DANGLER
Well-known member
My favorite little hunting buddy passed hunter's safety last week, and with no school today, what's a Dad to do??? Of course we headed for the hills for Cassidy's very first hunt.
We weren't in the field at first light, but pretty close. Before we even hit the ranch we could hunt, we had 10 long beards clogging up the county road, that we had to chase off so we could get to our spot.
Once through the gate it didn't take long for little eagle eye to spot a fat cow elk and her two yearling calves. She was pretty excited about that, but when we stopped to glass them we could hear a few toms lighting up just down the draw.
We got ready quickly and and did our best to close the distance undetected. We ended up bumping a big tom on the way in, but he didn't go far before he stopped and started strutting again. I don't think he really saw what we were. We waited for him to strut behind a tree and we made our move. We got the decoys out and tucked into a tree and started calling. Within minutes we had three gobblers screaming their heads off from three different directions. The closest one was probably 100-80 yards out and we could tell he was headed our way. Just as things were heating up, Cassidy nudged me and said...."Dad, I have to pee...". Ha ha , go figure. I told her to biter her lip and get ready...but it wasn't to be. A gang of lust crazy coyotes lit up and we watched several chasing each other around the draw we were in for the next 20 minutes. Needles to say, that was the last we heard from those birds. We did get another one to answer us in the next draw, but he went quiet and we never could find him. On the way out I spotted a pair of strutters up on a timbered knob and we put the sneak on them and it almost worked out. I got her down on the gun and one point but every time she would start taking the slack up on the trigger the tom would put some branches between us..... So other than an unlucky cotton tail and a couple gophers, no shots were fired on day one of Cassidy's hunting career. But I am not worried.... It's in her blood now and she is ready to go back out as soon as we can.
I wish I would have taken more pics, but we were pretty focused on getting a bird... but on the way back to the truck after our last walk Cass came up with a prize to take home. It was a great day, and I can't wait for the fall!
We weren't in the field at first light, but pretty close. Before we even hit the ranch we could hunt, we had 10 long beards clogging up the county road, that we had to chase off so we could get to our spot.
Once through the gate it didn't take long for little eagle eye to spot a fat cow elk and her two yearling calves. She was pretty excited about that, but when we stopped to glass them we could hear a few toms lighting up just down the draw.
We got ready quickly and and did our best to close the distance undetected. We ended up bumping a big tom on the way in, but he didn't go far before he stopped and started strutting again. I don't think he really saw what we were. We waited for him to strut behind a tree and we made our move. We got the decoys out and tucked into a tree and started calling. Within minutes we had three gobblers screaming their heads off from three different directions. The closest one was probably 100-80 yards out and we could tell he was headed our way. Just as things were heating up, Cassidy nudged me and said...."Dad, I have to pee...". Ha ha , go figure. I told her to biter her lip and get ready...but it wasn't to be. A gang of lust crazy coyotes lit up and we watched several chasing each other around the draw we were in for the next 20 minutes. Needles to say, that was the last we heard from those birds. We did get another one to answer us in the next draw, but he went quiet and we never could find him. On the way out I spotted a pair of strutters up on a timbered knob and we put the sneak on them and it almost worked out. I got her down on the gun and one point but every time she would start taking the slack up on the trigger the tom would put some branches between us..... So other than an unlucky cotton tail and a couple gophers, no shots were fired on day one of Cassidy's hunting career. But I am not worried.... It's in her blood now and she is ready to go back out as soon as we can.
I wish I would have taken more pics, but we were pretty focused on getting a bird... but on the way back to the truck after our last walk Cass came up with a prize to take home. It was a great day, and I can't wait for the fall!