Let’s hear hunting stories with the kids

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Chris76

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I have a lot of these stories so I will start it. When my son was 9 years old I took him with me for the mentor hunt. This was the last year on the lease land I was in. The woman that owned the land passed away and her son sold it right away but back to the story. It was about a hour before dark and it was like somebody open a gate and said move deer. A spike walked up and he couldn’t find it in the scope so it got away. Ten minutes later a 6 point was coming up the ridge to our left and he was already shaking then he whispered dad a deer to the right is coming it was a bigger 6 point so it was on his side of the stand so he wanted to go for it. I was watching the buck to the left to make sure he didn’t spot us. Then my son says big buck. I said I know buddy just get ready. He is like no dad look behind that 6 point and oh my gosh guys it was a huge 10 point. I told my son try to stop shaking and told him where to aim. It’s about 40 yards away now and my boy was shaking so bad and I whispered you know where to aim so take the shot. He never look at me or said a word to me. Well it keeps walking and I was behind my son so I looked through his scope and he had the buck in his sights but no shooting. Finally the deer was out of sight and my boy turns to me and says dad he was huge. I said why didn’t you shoot buddy. He said I couldn’t. Said I was froze I couldn’t move. Although I would have loved for him to shoot that buck I just smiled and said that’s called buck eggy buddy. Guys always say why wouldn’t you just shoot the buck. It would have been the biggest buck I ever got but I would have done it the same way again bc it is a story my son tells all the time. He is 12 now and is a great little hunter. I have more I will post after I read some of your stories. If you have one take a minute and let us read it.
 
D9C603EA-E23F-4199-93A3-64589F674A01.jpeg A lot of great stories. I have another one. It was the last day of the deee season where my son got his buck eggy. Got to the stand before day break and was seeing son does and I had my son practice getting them in the scope and trying to stay calm. He did a good job at that. Then around 10am I turned around and seen a deer coming from behind us and whispered to my son a deer is coming. Now keep in mind he found all the does in the scope no problem. We finally got a look and it was a nice 4 point. Well I could feel the stand start shaking from him. I said just take a couple deep breathes and relax. He said dad I want to get this one. I made a little joke to calm him down about letting the monster buck walk. He giggled...now this 4 point is 10 yards away and he couldn’t find it in the scope. I grunted softly and he stop wide open timber broad side. Well still couldn’t find him. Here we go I thought. Lol.. it got clean at the bottom of the ridge and I said buddy you have to find him bc 5 more yards he is out of sight. I grunted real loud. The buck stopped and I heard. I found him dad I got him in the scope. I whispered are you on the kill zone. He said yeah. I said pull the trigger buddy. He took a deep breathe like we practice and then I heard boom. He dropped the 4 point where it stood. We where pumped. He was so happy he had tears in his eyes and well if I am going to be 100% honest Dad’s eyes might have been a little teared up also. After high 5’s for a minute we went down and I showed him how to approach a animal to make sure they are dead. It was about a 90 yard shoot for his first buck. Great job the reality set in and I looked up the ridge and said oh no. He said what. I said we have to drag him up that ridge now. 3 hours later we made it to the top. Thanks for reading and looking forward to reading more of your stories
 
My grandson turned eight this past June. I will be taking him back to Upstate New York the end of September to take him out squirrel hunting. I will have a few tales to tell on our hunts next month.
 
3 years ago I was hunting with my brother and 11 year old nephew in Arkansas on some private land we have free reign on. We were sitting on a dry creek bank. It’s about 20’ to the bottom of the creek. And I’m about 10 yards from them.

Usually it’s a great place to kill deer crossing from the opposing hill. Not this time. So we’re sitting there just hanging out watching and I spot movement coming down the creek. Instantly I know what it is. It’s a big bobcat. But my brother and nephew can’t see it yet. So I get my brother’s attention and signal it’s a cat coming. And come he did.

He made his way down the creek, hopped up on a deadfall that my brother and nephew were posted up on the trunk of and proceeded to climb straight up to my nephew. He got within 6’ of my nephew before he realized something wasn’t quite right. I’m watching all this take place and am just in amazement. The cat freezes, lowered his head for a few seconds staring straight at my nephew, turned and hopped off the deadfall back down to the creek bottom and walked away.

My brother turned to me with the biggest eyes and was shaking his head mouthing a derogatory term for feces blessed by God. My nephew in the mean time was frozen solid. Come to find out my brother had whispered to him to “Freeze. Do NOT move.” And he was still following orders. When he finally did move, he couldn’t stop. He was shaking so badly. It was awesome. We ended up not seeing a deer that day. But we had a great and memorable experience nonetheless.

2 years later my nephew killed a big bobcat in that same location. 38” from nose to base of the tail. He’s having it mounted. The taxidermist had to special order the mould.
 
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years ago when my son was prob about 12 or so we out during blackpowder season for deer. after a morning of not seeing much, I asked him if he would like a crack at a coyote before we went home. of course he was all for it but didn't understand where I was going to get a coyote for him to shoot.

I snuck out of our box blind and walked down to a little gulley about 50 yrds away and started calling with a mouth call. almost immediately a coyote ran up to within 75 yrds and stopped. he shot and missed but was amazed at dads skill as a coyote whisperer.

2 weeks later I asked him if he would like another chance at the yote only with his scoped 06. we set up in exactly the same way and the coyote came loping towards us and stopped about 150 yrds out. BOOM! dead coyote!

he told his mom that I had some strange power over animals.
 
My 12 year old and I were sitting above a huge bowl in the forest, and I spot a decent size deer about 50 yards out. I whisper to him, and he spots it.

He lines up the rifle and scope, I stay focused on the deer. No shot, I ask "what's going on"? He whispers "I can't see the deer through the scope". I look over and one of those tiny, flittery birds is sitting on his barrel. lol

Unfortunately, the deer was not harvested.
 
I took my son dove hunting when he was 11 or 12 for the 1st time. I had bought a Mossberg 9200 semi-auto in 12 ga for him and had the stock cut down. With lighter loads combined with gas operation it kicked less than a pump 20 ga. He had very little experience and I didn't expect him kill anything. But he turned out to be a pretty good natural shot. I don't remember exactly how many birds he killed, but he was doing better than a lot of adults. One bird that I killed landed right at his feet and he claimed it as his own. When we got ready to leave I had my shotgun slung and over my shoulder and was holding his gun while he gathered his gear. A bird flew over in range and I killed it with his gun. Since his gun killed it he also claimed that one as his own and included those 2 birds in his bag when showing them to mom when we got home. With those he had a bigger bag than I did. Which was fine with me.
 
2010 or so my oldest is 16 and I got her a junior tag for javelins. Spent the first 4 days in the area we had scouted and ended up chasing a group near Wilcox AZ. Never could guess the wind right and I failed miserably as a guide. So I called a budy for another area suggestion. We spent the 4th night in a hotel in Wilcox and moved to the new area that we had never seen the next morning. After not seeing anything that morning we met a local rancher who suggested a particular canyon and we headed there. We walked in about a mile and she found a hill above the junction of 2 canyons that I didn't like but she did. Her hunt, not mine. We ate our lunch on that hill when a group shows up below at about 90 yards. She has time to go prone but not enough time to set up support for the rifle. So she's supporting the front of the rifle with her left hand/arm. I give her the 90 yard distance and remind her it is in the point blank range of her 270, so just put the crosshairs where she wants to hit. She only uses the 4X on her scope. The animal stops on a little hill below us facing us. I tell her to wait for a broadside shot but the animal doesn't turn it's body. What it does is turn its head. She put one about a 1/2" above the right ear exiting about a 1/2" below the left ear. Dropped right there but kicked its hind legs like it was trying to run for 20 or so seconds. It was dead before it hit the ground as the only part of the brain left undamaged was at the base of the skull.

We couldn't find the rancher so we left him a thank you note taped to the stock tank where we met him with our e mail address offering to send pictures. We got an e mail a couple of days later and have been friends with the rancher and his wife ever since. I'll be seeing them this weekend. I have some pictures. I'll try to find them. (EDIT here are some pictures)

Alysa Javelina 1.jpg Alysa Javelina Exit 1.jpg
 
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Arizona allows one javelina per calendar year so Alysa was eligible for another javelina the following February during the regular rifle season. She had a commitment at church on Friday night (the first day of the week long hunt) so couldn't get there until Saturday afternoon. Mom wasn't willing to drive 5 hours to bring Alysa down so she got on a bus in Phoenix and took a 5 hour long bus ride to Willcox, AZ. where I met her at 1:00 PM Saturday afternoon. We went back to the same canyon my hunting partner got his that morning but the wind had really risen and we didn't see a thing. Sunday morning we headed to a neat little 'wash flat'. This is a flat area that a fairly significant (but dry) wash runs through that has 4-500' hills on both the North and South sides. We picked a spot halfway up the hills on the South side. We got to our spot and glassed for less than an hour when I spotted a heard midway up the hills on the North side. This was around 800 yards away and it took a while before I could even describe their location to the others.

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We made a quick move of the first 400 yards but moved a little slower on the last 400. The last 200 were mostly uphill but the natural rock formations gave good cover for making it to within 160 yards of the last landmark we had for the heard. When we got there none of us could find any of the animals. There was another small wash coming off the front of this hill that they could have hidden in on their way away from us or they could have moved to the other side of the hill while we were moving. We spent 15 minutes looking when I made a grunting sound and low an behold the largest boar stood up looking for what made that noise. The herd had just laid down and apparently javelina look amazingly like rocks/boulders when they lay down.

Alysa's first shot was right at 160 yards but steeply uphill and was not a one shot kill. It took out the animals right front shoulder just missing the heart and it dropped but got back up in less than 30 seconds. I told Alysa to put another in it but my hunting partner, seeing another animal presenting a good shot said no. He was trying to get me a shot on another from the same herd. It didn't turn out that way and Alysa's boar made its way around the top of the hill and out of sight.

The blood trail was significant and easy to follow around the hill but quickly disappeared once we got around the hill. I had Alysa stay at the last spot we found blood while I continued to track. Alysa sighted here boar in a small wash down at the bottom of the hill (by hill I mean 400 feet or so) along with the rest of the herd. I felt confident that she could take care of herself so I told her to go down to find her boar and finish it while I stayed up high as a spotter. She split the heard when she crossed the wash they were in driving her boar away from her and the rest of the herd towards me. I stayed and watched as the boar ran as fast as a three legged boar can run in the small wash with my daughter running as fast as an asthmatic girl can run on top of the flat that formed one of the ridges of the wash. She fell to the ground just as the boar decides to get out of the wash and head over the next hill around a hundred yards in front of her. Now Alysa knows that if this boar gets over that hill it is going to be a tracking nightmare. So, now that she is on the ground anyway, she improvises a sitting position and takes one shot at the boar now running almost directly away from her at 75 yards and puts a .270 in the left rear quarter that drops the animal like a sack of potatoes. She does as she has learned and watches the animal drop in here scope.

Here is the result of the first shot that missed the heart by less than an inch.
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Here is Alysa with her latest javelina

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Because the animal was looking right at us, she was aiming for another head shot. She was sitting but she was using Pat's homemade shooting sticks instead of my tripod shooting sticks. She just wasn't comfortable with his sticks and the shot was steeply uphill. Greater than 30 degrees uphill.
 
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I really thought this thread would be a hit. The stories with your kids in the woods are the best ones. It’s awesome
 
Over the years I've asked the nieces, nephews, and grand-kids to write "in their own words" about their first deer hunt experiences. Always smile when seeing how they viewed the hunt at the time. This is the first of three of my favorites that I hope you enjoy.
Grand daughter (9 yrs old)
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A friend of mine took his nephew hunting with a crossbow. When they had a doe come close to them he told the boy to shoot it behind the shoulder. The boy held the X-bow up for a while and then asked, "Front shoulder or back?" I remembered that when I started teaching Hunter Education for the Arkansas Game and Fish. I took pictures of deer standing at different angles and marked where to aim. It worked because my son-in-law studied them and took 2 deer the first time out. It helps to know anatomy.
 
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