bonepicker
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Well we made it back and it was a great time! I’ll give you guys some pictures of the whole experience but if you just want the picture of the buck it’s at the bottom of the post ?
As expected, the horses were everywhere, my daughter wanted to take pictures of all of them the first day, that wore off quickly.
We spent some time scouting and as we expected, there were more dry water holes this year than other years and it seemed like the horses had pushed the deer further out of their normal areas.
Still plenty of huge country out there, just got to find the pockets of deer.
So we spent some time hunting through some of the spots that seemed promising with no results. Hot weather and super dry so it was loud hiking. We were in a tough spot because 100 yards was at the top end of her range at this point but getting to something under that distance was going to be a little bit tricky as loud as it was.
Got into an area that was open enough for us to glass but also allowed us to use the scattered Junipers as cover if we needed to creep in on something we glassed up.
I’m the end, the crunchy grass and sage made no difference. We came around a group of trees and 50 yards out was decent buck looking at us. It gave me enough time to help my daughter spot him and then came the decision time, did she want to take him? No rush, the buck patiently waited for her decision and as she decided I looked around for any other bucks and sure enough, there was another buck 10 yards to the right of the first, he was standing in the shade, harder to spot but was definitely a bigger buck than the first. Still they waited patiently for us. After a discussion about whether she wanted this new buck: we haven’t seen very many deer, but there were also quite a few days left, what are the chances of finding a bigger buck, how many points does he have on each side, do you think he has a lot of meat, (at this point I also let her know that generally, it is not common to have a 4 point standing broadside at 50 yards looking at you for 5+ minutes while you had a discussion on whether he was big enough to shoot or not so we’ll need to make a decision soon?) The pros and cons were weighed and she made her decision, this was the one! They politely gave her time to get set up, move and get more comfortable, to calm her nerves, to steady her breathing, ask a few more questions. The buck even walks from the shade into the sun for her, still broadside. Finally (literally we’re 7 minutes into this process) she takes the shot. It’s clear he’s hit, and I see him pile up after 20 yards.
I wish I had a video as we went up to see if she had hit him (she hadn’t seen him go down) she was able to track the gallons of blood right up to the buck and she was ecstatic! The first picture is just the raw excitement right when she got to the buck, she also wanted one that was more arranged for sending to her friends so we did that one as well.
We were a couple miles from the rig and he was too big to just carry so we spent a good 3-4 hours on the drag/haul out, that is her new least favorite part of hunting she informed me?
Maybe some luck (Steens tag, very patient buck) some skill (target practice and cardio on the previous weeks) but definitely tons of fun and great memories!
As expected, the horses were everywhere, my daughter wanted to take pictures of all of them the first day, that wore off quickly.
We spent some time scouting and as we expected, there were more dry water holes this year than other years and it seemed like the horses had pushed the deer further out of their normal areas.
Still plenty of huge country out there, just got to find the pockets of deer.
So we spent some time hunting through some of the spots that seemed promising with no results. Hot weather and super dry so it was loud hiking. We were in a tough spot because 100 yards was at the top end of her range at this point but getting to something under that distance was going to be a little bit tricky as loud as it was.
Got into an area that was open enough for us to glass but also allowed us to use the scattered Junipers as cover if we needed to creep in on something we glassed up.
I’m the end, the crunchy grass and sage made no difference. We came around a group of trees and 50 yards out was decent buck looking at us. It gave me enough time to help my daughter spot him and then came the decision time, did she want to take him? No rush, the buck patiently waited for her decision and as she decided I looked around for any other bucks and sure enough, there was another buck 10 yards to the right of the first, he was standing in the shade, harder to spot but was definitely a bigger buck than the first. Still they waited patiently for us. After a discussion about whether she wanted this new buck: we haven’t seen very many deer, but there were also quite a few days left, what are the chances of finding a bigger buck, how many points does he have on each side, do you think he has a lot of meat, (at this point I also let her know that generally, it is not common to have a 4 point standing broadside at 50 yards looking at you for 5+ minutes while you had a discussion on whether he was big enough to shoot or not so we’ll need to make a decision soon?) The pros and cons were weighed and she made her decision, this was the one! They politely gave her time to get set up, move and get more comfortable, to calm her nerves, to steady her breathing, ask a few more questions. The buck even walks from the shade into the sun for her, still broadside. Finally (literally we’re 7 minutes into this process) she takes the shot. It’s clear he’s hit, and I see him pile up after 20 yards.
I wish I had a video as we went up to see if she had hit him (she hadn’t seen him go down) she was able to track the gallons of blood right up to the buck and she was ecstatic! The first picture is just the raw excitement right when she got to the buck, she also wanted one that was more arranged for sending to her friends so we did that one as well.
We were a couple miles from the rig and he was too big to just carry so we spent a good 3-4 hours on the drag/haul out, that is her new least favorite part of hunting she informed me?
Maybe some luck (Steens tag, very patient buck) some skill (target practice and cardio on the previous weeks) but definitely tons of fun and great memories!
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And congrats to you both!!
