I bought my son a firearms tag so we could keep hunting this weekend, and he finally connected on a nice doe Saturday evening. It was super cold and windy, so we cozied up in the ground blind with the heater on. About 45 min before dark, two does showed up in the clover to grab a bite to eat. They took their time working from 50 yards to 30, and he did a great job. Waited for me to give him the all-clear and squeezed off a perfect heart shot at 33 yards. She didn't go 60 and piled up. The best part was driving the truck almost all the way to her. I'm too old for this dragging BS. Kid's 10 years old and this is his 3rd deer already. He's spoiled. I hunted yesterday morning, and it was pretty damn COLD. 10 degrees with a 10-12 mph wind. I made it about 3 hours until some pheasant hunters interrupted my hunt, which is fine with me at that point. I did see a couple of deer and had a decent buck chasing a doe in the thicket behind me, but I could never get a great look at him. I took the evening hunt off and hung out at home with the kiddos. I'll be back after it probably tomorrow afternoon depending on how work goes.
Congrats to him! I have been trying to get my 3 older kids on deer (son 15, Daughter 12, Son 11) this year since gun opener. My oldest shot his first at age 9. Other 2 still trying to get their first. It is fun and challenging at this same time.
It will get a lot harder in a couple of years when he's using a compound and hunting out of treestands. Shooting them from a blind, off of a food plot, with a crossbow is almost too easy sometimes. So I've been working in a couple of hunts where we sit somewhere without a blind, not on a food plot, and get him a taste of what it's really like. Fortunately, we had to sit probably close to a dozen times this year before he got to shoot something, including a few hunts where we got skunked. It's a fine line between wanting them to have success and not giving them a realistic view of what hunting is really like. At one point, he told me "Dad, I'm starting to understand why hunting is so hard. Especially when you're hunting for big bucks." That in itself made me feel like we're on the right path. This summer he's going to go through the Hunter's Safety course, and will be shooting his compound a lot more. I'm not sure he will be ready to hunt with it next season, but the year after for sure. And by the time he's ready to go on his own, my youngest will be ready to sit in the blind and start using the crossbow. The circle of life I guess.
I was close to getting it done tonight. Just not close enough. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I got him a Mission Hammr this past summer. I'm not sure what poundage it's set at, but it's about as low as it will go and he can manage alright with it. I put a Whisker Biscuit and an HHA cadet single pin sight on it, and he's shooting a Scott Hero X youth release.
HuntinKB51 and I took a break from deer hunting the last few days. Some farmers are having some beaver problems. They are damming the creeks and flooding the fields. We are hoping to trap the beavers in exchange for deer hunting permission (fingers crossed) as the one farmer said, I'll pay whatever if they get them out of here! We got our first 2 trapped. The first one was an absolute monster weighing in at 65lbs! It is on an F150 tailgate for reference. The 2nd one is a 48 pounder. Here's to going we get more out of there and we have a couple new places to hunt! Our trapping buddies (my sons and HuntinKB51 grandsons) love checking the traps and are actually very good luck charms. We never are skunked when they check the traps with us! Sent from my SM-S908U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Hell yeah man!! We have beaver problems on two of our farms right now, so we're going to start doing a little trapping after the season wraps up. I used to help my dad trap them when I was a kid and always had a blast. I think the biggest we ever got was right in that 62-65 lb range. That's a dandy!! My neighbor custom sews fur skin hats with pelts that he buys from a local tannery. I'm thinking about getting a couple tanned and having him make me a hat out of them.
Add another pope and young beaver to the list! 60 pounder. I'm really hoping that getting these beaver out of here will get us deer hunting permission. Sent from my SM-S908U using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Wednesday night I reorganized all my gear, charged my batteries, and ozoned everything real good in preparation for a Thanksgiving morning hunt. Thursday, I got up at 4 am, took a scent-free shower, drove out to my spot, snuck in like a ninja, and was set up in a bedding area 45 minutes before daylight. The wind was perfectly in my favor and I was in a known buck bedroom where I found a fresh bed, rub, and multiple scrapes last weekend. And I didn't see a single deer. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!
Had an unfortunate clean miss this morning on a 10 with a bunch of stickers at 38 yards. He dropped all the way on his belly for me to shoot over his back. This evening I went to another spot. Little draw next to a feed field had a rub line on every cedar and sampling for 200 yards. Had a trophy doe along with another doe and yearling come out of the creek and was literally 10 yards from me for over an hour. Unfortunately, I didn't see any bucks... I am going to stay after them. Probably hit some public spots before rifle season and then hunt my private during rifle season.
When it's the right time to wear pink panties and kill doe so Little Chief has to wear them too. Little Chief says they can only be worn once. It's his rules, not mine. If I can only wear them once, then I am going to choose the day that I have the best chance to do so.
So unfortunately due to work and the new house and the flu I haven’t been out since I got my doe… hoping to get out over the next few weeks… still have a few good ones on camera that have made it through gun season (so far) in addition I did finish editing up the video of my doe harvest is y’all wanna take a look appreciate your thoughts as well as any advice you can give for those with more filming experience TIA!! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Gosh dang it. The one morning I decide to sleep in. Would have been done most likely. He is weak on one side but I would have definitely let an arrow fly this late in the game. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Been in the stand about 40 min. Everything is perfect. Just need the right deer. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Good luck man! It's a perfect morning here. Cold and super heavy frost. Two of my target bucks journeyed into the West side of our farm early this morning following a doe. I'm assuming they are still in there, and there are only a couple of ways for them to come back East tonight toward the main food sources. I'll be out for sure, and I believe Mike (dukemicheals) will also be out. We pretty well have both main East/West travel routes covered, so if they are still there and move, someone has a great chance of getting a shot. Of course, every time I say that, we don't see anything, but I'm feeling good about tonight. It's the last South wind for a few days and that's the best for these particular spots, so it's game on.
Well, it did not end well last night. Everything was perfect. Right up until the golden hour when my hobby farmer neighbor decided he was going to mess with his horses and cattle a couple hundred yards away. The guy was banging on crap, talking to his horses and wife for almost a full hour. He left, I thought well I have 30 min left at most for something good to happen. The neighbor returns right before dark again and starts beating on crap with a hammer. Whatever.... PMO but what can a guy do about it...
