Bang4theBuck
Well-Known Member
My 17 year old son and I took to the middle TN woods yesterday in search of a doe for me and either a buck or doe for him. We have been patiently passing on small buck for 3 weeks waiting for the opportunities to harvest our target deer.
Yesterday was the hunting day that all of us middle age parents dream of. My 17 year old got out of bed without an argument at 3:15am. We drove an hour to our spot and got to the stands 25 min before legal shooting. During the morning sit, my son had 4 small bucks around him, one of which was potentially a shooter, but my son wasn't sure, so he passed.
At 35 min into legal shooting a mature doe stepped into sight for me, and I took the opportunity. I harvested her with an 8.6 Blackout bolt action, suppressed, pistol with a red dot site. I know it's not exactly a long range rig, but it's a fun gun. I'm shooting 350 grain maker T'rex subsonic expanding bullets. The doe dropped in her tracks when I shot her at 50 yds.
After the morning hunt, we met up with the landowner, a deer friend of mine for some really good BBQ at a new establishment in town. (Best brisket tacos I've ever had), and then we headed back to hunt.
I decided to stay in the truck and not hunt so to not stir things up anymore and give my son his best opportunity of getting a shot at a deer. The piece of property is one of the only wood lots/bottoms for a square mile, so the deer tend to go there to seek cover from other hunting pressure.
At about 3:30pm, my son text me that he just had a 20 min staring contest with a good buck, and then the buck simply layed down and closed his eyes 50 yds away. He was laying behind a clump of trees making it impossible to get a shot or ever properly evaluate the buck.
This ladder stand had a shooting rail on it, but the buck was uphill from my sons position, making it hard to use the rail. Over the course of 30 min, he managed to slip off the main seat of the stand and sit on the lower platform of the stand, so he could use the shooting rail to shoot uphill (steady shots only in my household), when the buck got up. After 50 min nap, the buck got up, and starting walking off, and my son lit the wick on a quartering to shot.
His rifle is one I assembled recently. It is a 6 Dasher shooting 88 grain Hammer HHT bullets (~3190fps). The buck ran about 50 yds and expired. The bullet entered at the front side of the shoulder and traveled through the heart and one lung and exited just ahead of the last rib on the off side.
I am very happy with the performance of the bullet out of this little pea shooter, and very proud of my son for the patience and skill to convert the opportunity into a good harvest, and great memory.
Here are a couple of pics
Yesterday was the hunting day that all of us middle age parents dream of. My 17 year old got out of bed without an argument at 3:15am. We drove an hour to our spot and got to the stands 25 min before legal shooting. During the morning sit, my son had 4 small bucks around him, one of which was potentially a shooter, but my son wasn't sure, so he passed.
At 35 min into legal shooting a mature doe stepped into sight for me, and I took the opportunity. I harvested her with an 8.6 Blackout bolt action, suppressed, pistol with a red dot site. I know it's not exactly a long range rig, but it's a fun gun. I'm shooting 350 grain maker T'rex subsonic expanding bullets. The doe dropped in her tracks when I shot her at 50 yds.
After the morning hunt, we met up with the landowner, a deer friend of mine for some really good BBQ at a new establishment in town. (Best brisket tacos I've ever had), and then we headed back to hunt.
I decided to stay in the truck and not hunt so to not stir things up anymore and give my son his best opportunity of getting a shot at a deer. The piece of property is one of the only wood lots/bottoms for a square mile, so the deer tend to go there to seek cover from other hunting pressure.
At about 3:30pm, my son text me that he just had a 20 min staring contest with a good buck, and then the buck simply layed down and closed his eyes 50 yds away. He was laying behind a clump of trees making it impossible to get a shot or ever properly evaluate the buck.
This ladder stand had a shooting rail on it, but the buck was uphill from my sons position, making it hard to use the rail. Over the course of 30 min, he managed to slip off the main seat of the stand and sit on the lower platform of the stand, so he could use the shooting rail to shoot uphill (steady shots only in my household), when the buck got up. After 50 min nap, the buck got up, and starting walking off, and my son lit the wick on a quartering to shot.
His rifle is one I assembled recently. It is a 6 Dasher shooting 88 grain Hammer HHT bullets (~3190fps). The buck ran about 50 yds and expired. The bullet entered at the front side of the shoulder and traveled through the heart and one lung and exited just ahead of the last rib on the off side.
I am very happy with the performance of the bullet out of this little pea shooter, and very proud of my son for the patience and skill to convert the opportunity into a good harvest, and great memory.
Here are a couple of pics