leadaddict
Member
If you don't want to read the long story the basics are right before the picture.
This deer was a long time in coming. He's been shooting .22lr from a single shot with open sights for about 4 years now and is a crack shot with it. This summer he's gotten used to shooting the 12GA pictured with a BSA red dot on it. He's not really shot much with any scope yet and we decided this would be the best for him right now. We planned to keep our shots within 50 yards. He had no trouble taking 2 liter bottles off the 50 yard berm with this setup.
Opening day of the "youth season" in Iowa was Saturday and got out well before sunrise and didn't see any deer until we were leaving mid-morning as we had some other commitments before lunch. We did see a pair of deer on the way out, so that was encouraging for him.
We got back to the woods at about 2:30 that afternoon. At about 4:30 a fawn walks out and stops at about 50 yards. We're seated on the ground across a gully from the deer. I had instructed him to wait for me to okay the shot before he fired. I whispered for him to turn off the safety, which he did and promptly fired. I wasn't expecting him to shoot yet and didn't see the impact. It missed, but the deer didn't run it only moved a few feet forward. I instructed him to slow down and fire again, which he did almost instantly. Now the deer runs down the gully right toward us. I called to the deer and it stopped at 35 yards, but was angled heavily toward us now. He fired again and deer continued toward us. He stopped in the creek bed less than 15 yards from us but out of sight. I quickly loaded two shells for him and we waited and the deer eventually left in a way that didn't allow for a clean shot. Both the deer and my son got a good education from that experience. I checked the spot where the deer had stood in the creek bed to insure it hadn't been hit.
We then had a talk about aiming for a small spot on the deer and making sure we used good trigger control. He pulled all the shots badly. He knew the right thing to do but was carried away in the excitement. (and who could blame him!) He was in good spirits and was ready to try again.
We had another chance in about 30 minutes. This young doe came to the exact same spot as the first deer and this time my son waited for my okay to shoot, but took the first shot very quickly and pulled low again. I couldn't believe it. The deer ran about 10 yards and stopped. I reminded my son to wait and the next time he pulled the trigger to make sure to aim small and pull slowly. The deer walked back to the exact same spot as before! This time he didn't miss, but put a perfect lung shot right where I had showed him to aim.
The deer only ran a hundred yards or so, but it was through some dense woods and my son got to track him down by following the blood trail. He was ecstatic and I'm very proud that even though the "buck" fever got him too excited to make a good shot at first he was able to calm down and make that one count.
He has spent the last day telling everyone the whole story and couldn't be happier that his first day of real hunting was such a success. It is a day neither of us will ever forget.
An Iowa Doe
Mossberg 12GA with a Hogue short LOP stock. (No, Iowa doesn't require a plug for that tube.
)
Cheap BSA red dot
Rio Low Recoil Star Slug (not very happy with how it did, but it get the job done. I may create a thread on that later)
50 yard shot right in the sweet spot, she ran about 100 yards
A very happy 10 year old!!
This deer was a long time in coming. He's been shooting .22lr from a single shot with open sights for about 4 years now and is a crack shot with it. This summer he's gotten used to shooting the 12GA pictured with a BSA red dot on it. He's not really shot much with any scope yet and we decided this would be the best for him right now. We planned to keep our shots within 50 yards. He had no trouble taking 2 liter bottles off the 50 yard berm with this setup.
Opening day of the "youth season" in Iowa was Saturday and got out well before sunrise and didn't see any deer until we were leaving mid-morning as we had some other commitments before lunch. We did see a pair of deer on the way out, so that was encouraging for him.
We got back to the woods at about 2:30 that afternoon. At about 4:30 a fawn walks out and stops at about 50 yards. We're seated on the ground across a gully from the deer. I had instructed him to wait for me to okay the shot before he fired. I whispered for him to turn off the safety, which he did and promptly fired. I wasn't expecting him to shoot yet and didn't see the impact. It missed, but the deer didn't run it only moved a few feet forward. I instructed him to slow down and fire again, which he did almost instantly. Now the deer runs down the gully right toward us. I called to the deer and it stopped at 35 yards, but was angled heavily toward us now. He fired again and deer continued toward us. He stopped in the creek bed less than 15 yards from us but out of sight. I quickly loaded two shells for him and we waited and the deer eventually left in a way that didn't allow for a clean shot. Both the deer and my son got a good education from that experience. I checked the spot where the deer had stood in the creek bed to insure it hadn't been hit.
We then had a talk about aiming for a small spot on the deer and making sure we used good trigger control. He pulled all the shots badly. He knew the right thing to do but was carried away in the excitement. (and who could blame him!) He was in good spirits and was ready to try again.
We had another chance in about 30 minutes. This young doe came to the exact same spot as the first deer and this time my son waited for my okay to shoot, but took the first shot very quickly and pulled low again. I couldn't believe it. The deer ran about 10 yards and stopped. I reminded my son to wait and the next time he pulled the trigger to make sure to aim small and pull slowly. The deer walked back to the exact same spot as before! This time he didn't miss, but put a perfect lung shot right where I had showed him to aim.
The deer only ran a hundred yards or so, but it was through some dense woods and my son got to track him down by following the blood trail. He was ecstatic and I'm very proud that even though the "buck" fever got him too excited to make a good shot at first he was able to calm down and make that one count.
He has spent the last day telling everyone the whole story and couldn't be happier that his first day of real hunting was such a success. It is a day neither of us will ever forget.
An Iowa Doe
Mossberg 12GA with a Hogue short LOP stock. (No, Iowa doesn't require a plug for that tube.
)Cheap BSA red dot
Rio Low Recoil Star Slug (not very happy with how it did, but it get the job done. I may create a thread on that later)
50 yard shot right in the sweet spot, she ran about 100 yards
A very happy 10 year old!!
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