Carolyn has been wanting to hunt animals for years now but she couldn't do it with bow and arrow and she wasn't really ready for guns that go bang. The actual solution never really dawned on me until this winter. I attribute that to me being more dumbass than anything. Anyway here is how we got to this day. Today actually started last summer when Carolyn took air rifle classes in 4H day camp and overnight camp. She liked it so much that she went to the station on 4H outdoor adventure day in the fall. The 4H air rifle class started in October and I was taking her to that when it dawned on me. Air rifles were the perfect way to get her started in hunting killing animals. She has been hunting with me, tracked deer with me, field dressed, skinned and butchered, well watched, many animals with me but she has never killed any of the animals. She was so wanting to get in on that action and her dumbass dad couldn't figure out how to do it. The the light bulb lit in my head while I was at 4H rifle class and I made a plan. The first part of the plan was to get her an air rifle for christmas. She has a bow and arrows but, believe me, they aren't deadly to anything but straw bales. So, I find some rebuilt air rifles that come with scopes. I buy two so that I have the same thing as her and will be as familiar her rifle as mine and vice versa. They are a good deal but the scopes are next to useless. I bought new air rifle scopes and now we are cooking. She keeps practicing and learning in the air rifle class and as the weather permits, I get the rifles mostly zeroed. I have learned that air rifle like to get a lot of rounds down range before they "settle down" and their accuracy is consistent. Now that we are at that point she and I go about finish the zeroing together. I knew she was a good shot from the groups she was getting in class but she is very good with the scope. They use iron sights in class so the scope was new for her and she took to it like a deer to a corn pile. About two weeks ago the weather was fantastic and we spent the afternoon tightening everything up. That evening I tell her we'll be going squirrel hunting that Saturday. She is chomping at the bit. I get up fairly early Saturday morning but decide to let her sleep in. We have a bit of a leisurely morning and then get out late morning to go after squirrels. We don't see anything. I am not even sure we saw a bird, any bird. Seemed like every living animal has disappeared. She doesn't quit or get discouraged though and we keep at it. Finally we get to a spot and after waiting for a while and seeing nothing but a can I tell her to pretend the can is a squirrel and shoot it. 25 yards away and she drills it right in the sweet spot, if a can has a sweet spot LOL. anyway, we high five and I tell her," If that was a squirrel it would be dead.". She is happy with that and we head on deeper into the woods. Well, an hour later, still no animals and no more cans either. We go home. This past Thursday we go to air rifle and they let the young kids use the teenager's PCP air rifles. These are very nice rifles (Thank you NRA) and her groups as tight as a gnats butthole. Miss Cindy (air rifle program director) is impressed, I'm impressed and high fiving Carolyn. We get in the van and head home. Carolyn and I are talking and I am congratulating her groups again and she says,"Maybe we can go squirrel hunting this Saturday?" and I told her I was already planning on it. We would go in the morning and evening but there was bad weather on the way and that might be a problem. She says that's fine. I get up pretty early this morning, right at 5:30, and I drink some coffee, let the cats out, get the woodstove cranking, walk the dogs and then start cooking bacon around 6:30. Next thing I know Carolyn comes into the dining room all sleepy eyed and says she smelled the bacon. The next words were,"Are we going squirrel hunting this morning?". I told that there are snow flurries and rain but we will see what it's like when sunrise happens. She says "OK" and goes back to her room. I am thinking she went back to bed. No chance LOL. I make and egg sandwich for myself and she makes a grilled cheese w/bacon for herself. We eat and get ready to go. We get in the back yard and I remember I have to let the chickens out and get them water. We take the water and dump it each night because it just freezes so, instead of having to melt the ice and then give them water we just empty each night and do the water in the morning. Carolyn heads on back in the woods to hunt squirrels by the corn feeder and I get the scratch out of the barn and get the chickens out into their big run. Get the water and finish there. While going to where Carolyn should be I meet her coming towards me. She said she shot at a squirrel but missed. She reloads and we set up on the log about 20 yds from the feeder and wait. After about 20 minutes a squirrel comes running across a log about 30 yards away. I tell her to wait until he get closer and is sitting still. That takes about another 10 minutes but she is patient and still. The squirrel follows the script and sets up. I whisper to her to shoot whenever she is ready. Pop! and a miss. Squirrel runs off. Carolyn reloads and we wait. Wait some more. Wait even longer and no more squirrels. We call it a morning and I tell her that afternoon, around 3:30 to sunset, is always better at the corn feeder anyway. The day goes on and we take care of our chores, projects and do other stuff. Around 3:00 I make some coffee and sit down with some vanilla wafers. After about 5 minutes Carolyn comes up and says, with some urgency,"Aren't we going hunting?" Then she opens the blind and there are some hard snow showers happening. I told her we can, but, snow on the scopes kind of messes them up. She says,"That's OK, I'll keep it covered.". Gotta love that attitude! The coffee gets finished and we start getting ready to go. The snow showers stop. All precipitation stops. A good omen!
We start heading back and she is ahead of me. I forget why I am lagging but she is about 20 yds ahead of me in the woods and she turns around and says,"There's a bunch of them there!" and starts walking much, much faster than this old man. I finally get to the log and sit next to her and we start waiting. After about 10 minutes she asks if the squirrels will come back. "Yes" I tell her but we need to be patient. We aren't talking much while waiting (perfect hunting partner!) but I do occasionally whisper thoughts that come to mind. One of them is for her to remember all of her shooting training when she is aiming at the squirrel. Do just what she would do when shooting a target. Easier said than done but needed to be said. "One's coming!" I tell her in an excited whisper. She doesn't see it yet but as it leaps onto the 30yd log she sees it then. "Let it start eating corn and others will think it's safe." I whisper to her. He works his cautious way to the corn below the feeder. "There's another one!" My excitement is bubbling like a shook beer so she must be ready to explode, right? I tell her to go ahead and shoot the one under the feeder. 20 yards. Pop! THWAP! He leaps into the air and spins. Lands and then starts a drunken run toward the 30yd log, runs under it and goes into his death throes a few yards later. Carolyn didn't get to see the last yards after the 30yd log so she asks me,"Is he dead?", "Maybe" I say, "Lets give him a couple more minutes. I am exploding and she is sitting there with ice water in her veins. Lets get you reloaded while we're waiting. The reload is finished and I tell her,"Lets go get your squirrel." She pops up and is immediately 10 yds in front of me. She gets to the 30yd log and I ask her if she sees it. "No, I don...There it is!!". Poke it with your rifle to see if it moves. No movement. She looks at me with the biggest smile and says,"My first squirrel!" and the pride is pouring out of her. "Well, grab tha squirrel by the tail and lets get back to our log and wait for some more." She blinds me with her smile and I can barely find my way back to our log. She lays the squirrel down and I tell her that it was a pefect shot. Right behind the left shoulder and out by the right shoulder, taking a little right leg meat with it. Perfect shot. I let her know that I am very impressed with the shot. The practice has paid off. Another 20 minutes and the next squirrel starts coming in. He hangs up on the 30yd log so I tell her to go ahead and try. Pop! Miss! He runs into the underbrush on the right but stops. We watch him for a while and then another one shows up to left of the feeder. He starts creeping in on a small branch laying on the ground about 25 yards away. The squirrel on the right comes hopping in and sets up under the feeder and starts nibbling corn. I tell her to shoot whenever she's ready and keep watching the squirrel under the feeder intently, waiting. Pop! THWAP! It's a hit but the squirrel under the feedr just hops off like nothing is wrong. She whispers,"I got him!" and I whisper "You shot the one on the left?" She says "Yes.". She tells me,"I saw where he went.". I told her lets wait a couple minutes and reload while we are waiting. Then I get up to go take a leak. I go about 10 yards, take care of business and turn around. She's not there. I was holding it for a while so I guess it took too long. I get to her and the squirrel and she looks at me and says,"He's still alive!". Sure enough he is but it doesn't look like for much longer. I tell her we should go ahead and finish him and to put the tip of the barrel a few inches away from his head and squeeze the trigger. Well, he's up under another log so she has to go over the log and through some brushy crap. By the time she gets to him, 30 seconds, he's done. She comes back around grabs his tail and we head back to our log. The glowing pride coming from her is blinding me. We sit down, high five. She says,"I hit him a little far back but he was all scrunched up." It was actually a very good shot all things considered. "You ready to head home?" I ask. "Yes", she says and we get up and head home. Those that have been with their children when they become hunters know how I feel and, for those that haven't had the experience yet, I don't know how to convey the feeling but I do wish you feel it someday.
These are the threads that keep me.coming back to this site ... tell your daughter that the guy that sent the jerky gives a HUGE congrats to her! And Dad .... a HUG Congrats to you too!
Very cool, Bruce. You can definitely tell she loves the outdoors already. And you can definitely tell you're proud of her!
Give her a big congrats from me !! Thanks for sharing a very special moment in both your lives. Really enjoyed it !! Britney is really getting excited to get into hunting with her old man. Really looking forward to that special moment when we get her out hunting. Might have to head to the old home place when I was a kid and see if there are any gophers still roaming there this summer. It is where I started hunting. Where I took Tyler for his first hunt. Had many great times killing gophers in the cow pasture and would like Britney to experience it as well. Congrats again to both of you !! Tim
Such a great read!! How exciting! I can't wait till the boys are old enough to get excited about hunting like this. Gavin is already in love with a bow, deer and "shoot"! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the kind words. It was the best day I have had in a long time. I am looking forward to many more. Thanks again.
We got out for about an hour this afternoon. 2 misses and 1 hit. Tomorrow we'll get out a couple more times ( if her room is clean) .
From a father that knows exactly the kind of joy you have experienced, congrats! It just doesnt get any better than that. Good for you guys!
