Proud Uncle

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

I bought 2 landowner mitigation antelope doe tags to introduce my nephew to hunting this year. We spent time at the range & prepared for a few months before the hunt.
Hunting was tough by typical antelope hunting standards as we just couldn’t locate many through scouting. Over a 4 day period we had only put eyes on 14 pronghorn with one group having 9 in it.
Day 1 Scouting
Day 2 We executed a flawless stalk & he missed the shot at 141 yards.
Day 3 Two more stalks & another miss at 230 yards.
Day 4 My nephew connected on his first big game animal at 218 yards. You can see by his smile that he was a happy hunter, but the picture doesn’t do his excitement justice. I’m so very proud and happy for him. I’m glad that he had to work for it a little & it didn’t come too easy. I couldn’t tell you how many miles we drove & we averaged walking over 7 miles per day. It was worth every step to see that smile when he got it done!

Snoopdogg · Aug 10, 2021

Wonderful--definitely looks happy.

Cahunter805 · Aug 10, 2021

Awesome!! Congrats to both of you.

treedagain · Aug 10, 2021

Not alot of goats up there. Good 1st hunt for him. Not a drive and shoot deal.

nvguy2 · Aug 10, 2021

Way to get it done and good for you for taking him out. He will never forget it. Congrats to the both of you. That’s good eating right there!

Zeke · Aug 10, 2021

Well done Mr 3Toe!
Young hunter looks satisfied and rightfully proud too.
Wonderful memories.

Zeke

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

treedagain said:
Not alot of goats up there. Good 1st hunt for him. Not a drive and shoot deal.

You aren’t kidding!!! We hunted near Grouse Creek. I wasn’t certain if there just weren’t many antelope or if I was just looking in the wrong areas. We covered a lot of ground & hardly even saw many deer. It surprised me that we never spotted a deer or an antelope in any of the agricultural fields. It was tough, but we stuck with it. Definitely not a drive & shoot hunt...
We abandoned the truck & set off on foot for all spot & stalk. ??

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

nvguy2 said:
Way to get it done and good for you for taking him out. He will never forget it. Congrats to the both of you. That’s good eating right there!

Thank you! He’s definitely hooked, I now have a new hunting buddy.
Agreed on the good eating, for sure.

treedagain · Aug 10, 2021

3TOE said:
You aren’t kidding!!! We hunted near Grouse Creek. I wasn’t certain if there just weren’t many antelope or if I was just looking in the wrong areas. We covered a lot of ground & hardly even saw many deer. It surprised me that we never spotted a deer or an antelope in any of the agricultural fields. It was tough, but we stuck with it. Definitely not a drive & shoot hunt...
We abandoned the truck & set off on foot for all spot & stalk. ??

Not alot of goats at all. I know of more than 1 person doing those hunts and not even seeing a goat. So yes it was a great 1st hunt for him, well earned trophy doe.

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

Zeke said:
Well done Mr 3Toe!
Young hunter looks satisfied and rightfully proud too.
Wonderful memories.

Zeke

Thanks! He was ecstatic. He actually said “I can’t remember the last time that I was this excited” . Lol
He gutted her with some verbal guidance, then I jumped in to show him how to quarter. I did the one side, then he did the rest on his own. He got the full experience, down to packing out back to the truck. ??

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

treedagain said:
Not alot of goats at all. I know of more than 1 person doing those hunts and not even seeing a goat. So yes it was a great 1st hunt for him, well earned trophy doe.

If they need any help, I would be happy to share what I learned up there. Just let me know.

rmanwill · Aug 10, 2021

Awesome. Love hearing about new hunters and experienced hunters helping them experience what we love so much. Congrats.

3TOE · Aug 10, 2021

Thank you! I appreciate that, it truly was a special experience for me personally. It almost took me back to the days of my kids first hunting experiences. My nephew is 27 now & just in the past few years he started to express an interest in hunting. I admire him as a young man & see a lot of my old self in him. I can only hope that he continues with his interest in hunting & hope that I will be present for some of his successes along the way.

smokepoll · Aug 13, 2021

Congrats! Antelope hunting is such a good way to introduce someone new to the hunting sport. A miss is not the end of the world and you usually get another crack or two at one.

3TOE · Aug 13, 2021

smokepoll said:
Congrats! Antelope hunting is such a good way to introduce someone new to the hunting sport. A miss is not the end of the world and you usually get another crack or two at one.

Thank you! That was my thinking as well when I put the hunt together for him. The area we hunted really didn’t hold many pronghorn or many other animals for that matter. After the second miss, I was starting to wonder if we were going to get it done. Fortunately he had a ton of patience & twice as much stamina. I would post a video that I took after the harvest showing his excitement, but it is full of celebratory expletives. Lol

Gator · Aug 13, 2021

Yep that smile tell it all.
I like the pack out picture the best.

BearBait49 · Aug 14, 2021

That's what its all about right there.

Awesome! Congrats

3TOE · Aug 14, 2021

Gator said:
Yep that smile tell it all.
I like the pack out picture the best.

We both had load hauler packs. After he wanted to jump in to field dress & quarter, I loaded everything up on his pack & said now you get the full experience. Lol
Not that a quartered doe was much of a load, but for his first hunt I thought it was fitting that he packed her out.
The hike out pic is one of my favorites also, I do it a lot on successful turkey hunts.

SS! · Aug 14, 2021

Look at that smile. Well done! Also kudos on the field care of the meat.

do you have any other hunts planned for him this fall?

3TOE · Aug 14, 2021

SS! said:
Look at that smile. Well done! Also kudos on the field care of the meat.

do you have any other hunts planned for him this fall?

Thanks! Unfortunately no, he didn’t get his Hunters Ed completed in time to apply for UT. He completed it in time to apply here in NV, but we didn’t draw anything here.
I believe I have enough points to draw a general deer tag in UT next year with him added in a hunt party. So we will see…