2024 was a great year for my 11yo son and I, with both of us successfully filling our Montana deer tags.
My son has hunted with me at least one weekend for the last several years and spent plenty of time at the range. Last year was his first year with a tag in his pocket through Montana's apprentice hunter program, but his focus was racing bikes and shooting/hunting was secondary. That meant less time at the range and less $$$ in my budget to get him outfitted. We still made it out early in the season for 2 weekends with me carrying a heavy AR10 for him, but he ultimately ate his tag after passing on some young dear in hopes of his first deer being a good mature buck. The best part was he wasn't bummed at all, and it drove him to be more prepared for 2024.
2024 was a different story. We took a step back from his racing which freed up both time and money for his deer hunting ambitions. First I built him a trainer using a Bergara B14R barreled action in a Manners Compact stock so he had something that fit him correctly and he could grow into. He put his time in and lots of rounds at the range working on the basics with the 22lr. Next we transitioned into the field where I set up short range shooting situations shooting small targets at low magnification to work on precision. By the end of the summer he was definitely ready to step up.
I had originally planned on building a 6CM to drop in the Manners stock for hunting season but ended up getting a sweet deal from @Buckeye_Tactical on a Bergara Elite action with their carbon barrel in 6.5CM. I got the rifle all swapped over including the scope so it felt almost identical to what he had been shooting all summer. A quick trip to the range to get him comfortable and we were off for a field test where he made first round impacts at 300 and 400 yards on a 8" plate...he was ready and he knew it.
The Montana youth hunt came and he was ready to go, plus he had been given permission to hunt on a ranch in central Montana. Opening morning we were up glassing a big coulee at first light and he spotted a lone buck over a mile away with his binoculars. I couldn't believe what a saw when I found it in the spotter, an absolute giant feeding on the opposite side of the valley. We watched him bed then made a 3 mile loop around to try and get to a place he could shoot him from but unfortunately the buck ended up getting bumped by some does coming off a neighboring property. We took a few minutes to regroup and have a snack before starting the long hike back across the coulee. Just before we started I climbed a little knob and found another buck bedded with some does about 400 yards away. We got out the spotter and looked him over and while he wasn't the giant we had been watching all morning, he looked like a good deer and in a perfect place to go shoot him. We were able to stalk into 200 yards and in doing so made just enough movement to catch the attention of a doe that got the buck on its feet as well. My son got set up and made a perfect shot with no hesitation and the buck went less than 10 yards before piling up. We were both ecstatic and it was one of my proudest moments as a dad so far.
I dropped back to grab our bags and we made our way over to the deer. I was in shock as the closer we got, the more the deer grew. The mass was amazing and really had me fooled as we had only seen it from the side. The deer ended up being just shy of 160" and his hard work had paid off. We went to work on getting him dressed out and then hiked up the ridge so he could call mom and his grandpa to tell them about his success.
I would have been content with my season being over right then, and in fact I hadn't done much planning to hunt on my own because I wanted to make sure I got him a good opportunity this season. Now that he was finished up before the Montana general season opened up meant that I needed to make plans to get out a few times myself. I was fortunate to get invited back to the ranch my son had hunted and spent a several of weekends there. I saw quote a few deer, but nothing that got me excited. I also spent a 3 day weekend in SE Montana but I can confirm the deer numbers down there are as bad as is being reported.
The weekend before Thanksgiving came around and with my in-laws coming in for the holiday week and the kids out of school I knew it was going to be my last chance to get away. I headed back up to the ranch to give it one last look and was happy to find a new buck chasing does on Friday night. The 6.5 PRC did its work at 400 yards and my tag was filled.
Overall I couldn't be more thankful for our 2024 season and it has lit an even bigger fire under my son for next year.
My son has hunted with me at least one weekend for the last several years and spent plenty of time at the range. Last year was his first year with a tag in his pocket through Montana's apprentice hunter program, but his focus was racing bikes and shooting/hunting was secondary. That meant less time at the range and less $$$ in my budget to get him outfitted. We still made it out early in the season for 2 weekends with me carrying a heavy AR10 for him, but he ultimately ate his tag after passing on some young dear in hopes of his first deer being a good mature buck. The best part was he wasn't bummed at all, and it drove him to be more prepared for 2024.
2024 was a different story. We took a step back from his racing which freed up both time and money for his deer hunting ambitions. First I built him a trainer using a Bergara B14R barreled action in a Manners Compact stock so he had something that fit him correctly and he could grow into. He put his time in and lots of rounds at the range working on the basics with the 22lr. Next we transitioned into the field where I set up short range shooting situations shooting small targets at low magnification to work on precision. By the end of the summer he was definitely ready to step up.
I had originally planned on building a 6CM to drop in the Manners stock for hunting season but ended up getting a sweet deal from @Buckeye_Tactical on a Bergara Elite action with their carbon barrel in 6.5CM. I got the rifle all swapped over including the scope so it felt almost identical to what he had been shooting all summer. A quick trip to the range to get him comfortable and we were off for a field test where he made first round impacts at 300 and 400 yards on a 8" plate...he was ready and he knew it.
The Montana youth hunt came and he was ready to go, plus he had been given permission to hunt on a ranch in central Montana. Opening morning we were up glassing a big coulee at first light and he spotted a lone buck over a mile away with his binoculars. I couldn't believe what a saw when I found it in the spotter, an absolute giant feeding on the opposite side of the valley. We watched him bed then made a 3 mile loop around to try and get to a place he could shoot him from but unfortunately the buck ended up getting bumped by some does coming off a neighboring property. We took a few minutes to regroup and have a snack before starting the long hike back across the coulee. Just before we started I climbed a little knob and found another buck bedded with some does about 400 yards away. We got out the spotter and looked him over and while he wasn't the giant we had been watching all morning, he looked like a good deer and in a perfect place to go shoot him. We were able to stalk into 200 yards and in doing so made just enough movement to catch the attention of a doe that got the buck on its feet as well. My son got set up and made a perfect shot with no hesitation and the buck went less than 10 yards before piling up. We were both ecstatic and it was one of my proudest moments as a dad so far.
I dropped back to grab our bags and we made our way over to the deer. I was in shock as the closer we got, the more the deer grew. The mass was amazing and really had me fooled as we had only seen it from the side. The deer ended up being just shy of 160" and his hard work had paid off. We went to work on getting him dressed out and then hiked up the ridge so he could call mom and his grandpa to tell them about his success.
I would have been content with my season being over right then, and in fact I hadn't done much planning to hunt on my own because I wanted to make sure I got him a good opportunity this season. Now that he was finished up before the Montana general season opened up meant that I needed to make plans to get out a few times myself. I was fortunate to get invited back to the ranch my son had hunted and spent a several of weekends there. I saw quote a few deer, but nothing that got me excited. I also spent a 3 day weekend in SE Montana but I can confirm the deer numbers down there are as bad as is being reported.
The weekend before Thanksgiving came around and with my in-laws coming in for the holiday week and the kids out of school I knew it was going to be my last chance to get away. I headed back up to the ranch to give it one last look and was happy to find a new buck chasing does on Friday night. The 6.5 PRC did its work at 400 yards and my tag was filled.
Overall I couldn't be more thankful for our 2024 season and it has lit an even bigger fire under my son for next year.
