Elkwhisper
Well-known member
A good family friend of mine has a 12 year old son who passed hunters education and was really looking forward to his first Montana big game season. Between his Dad's work schedule and wrestling / football practice, time was kind of limited for these guys. I have been fortunate enough to get out quite a bit, and had a pretty good idea where we could get the little guy on a good buck. I have some private land places I could have taken him, and to be honest the hunt could have been as easy as driving out into the hayfield and filling his tag. But I really wanted to show this new hunter what hunting public land / access was all about. We were able to spend one morning over opening weekend. We covered about 6 miles on foot of BLM and Block management and I was pretty impressed at how well he kept up, and how he kept his cool and even passed on a couple of smaller bucks. When I was 12, I am pretty sure I was sending rounds down range at anything legal to shoot at...... No tags were filled that day, but we saw lots of deer and had a good time.
Last Sunday we were able to get out again. The plan was to hunt a big CRP section that is enrolled in Block management where I have been seeing lots of does. I have killed several bucks on this BMA over the years, and I knew with the rut heating up there would be a couple good candidates there for a kid's first buck. Sure enough, first light revealed literally dozens of deer spread out in different groups across the CRP section and we were able to get him on the best buck of the bunch within 15 minutes of legal shooting light. To say he was stoked is an understatement. Both his Dad and I were pretty proud of him, and he was looking forward to winning the big buck contest in his class at school.
Later that morning, in the same section we found a pretty unique buck for his Dad to take. His buck ended up being a big fat she-male stag, with kind of gnarly antlers. The buck still had some velvet hanging and the antlers are pretty soft, with really cool bases. Certainly not a booner, but these two couldn't have been happier with their daily double. The second buck had the good sense to die about 3/4 of a mile from the truck, so I took the opportunity to teach them both the gutless method of turning a buck on the ground, into meat in the bag. We only had one pack, so I put 2/3 of the deer in it, and strapped it to the youngster's back and pointed him up hill. Dad and I threw the rest over our shoulders and tried to keep up.
I have killed some good critters over the years, and have had some great times in the outdoors, but Sunday was one of the days I will remember.... and I am pretty sure they will too!
Last Sunday we were able to get out again. The plan was to hunt a big CRP section that is enrolled in Block management where I have been seeing lots of does. I have killed several bucks on this BMA over the years, and I knew with the rut heating up there would be a couple good candidates there for a kid's first buck. Sure enough, first light revealed literally dozens of deer spread out in different groups across the CRP section and we were able to get him on the best buck of the bunch within 15 minutes of legal shooting light. To say he was stoked is an understatement. Both his Dad and I were pretty proud of him, and he was looking forward to winning the big buck contest in his class at school.
Later that morning, in the same section we found a pretty unique buck for his Dad to take. His buck ended up being a big fat she-male stag, with kind of gnarly antlers. The buck still had some velvet hanging and the antlers are pretty soft, with really cool bases. Certainly not a booner, but these two couldn't have been happier with their daily double. The second buck had the good sense to die about 3/4 of a mile from the truck, so I took the opportunity to teach them both the gutless method of turning a buck on the ground, into meat in the bag. We only had one pack, so I put 2/3 of the deer in it, and strapped it to the youngster's back and pointed him up hill. Dad and I threw the rest over our shoulders and tried to keep up.
I have killed some good critters over the years, and have had some great times in the outdoors, but Sunday was one of the days I will remember.... and I am pretty sure they will too!
Attachments
Last edited:
