El Jason
Well-known member
A friend of mine gets issued some landowner damage tags every year, which he can allocate as he wishes. He has been kind enough to give one to my daughter, Krista for two years now. This allows her to take a mule deer doe on a second tag, which in my estimation is a wonderful opportunity for young hunters to get in the field and have fun.
Soooo, I made a date with Krista to pull her out of school early today so we could go hunting. We got there, my buddy showed us where to go, and as we were talking we could already see deer in the hay circle.
Krista and I hatched a plan to hike out to the middle of the circle and see what the deer would do. Of course, they just kind of milled around outside of shooting range. Seeing that this was going nowhere, we decided to walk in plain sight in hopes that they would leave the field into the basalt rocks and sagebrush.
Fortunately, they did. We hot footed around the edge of the field and waited about a half hour. Then we began to slowly work towards the top of the hill. As we approached, I could see deer milling around in the bottom of a coulee. Krista got into position, but it was too long of a shot.
I told her to follow me, and we backed up, and looped back towards the hayfield towards a high spot. We had just finished our belly crawl to the top when the deer were filing across on the ridge 85 yards away. I told Krista to take her time and pick one out and shoot when she had the opportunity.
After a lot of indecision, she shot. I saw a doe jump and kick and walk off all humped up. Because of the angle of the sun, I couldn't see where her shot hit. I told her to chamber another round and keep down.
Being an 11 year old, she's laying there singing, ecstatic that she hit the deer, commenting on the sunset, the moon, how nice the night is, etc. Dad is worrying because the deer's head is still up.
After about 15 minutes, her doe stood up.
Me: Shoot the one on the far right
Krista: Which one?
Me: The farthest one to the right.
Krista: Are you sure?
Me: Yes.
Krista: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, shoot it.
Krista: She's moving.
Me: Shoot it anyway
Krista: Okay
She shot again and I could hear a solid hit. We slowly approached as darkness was closing in. I could see the body in the sagebrush and told her to slowly approach. She had to put a finisher in it, which bothered her a bit. She was (understandably) a little freaked out at shooting a deer up close. In all reality, we could have given it 15 minutes and not worried about it, but it was a good experience for her, all the way across the board.
Here is the trophy...
Soooo, I made a date with Krista to pull her out of school early today so we could go hunting. We got there, my buddy showed us where to go, and as we were talking we could already see deer in the hay circle.
Krista and I hatched a plan to hike out to the middle of the circle and see what the deer would do. Of course, they just kind of milled around outside of shooting range. Seeing that this was going nowhere, we decided to walk in plain sight in hopes that they would leave the field into the basalt rocks and sagebrush.
Fortunately, they did. We hot footed around the edge of the field and waited about a half hour. Then we began to slowly work towards the top of the hill. As we approached, I could see deer milling around in the bottom of a coulee. Krista got into position, but it was too long of a shot.
I told her to follow me, and we backed up, and looped back towards the hayfield towards a high spot. We had just finished our belly crawl to the top when the deer were filing across on the ridge 85 yards away. I told Krista to take her time and pick one out and shoot when she had the opportunity.
After a lot of indecision, she shot. I saw a doe jump and kick and walk off all humped up. Because of the angle of the sun, I couldn't see where her shot hit. I told her to chamber another round and keep down.
Being an 11 year old, she's laying there singing, ecstatic that she hit the deer, commenting on the sunset, the moon, how nice the night is, etc. Dad is worrying because the deer's head is still up.
After about 15 minutes, her doe stood up.
Me: Shoot the one on the far right
Krista: Which one?
Me: The farthest one to the right.
Krista: Are you sure?
Me: Yes.
Krista: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, shoot it.
Krista: She's moving.
Me: Shoot it anyway
Krista: Okay
She shot again and I could hear a solid hit. We slowly approached as darkness was closing in. I could see the body in the sagebrush and told her to slowly approach. She had to put a finisher in it, which bothered her a bit. She was (understandably) a little freaked out at shooting a deer up close. In all reality, we could have given it 15 minutes and not worried about it, but it was a good experience for her, all the way across the board.
Here is the trophy...
