twdjr
Long Time Member
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I was able to take the grandson hunting on his Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. We spent 9 days hunting during Thanksgiving and the 7 days before Christmas. We had a couple of target bucks on game cameras we were after. At the end of the Thanksgiving hunt one of the target bucks showed one morning. He was chasing off 2 other bucks that were after the hot doe he was on. I whistled at him and stopped him twice. The first time the angle was bad for my grandson. The next time the angle was good, however the buck fever had gotten to my grandson. This was the biggest buck he has ever seen hunting and would've been his best. Unfortunately, he missed his first animal. That was tough for both of us. He had an opportunity to shoot another nice buck, but said no he wanted the one he missed. So, we go home empty handed on the Thanksgiving break.
We return on the Christmas break and only have 7 days to hunt. First 2 hunts we had Aoudad show up. I told him if he wanted to shoot one to get his confidence back up he could. He told me his confidence was up and he wanted to hunt the target bucks. A few days into the hunt an Axis buck showed up. I told him he could shoot it, but he wasn't really interested being it didn't have its antlers. This is the first Axis he has ever seen in range. He ended up texting his Mom to see if she wanted him to shoot the Axis...
She told him to shoot it and that she wanted the meat and hide. Surprisingly, the Axis hung around long enough for him to make the shot. We never did come across any of the target bucks for the remainder of the hunt. He passed on several more bucks. On the last evening and at last light of our trip a buck appears. He liked him enough and asked me if he could shoot him. I told him to do whatever he wanted. He dropped him where he stood. He was happy and I was happy for him. He made 2 great shots on this trip. He hunted till the end for the target bucks and was willing to end his season without punching his tag.
We return on the Christmas break and only have 7 days to hunt. First 2 hunts we had Aoudad show up. I told him if he wanted to shoot one to get his confidence back up he could. He told me his confidence was up and he wanted to hunt the target bucks. A few days into the hunt an Axis buck showed up. I told him he could shoot it, but he wasn't really interested being it didn't have its antlers. This is the first Axis he has ever seen in range. He ended up texting his Mom to see if she wanted him to shoot the Axis...
She told him to shoot it and that she wanted the meat and hide. Surprisingly, the Axis hung around long enough for him to make the shot. We never did come across any of the target bucks for the remainder of the hunt. He passed on several more bucks. On the last evening and at last light of our trip a buck appears. He liked him enough and asked me if he could shoot him. I told him to do whatever he wanted. He dropped him where he stood. He was happy and I was happy for him. He made 2 great shots on this trip. He hunted till the end for the target bucks and was willing to end his season without punching his tag.
