yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Giggles and whispers from the back bedroom simply could not be contained regardless of admonishment as unbridled excitement reigned. Seth and Rachel, ages 10 and 12 respectively, could not seem to fall asleep the night before their first deer hunt. I found it hard to caution them to go to sleep because sunrise was early when I myself could hardly contain my own excitement.
0520 came early, but I was awake before the alarm went off. Sleep depravation was not going to stop these kids from jumping out of bed at the first call. It was going to be a hot day, so we figured morning was our best bet. Since this was their first outing, I did not want them climbing into a treestand in the dark, so we chose ground blinds instead.
I decided to take Rachel to the ground blind I put up the previous week in a small field called Pleasant Valley Overlook. My good buddy John, whose kids are now pretty much off to college, offered to take Seth. We had strategized the previous night. Since I had consistent trail camera pictures of deer during shooting hours for the last several weeks in a field we call Boomerang, they made a last minute decision to go to a ground blind that had not been checked since last spring. When they got there, they could not find the blind, so they doubled back to make their stand in another blind overlooking a Field we call G8.
Meanwhile, Rachel and I boarded the ATV and made our way out toward our blind. We stopped about 150 yards away and slowly inched our way along the trail. We needed no flashlight as the full moon lit our way. When we got to the blind, I laid a piece of blaze orange cloth across it for safety and we got in and took our seats. Rachel positioned her chair and aligned her H&R single shot 20 gauge with a bi-pod.
View of Pleasant Valley Overlook from blind.
After about 15 minutes or so, the first rays of sunlight reflected off the morning sky. Rachel commented on how cool the pink clouds looked. We canvassed the small field through the shoot-through netting in the blind but saw nothing. I decided to teach her what a deer grunt sounded like. I performed a soft series of grunts on the small tube hanging around my neck. After another 5 minutes or so went by, we both heard a soft grunt from behind and to the right of the blind. The deer was close, but completely occluded by some massive oak blow-downs from this winter. I waited a minute and made a few more soft grunts. We then waited patiently for the deer to circle to find us. I told Rachel it could be 20 to 30 minutes or more before the deer showed itself. Well, I was wrong. Only 10 minutes had gone by when excitement that could hardly be contained by whispers said “Jack…there’s a deer…right out in front of us!” Sure enough, a tall young 8-point was working his way along the field edge on the far side of the field. This small field is only 50 yards across which matches perfectly the range work Rachel had been doing with the rifled bore slug gun several weekends before.
I tried to get a camera on the buck, but it really took second priority. I instead focused on making sure she had any support she needed to connect. “Are you on him?” I asked. “Yes, but he is moving now…” she whispered as the buck began walking with a little more intent. I looked at the end of her barrel. It was very close to the bottom of the shoot-through netting. I wasn’t worried about damage to the blind; I just didn’t want it to throw her shot off. I had her adjust the gun just slightly to avoid the problem. As she was making the adjustment, I bleated at the buck. He stopped an looked our way. “Are you on him?” I whispered. “Almost” she said but the deer started walking again. “Get on him and aim for the shoulder” I suggested. The deer was quartering toward us ever so slightly. Bhaaaaaa… I bleated with a nasal tone and the buck stopped once again. “I’m on him, can I shoot” she whispered. “Shoot..Shoot…as soon as you’re ready” I said, hardly able to whisper. BOOM!
The three legged archery chair Rachel was sitting on was on slightly uneven ground. The kick of the gun was all it took to send her tumbling backward. I caught her chair. She looked at me with a huge grin but an expression of surprise as she grabbed her ears. I had not taken into consideration that every time she has previously shot the gun, it was at the range with lots of hearing protection. The blind helped capture the sound of the firearm making it even louder than usual.
As I was catching her, I was also trying to watch the shot impact and the buck’s reaction. I didn’t do either well. I could tell the buck spun and I saw the general direction he headed into the young pine thicket. Rachel couldn’t wipe that priceless ear-to-ear grin off her face no matter how hard she tried. I commended her on a job well done. Although I thought she hit the buck, I was not at all sure. She had done all the right stuff to get a shot and that was plenty to call the day a success right there! Without much information about the shot, we just sat and listened for about 5 to 10 minutes. Finally, I could not wait any longer. I just had to go check the impact site.
We quietly left the blind and she loaded another shell, just in case. We went over to where I thought the impact site was but could find no blood or hair. I was beginning to think she missed. We moved through the field at a snails pace going inch by inch but found nothing. My heart sank, but I was still happy she got this far.
Continued...
0520 came early, but I was awake before the alarm went off. Sleep depravation was not going to stop these kids from jumping out of bed at the first call. It was going to be a hot day, so we figured morning was our best bet. Since this was their first outing, I did not want them climbing into a treestand in the dark, so we chose ground blinds instead.
I decided to take Rachel to the ground blind I put up the previous week in a small field called Pleasant Valley Overlook. My good buddy John, whose kids are now pretty much off to college, offered to take Seth. We had strategized the previous night. Since I had consistent trail camera pictures of deer during shooting hours for the last several weeks in a field we call Boomerang, they made a last minute decision to go to a ground blind that had not been checked since last spring. When they got there, they could not find the blind, so they doubled back to make their stand in another blind overlooking a Field we call G8.
Meanwhile, Rachel and I boarded the ATV and made our way out toward our blind. We stopped about 150 yards away and slowly inched our way along the trail. We needed no flashlight as the full moon lit our way. When we got to the blind, I laid a piece of blaze orange cloth across it for safety and we got in and took our seats. Rachel positioned her chair and aligned her H&R single shot 20 gauge with a bi-pod.
View of Pleasant Valley Overlook from blind.
After about 15 minutes or so, the first rays of sunlight reflected off the morning sky. Rachel commented on how cool the pink clouds looked. We canvassed the small field through the shoot-through netting in the blind but saw nothing. I decided to teach her what a deer grunt sounded like. I performed a soft series of grunts on the small tube hanging around my neck. After another 5 minutes or so went by, we both heard a soft grunt from behind and to the right of the blind. The deer was close, but completely occluded by some massive oak blow-downs from this winter. I waited a minute and made a few more soft grunts. We then waited patiently for the deer to circle to find us. I told Rachel it could be 20 to 30 minutes or more before the deer showed itself. Well, I was wrong. Only 10 minutes had gone by when excitement that could hardly be contained by whispers said “Jack…there’s a deer…right out in front of us!” Sure enough, a tall young 8-point was working his way along the field edge on the far side of the field. This small field is only 50 yards across which matches perfectly the range work Rachel had been doing with the rifled bore slug gun several weekends before.
I tried to get a camera on the buck, but it really took second priority. I instead focused on making sure she had any support she needed to connect. “Are you on him?” I asked. “Yes, but he is moving now…” she whispered as the buck began walking with a little more intent. I looked at the end of her barrel. It was very close to the bottom of the shoot-through netting. I wasn’t worried about damage to the blind; I just didn’t want it to throw her shot off. I had her adjust the gun just slightly to avoid the problem. As she was making the adjustment, I bleated at the buck. He stopped an looked our way. “Are you on him?” I whispered. “Almost” she said but the deer started walking again. “Get on him and aim for the shoulder” I suggested. The deer was quartering toward us ever so slightly. Bhaaaaaa… I bleated with a nasal tone and the buck stopped once again. “I’m on him, can I shoot” she whispered. “Shoot..Shoot…as soon as you’re ready” I said, hardly able to whisper. BOOM!
The three legged archery chair Rachel was sitting on was on slightly uneven ground. The kick of the gun was all it took to send her tumbling backward. I caught her chair. She looked at me with a huge grin but an expression of surprise as she grabbed her ears. I had not taken into consideration that every time she has previously shot the gun, it was at the range with lots of hearing protection. The blind helped capture the sound of the firearm making it even louder than usual.
As I was catching her, I was also trying to watch the shot impact and the buck’s reaction. I didn’t do either well. I could tell the buck spun and I saw the general direction he headed into the young pine thicket. Rachel couldn’t wipe that priceless ear-to-ear grin off her face no matter how hard she tried. I commended her on a job well done. Although I thought she hit the buck, I was not at all sure. She had done all the right stuff to get a shot and that was plenty to call the day a success right there! Without much information about the shot, we just sat and listened for about 5 to 10 minutes. Finally, I could not wait any longer. I just had to go check the impact site.
We quietly left the blind and she loaded another shell, just in case. We went over to where I thought the impact site was but could find no blood or hair. I was beginning to think she missed. We moved through the field at a snails pace going inch by inch but found nothing. My heart sank, but I was still happy she got this far.
Continued...
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