Two Teens Hunting for First Time Sponsored by WyoDoug

[WyoDoug]

Well as of today, both boys received their first hunting rifles and ammo though direct donations of mostly HuntTalk members. Support is deeply appreciated but more still needed, mainly financial support for the hunt itself (gas, food, etc). Appreciate the support. Live hunt starts with a scouting run on September 19 with live hunt on September 20. I can't wait.

Cut and past from the mother of these two boys:

 

[WyoDoug]

Cut and paste of the mother's post:

About a year ago, I posted that Aiden and Haven were taking Hunter Education. Shortly after, Doug Mewis reached out to me and asked if he could help sponsor the boys with their first rifles and even take them hunting.
Doug went above and beyond. He gathered a generous amount of donations for the boys and raised another $800 through HuntTalk toward the purchase of their rifles.
Tonight, he took the boys to Sportsman’s, and they were able to purchase TWO rifles AND ammo—and after all the donations, we only had to pay an additional $78 for everything!
The boys are grateful. They are SO excited, and we are incredibly thankful to Doug and everyone who donated and helped make this happen for them.
Now they’re officially geared up… here’s to their first antelope hunt in just a few weeks!

 

[WyoDoug]

Well took Hayden out on his first hunt trip on Sept 20th for a day hunt. It gave him a taste of what it was about but being opening day of speedgoat season, we could not get close to tagging him out. We did see antelope but every single one was on private property that I did not have permission or was not sure of the ownership of the tract of land they were on. I will not hunt private without permission so we went on. On one of the scope sessions we did, I spotted a huge buck which had to be 14-16 tall. Typical of opening day of seasons before, the roads were packed with roadies though not as bad as last year. We had fun and it was a pleasure to show this boy around and give him a taste of what it was all about. Plan is now to take both teens with me this coming Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully most of the road hunters are missing in action.

 

[WyoDoug]

Well here is to hoping for success! Just finished getting coolers and truck ready to take Hayden and Aiden both to chase speedgoats. I did two scouting trips and spotted a couple large bucks that I hope hang in the same general area tomorrow. No one saw me scoping this time so hopefully no rude hunters mess this up like I experienced last year.

 

[Gellar]

Good luck. It sounds like those boys will remember this for a long time whether they get a pronghorn or not.

 

[wtrfwlhunter]

Good luck! That’s great of you to do that for them

 

[300stw]

well,,,,,

 

[2rocky]

Nice Doug,

What units do the boys have tags in?

 

[Walkathon]

@WyoDoug How did the hunt go?

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Did they ever get to hunt?

 

[Hankg]

Did they ever get to hunt?

I’m just praying the kid in the black shirt didn’t get shot in the foot.

 

[WyoDoug]

Well, an update of sorts.

The hunt was rescheduled to the following weekend. I did get Hayden out on opening day but all the antelope were on private property that was not enrolled in Wyoming's Access Yes program.

Shortly after I got Hayden home I began experiencing symptoms that I, the paramedics and ER doctors initially thought was a heart attack. I was hospitalized for two days while they did a complete heart workup. Turned out my heart was healthy but my potassium was critically low and caused my heart to flutter along with other symptoms including chest pains. In addition my magnesium was low but not to critical levels. Once they injected potassium into my blood and stomach the symptoms all went away and I was released and went home with new prescriptions for potassium chloride. I guess I need to watch my electrolytes much closer now.

The following weekend, I took both Hayden and Aiden out and we got shots but all their shots were low. It dawned on me that they never got to the range yet and I wasn't sure if their scopes were bore sighed yet. The mother did not understand what that was so my assumption was that it still needed to be done. They did not get an antelope but we had valuable lessons learned, one to first get them to know their rifles a lot better.

I also had contact with the locals that interfered with my hunt last year. They were in the middle of the field with two pickups on land they did not own. They were pursuing wildlife which is illegal. I turned in a report to the game warden I met on the other side of the creek from where we were hunting. Not sure what was done if anything. Something like that the warden would need to see himself but at least he is aware of it.

On the side, we also saw a flock of two dozen wild turkeys that I could never find during turkey season.

Plan is to take the boys out next year and do it right, to include firing range work. I hope to be able to come up with two boxes of ammo and get them to fire enough rounds that they know windage and elevation and how to use range finders.

They also got nice lunches at the Soda Fountain in Chugwater which has the best malts anywhere.

 

[Nuts]

The following weekend, I took both Hayden and Aiden out and we got shots but all their shots were low. It dawned on me that they never got to the range yet and I wasn't sure if their scopes were bore sighed yet. The mother did not understand what that was so my assumption was that it still needed to be done. They did not get an antelope but we had valuable lessons learned, one to first get them to know their rifles a lot better.

All our youth hunters new and old go through a training of sorts. We have a range at camp from 25yds to 100yds. Lots of steel plates. They start with .22 and learn everything. safety and shooting from the bench, freehand, bipod and shooting sticks. Once they have that down and the basics are in place we put up a blind and have them go through the paces again. This all ends with a final competition. Hidden targets. Find them. Hit the small target if you can. If you can't find it your mentor will talk you to it the same as you would in the field. This year we are adding problem solving. The idea is that they can safely operate on their own one day. Problem solving would include ideas like handing the kid a gun with the scope turned all the way up and ask him to shoot the 25yd plate. He is not going to find it in the scope but on his own he needs to turn it down. How about a misfire. Or click. Was there a shell racked or did you short cycle it. What do you do then. We teach them to shoot plates and targets but what if we put a plate in an unsafe place like on the horizon. Will they shoot it? Especially if its in a competition. We want them to think about it. This past weekend in point I had a kid with a nice deer on the horizon well within range. I talked him through the only thing he can do. Take a picture and watch. Because we aren't shooting that deer. Same with 9 deer we saw on the other side of the fence row in the neighbors. Take the time to teach them everything you can while they are teachable. And range time is bigger to me then the hunting. Because even if they don't hunt this may be the only opportunity someone has to teach gun safety. Good luck