Stick to the plan (Deer hunting story)

[hunterdan]

Been doing a good bit of hunting with my 13 yr old daughter this year. Today was our 8th hunt and it was early morning. We got set up and ready around 6:45 just before daybreak. The sun came up and we started to be able to make out the surroundings and shooting lanes on a new to us area. After about 30 minutes of daylight I nugge'd my daughter because a nice doe was coming up on our left side (completely opposite from where we thought). It saw us and did the head bob for 10 seconds then started walking again and stopped after another couple yards to check us out again. The plan I had was to shoot 1 second after my daughter but I never planned on "Buck Fever". I looked at her barrel and it was bouncing up and down from nerves and adrenalin so I reached over to the forearm of her rifle to help her steady it. After what seemed like an hour she shot at her from 40 feet and I could not tell if it hit the doe due to the smoke that came out of her barrel. Mind you it was cold and I guess the sudden heat caused a temporary whiteout.
We looked for blood and hair but found nothing. I know sometimes a deer can be hit and not bleed for many yards so we went ahead after a couple hours and did outgoing circles looking for the doe or sign. We never found anything and after a while my daughter asked if I thought she hit it. I said no but lets look some more in case it died of fright. That made things a little better because she was pretty upset she missed it. I guess I should have just stuck to the plan and shot when she did. In the end though nothing beats time with your child especially in the woods and life experience proving practice and dedication are important.

 

[YOUNGBLOOD13]

I hear you. My oldest son just came home last week. We went with my youngest boy and some friends for 3 days. No one took anything, but my boy was sitting on a camp chair brushed in and saw a mama bear and 3 Cubs about 30 feet away.
I had such a good time with them, and they both told me how much they enjoyed the time together.

 

[C.Berry]

I understand you shooting at same time with novice hunters, simply to kill the animal so it doesn't suffer from bad shot! But I'm sure you also know that feeling of killing a deer at youngin age and you were only one to take a shot... lol the shakes for a hour afterwards and only thing ya talk about for 2 weeks haha double edged sword but like ya said nothing can replace those moments whether was successful or not! The youngins will remember it forever...