H
hobbes
Guest
Thursday was the first day of the 2 day youth deer season. Olivia and Boyd (my two youngest at 15 and 13, respectively) both wanted to hunt, so we planned an evening hunt after we did some practice shooting during mid-day. We were running late, so deer were already in the hay field when we arrived. We put a sneak on them and got lucky when they moved our way.
We were peeking out of a wash at the bucks and does 200 yards away when one of the does with two fawns came running our way and past us. Then someone shot over the hill from us and a doe came running from over the hill. That spooked the rest of the deer and they all came running back our way (I know...........lucky), so Boyd had the bipod legs on the ground and was leaning/kneeling on the bank of the wash. I didn't think Olivia was going to get a shot because she can't react that quickly, so I hadn't tried to set up my homemade tripod for her (not sure I could have on that steep slope). The biggest of the three little bucks stopped right in front of us broadside and Boyd took the shot hitting him dead center through the lungs. Boyd's deer had just crashed into the edge of the trees, and Olivia pointed out that there were still two in the field. I wasn't even thinking about a second buck until she said that. I knew that I could never get her stabled up with the .308 and the tripod that fast, so I grabbed the 7mm mag on the bipod, bolted a round in and put it on safety, then set it in front of Olivia. Olivia is a lefty, so everything looks backwards to me when she shoots. She was really excited with everything happening that fast and it took several minutes for her to find the buck with her taking her glasses off and me backing the scope down and back up. I had to talk her down a little before she sort of caught her breath and the shaking slowed to something mangeable. Luckily the bucks were young and dumb and settled down while Olivia was settling down. I was concerned that she'd miss, but she hit him a little above center in his right shoulder on a quartered too shot and exited 2/3 of the way back on his left side. She never complained once about the recoil of the 7mm mag.
Boyd killed the first buck at 70 yards and Olivia's was a 100 yard shot. Boyd's ran 75 yards and toppled and Olivia's colapsed on the spot. Olivia's is her first deer, Boyd's is his third deer and first buck. No motorized vehicles on this Block Management, so we had to drag them for an hour and a half. Photos could have been better if we'd had more light.
It was getting dark fast since these deer were shot 15 to 20 minutes before dark. It was a little too dark to hand hold my camera without a flash and the flash made it look completely dark around them while overexposing them.
I wish I'd got some individual photos with my camera instead of my phone. It was getting too dark for my phone and I was in such a rush knowing it was getting dark and we had to drag two deer a fairly long way over a hill that I didn't realize that I'd not taken individula photos with my camera.
I have one of Olvia with a big smile in this same shot, but it's so blurry it looks like two guns laying on the deer.
We were peeking out of a wash at the bucks and does 200 yards away when one of the does with two fawns came running our way and past us. Then someone shot over the hill from us and a doe came running from over the hill. That spooked the rest of the deer and they all came running back our way (I know...........lucky), so Boyd had the bipod legs on the ground and was leaning/kneeling on the bank of the wash. I didn't think Olivia was going to get a shot because she can't react that quickly, so I hadn't tried to set up my homemade tripod for her (not sure I could have on that steep slope). The biggest of the three little bucks stopped right in front of us broadside and Boyd took the shot hitting him dead center through the lungs. Boyd's deer had just crashed into the edge of the trees, and Olivia pointed out that there were still two in the field. I wasn't even thinking about a second buck until she said that. I knew that I could never get her stabled up with the .308 and the tripod that fast, so I grabbed the 7mm mag on the bipod, bolted a round in and put it on safety, then set it in front of Olivia. Olivia is a lefty, so everything looks backwards to me when she shoots. She was really excited with everything happening that fast and it took several minutes for her to find the buck with her taking her glasses off and me backing the scope down and back up. I had to talk her down a little before she sort of caught her breath and the shaking slowed to something mangeable. Luckily the bucks were young and dumb and settled down while Olivia was settling down. I was concerned that she'd miss, but she hit him a little above center in his right shoulder on a quartered too shot and exited 2/3 of the way back on his left side. She never complained once about the recoil of the 7mm mag.
Boyd killed the first buck at 70 yards and Olivia's was a 100 yard shot. Boyd's ran 75 yards and toppled and Olivia's colapsed on the spot. Olivia's is her first deer, Boyd's is his third deer and first buck. No motorized vehicles on this Block Management, so we had to drag them for an hour and a half. Photos could have been better if we'd had more light.
It was getting dark fast since these deer were shot 15 to 20 minutes before dark. It was a little too dark to hand hold my camera without a flash and the flash made it look completely dark around them while overexposing them.
I wish I'd got some individual photos with my camera instead of my phone. It was getting too dark for my phone and I was in such a rush knowing it was getting dark and we had to drag two deer a fairly long way over a hill that I didn't realize that I'd not taken individula photos with my camera.
I have one of Olvia with a big smile in this same shot, but it's so blurry it looks like two guns laying on the deer.
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