Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Alabama Youth Deer Season is Over.

Well, we didn't kill one from the Haybale Blind http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7056229/1

But my sooon to be 8 year old son killed a nice doe with his Rem youth model 700 in .243. We used 95 grain fusion ammo. He used a .243 on his first deer, a .308 with managed recoil ammo on the next 2 and back to a .243 for this, his 4th deer.

On the way to the stand.


It was so hot that afternoon, we took our boots off and rolled up our pants legs.


A ladybug flew in the shooting house and landed on my arm. I told Harrison it was good luck.


The view from our shooting house.


The weapon and the hunter trying to be patient. He wouldn't eat lunch so all he wanted to do was eat the snacks I brought and chit chat. I wanted him to be quiet, but had to remember that if he wasn't having fun then there was no point in bringing him.



The shot was 125 yards. He was on his knees in the chair but told me he wasn't steady enough to shoot, so I put my knee in the chair so he could sit on it while still trying to keep an eye on the deer. I gave him the go ahead to shoot when the deer turned broadside, he was squeezing the trigger and then started breathing real heavy. I told him to back off, take a deep breath and try again. He shot and the deer squatted down and took off running. I asked him where the crosshairs were when the gun went off. He told me was holding on the shoulder (deer was facing to the left) and it drifted back a little before it went off.

We went to the field and found good blood, and had a little lesson in blood tracking ( as he calls it).
[img]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums...0E-DC487A86CB91-708-0000001D878AC532.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums...9C-56EC0417DAF1-708-0000001D90DA9BC5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums...4B-BF7497738C60-708-0000001DA7265AF2.jpg[/img]

After a 40-50 yard tracking job, not counting the portion in the field. The deer probably went a total of 80 yards. We found his doe. The shot went in the crease on the near side and exited about middle of the rib cage on the off side. We had good blood the whole way, starting in the field up to where she lay. Good double lung hit with blood spraying on the trees and grass once she made it out of the field. During cleaning it was obvious the little bullet made a mess of the insides. Might make be get my own .243!
[img]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums...91-2E31631D25F3-708-0000001D9FEAF909.jpg[/img]

Chilling out by the 4 wheeler with a Capri Sun after our work. Watching the sun go down.
[img]http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums...EB-1C05CA9B2232-708-0000001DBDC0025A.jpg[/img]

Continued:


A very short drag from him for the photo op, and he offered to carry the gun.




Chilling out by the 4 wheeler with a Capri Sun after our work. Watching the sun go down.


A good hunt, he had fun and even helped with the skinning this time.

I'll be in trouble when he finds out that he can hunt all year and not just on the Youth Weekend.

Bob.

Congrats on a nice hunt!

Congrats to both of ya!!! Nice pics and story!!!

that is a fine doe, and a finer time ...

Great write up and photos. Bought my son the same in a lh version. His 243 has me thinking also and when I first started looking, was going 7mm-08 but found a deal on the 243.

Congrats to the young MAN; puttin' meat in the freezer is man's work!

Great job! I LOVE the pics!

It was a great time, now we just have to wait and see how many red bug(chigger) bites we have. I know I have 5, my son has not complained of any yet.


I also want to plug the product, Glenn's Deer Handle. It is a simple product, think I paid $10.00 for it and it makes dragging deer a lot easier than using a leg, or horns if it's buck, or just a rope. Would be super easy to make one at home, wouldn't really need to buy one, but the handle is big enough for two men to each get a hand on it for longer drags/bigger deer.

Bob.

That looks outstanding!

If you don't mind me asking, how did he handle the 'visceral' part of the hunt? i have 2 little nephews, 2 sons, and 2 more "almost sons to look forward to hunting with, and i'm most curious about how to handle that part with them.

Very cool! The "blood tracking" pics are a good illustration of what we like to see on the ground.

SJ,

Do you mean the killing part? or the gutting part?

He killed his first deer when he was 5 years old, almost 6, it was a couple weeks before his birthday. But he had watched me skin a deer the year before.

When he was watching me skin a deer, my hunting buddy, looked over at him then back at me and said " Has he ever seen this before?" I told him no, but he had to start sometime, and there were no ill effects from that. But he didn't get right up to us.

He did start referring to the skinning shed as the "Blood Barn" after that though.

Right before I took him on his first deer hunt where he was going to be shooting a deer. My wife asked if I was going to traumatize our son when he killed a deer? I hadn't really thought about it until that point and I worried about it the whole time. If I could post the video of that hunt and his after the hunt commentary as he was kneeling over the deer, you can see that it didn't bother him at all.

I think they pick up on our attitudes and feelings about things like that as much as they have their own notions about it. I act like it is a normal thing and he does too, and he hasn't been the least bit squeamish. Now his mother wants nothing to do with it and leaves the room when we talk about it. I did have to explain to him this past weekend he could not cut the hooves off and take them home. He wanted them for his "collection". His mother would have flipped out!

But now in all fairness, we don't technically gut deer in our neck of the woods these days. We roll out the backstraps, round off the shoulders, debone the hams, and roll the gut sack down far enough to remove the inside loins. So he has never watched anyone gut a deer the way I was taught when I started out. But he did help me this time by holding the hide, pulling on it and putting meat in the cooler. Next time I'll let him do a little more and when he's big enough, I'll let him do all his and mine too

Bob.

Great Job!!! So glad to see someone getting their son/daughter out in the woods. Very good write up and pictures as well.