (with his wife as his helper) in the context of family.

By contrast, forsaking the context of family often seems to bring out the very worst. If we learn to love our closest neighbors, we'll do lots better with the more distant ones.

The community, the "family" of the 'Fire is what so many of us enjoy about it - (along with lots of great info, interesting and exciting stories, and much more).

Still, for most of us, I think it's the people here that mean most, even with the anonymity and distance of a cyber-community. IMHO, that can also be a little dangerous if such communities come to crowd out real family - which can become a real temptation we all have to watch.

It's pretty powerful, and very telling, IMHO.

One of the truly ominous things about gang life is how it has capitalized on the vacuum which should be filled with faith and family.

If this country gets turned back in the right direction, I'm firmly convinced it will start with men really dedicating themselves to faith and family. That's where both the values which made this country great and the leaders to stand for such values are incubated.

DJ

Best "campfire quote"... ever!

Thanks Tex....

great story, DJ....congratulations to your crew

DJ;
I believe I've already told you how much I enjoy reading your posts and this one was no exception.

You can't imagine how pleasantly surprised I'd be to read a story such as yours in a hunting magazine. I'd happily pay to read high adventure like this.

Please give the young ladies a hearty congratulations from your campfire com-padre from just a wee bit north of the medicine line. Nice work on those fine does ladies!

For your efforts DJ, a tip of the hat seems hardly enough, but until such time as we bump into each other, I hope you'll accept that as a down payment of sorts.

Altogether a grand post DJ, thanks so much for sharing it with us. All the best to you and your fine family in 2011.

Regards,
Dwayne

Great Job Ladies, Congratulations to all. You too Dad...

Great story!

Many thanks, Dogshooter.

Really glad to see some of us trying to accomplish huge, world changing reforms through humble, everyday faithfulness in the little things.

Your encouragement is much appreciated, and I am so glad you are investing lots of rich time with the children with which you are blessed.

Have a great New Year!

DJ

Dwayne,

I will pass along your congratulations. It means much coming from a gentleman such as yourself.

I know I've said it before, but I'll say again how much I appreciate your gracious encouragement for every father among us who tries to spend time., teach values, and invest our best in the lives and upbringing of our children.

Your example in your own family, and with your friends and neighbors, marches right in step with your kind and affirming words to your friends on the 'Fire.

I truly look forward to the day we get to shake hands face to face. Until then, I salute you for the many "tips of the hat" you have extended to all of us. I always look forward to your contribution to every thread on families afield.

Your knowledge and experience is a great asset to the 'Fire; while your unfailing, gentlemanly demeanor is a quiet, but powerful example to all of us.

I am grateful.

DJ

Much obliged, Steve.

Hope you and your family have a blessed and happy New Year.

DJ

Thank you, sir!

Glad the "Ladies" part is coming through, despite the possibility they may out-hunt and out-shoot the "gentlemen"...

We're striving for that pioneer spirit. Feminine, capable, tough and strong - but Ladies through and through...grin.

DJ

Sure glad you enjoyed it. Had fun in the telling, and more fun in the experience!

DJ

Thanks for sharing another great story. Always enjoy reading your posts.

excellent story from a great family. Congrats