Buckskinner
Well-Known Member
My 10 year old daughter had her first deer hunt Saturday morning, perfect 2" of fresh light snow, 26 degrees and light NW winds. Absolutely perfect conditions! We had done a lot of preparations for the hunt and I had her very comfortable shooting to 100 yards off of shooting sticks, keeping <2" groups without a problem. I did not want her thinking about recoil, so started with 22lr, then 204. In the end I had here shoot the 6.5 Creedmoor (Remington PCR), which her comment was that doesn't kick much as all. Perfect!
We were hunting on the east end of a narrow, but long soybean field that has hardwood hill to the south and marshy thicket to the north. Had small buck come in about 7am that was crossing the field in at about 200 yards, so we got the gun up and had her get on it. It stopped a couple times, but was fidgety. I told her to only squeeze the trigger if she was sure she was on it and comfortable with the shot. It eventually walked into the thicket. Afterwards she said "wow, that was scary, I'm shaking!". I said good, that's buck fever, you might be hooked!!!
Not 20 minutes later another buck and a doe followed same path, buck leading and luckily doe feeding. He was a very patient mate... Stood perfectly broadside for at least 20 seconds while she placed the crosshairs. I told her, now remember, trigger control and breathing, put it right behind shoulder, middle of body and squeeze. I watched through the bino's as she did just that. The buck hunched up and plowed into the ground, his hind legs doing all the work as the fronts weren't working anymore. He stumbled about for 30 yards or so and expired.
Talk about excited! I was shaking as much as she was... Way more exciting than any buck on my wall. The shot ranged at 217 yards and let me tell you, her older brother's were very impressed, oh,,, and me too! This girl can shoot!
We were hunting on the east end of a narrow, but long soybean field that has hardwood hill to the south and marshy thicket to the north. Had small buck come in about 7am that was crossing the field in at about 200 yards, so we got the gun up and had her get on it. It stopped a couple times, but was fidgety. I told her to only squeeze the trigger if she was sure she was on it and comfortable with the shot. It eventually walked into the thicket. Afterwards she said "wow, that was scary, I'm shaking!". I said good, that's buck fever, you might be hooked!!!
Not 20 minutes later another buck and a doe followed same path, buck leading and luckily doe feeding. He was a very patient mate... Stood perfectly broadside for at least 20 seconds while she placed the crosshairs. I told her, now remember, trigger control and breathing, put it right behind shoulder, middle of body and squeeze. I watched through the bino's as she did just that. The buck hunched up and plowed into the ground, his hind legs doing all the work as the fronts weren't working anymore. He stumbled about for 30 yards or so and expired.
