General Hunting Discussion
Youth hunt
We had a good youth opener with our two hunters. A good bud of mine and I had my 12 yr old daughter and his 14 yr old son out. The weather was not good, but my girl connected in the morning. She spotted the buck and did pretty much everything on her own except for me stopping him. This is her 2nd year, she was lucky enough to get a real nice 9 point last year. She's lucky at seeing them, and solid so far at closing the deal.
Bud's boy had seen enough; he's helped drag her deer two years straight and dropped the hammer on his first buck in the evening. He looked at me funny that morning when I told him to toss that nutsack over his shoulder and that it was good luck. He's a believer now! Lol.
We had 2 proud and happy dads and 2 proud and happy kids. Good times.
SW WI
well maybe he will kill it in the regular gun season.
My oldest isn't even interested in hunting with a gun. he wants to kill with his bow. I asked why, he says I shoot my bow all the time, why would i want to use a gun? I just said good point. I can't argue with him.
Congrats to all who had fun and success!
We had a great time, (other than the rain all day Saturday), but no kill this youth season. Didn't see one of the bucks on the hit list. Other than Ratty Eight. Almost got him with the truck pulling in friday night. Now that would have put a bit of a damper on the weekend. The deer just weren't moving? The bear were moving tho. Had a great time like always.
I think my son was jinxed by all the negative voodoo conversation here. Lol..
Had a great weekend with my little guy, my dad, and my uncle. Saturday hunted last 2 hrs before dark. Seen 5 while in the stand, got down little bit early so we could check the paths on the way in. We get to the fourwheeler path and sure enough a doe and fawn coming right to us. We stayed in the woods and I told him whenever he was ready go ahead. They got to about 50 yards and she turned broadside, I'm waiting then I seen the fawn seek out from behind her. Now shes all clear about 8 minutes left and NOTHING , they walk off into the woods no shot. I wait a minute check my watch still have a couple minutes he's shaking like a leaf. Ask him what happened. First he didn't like the front angle shot. Then the fawn got behind her, which I didn't see right away. And finally, from his lower hight and the deer being on a slight rise in terrain he was not sure of his 'WHAT'S BEYOND '. I asked him to step off how far they were and knelt down to his vantage point, and sure enough he would have been shooting upward angle. Very proud of his decision. Sunday morning saw a big doe with 2 fawns and this yearling by herself. 1 shot and boy was he happy. He's always helped build stands and cut trees. This is his second deer, first since taking hunter's safety. We talked A LOT about TABK and other safety rules this weekend. I think he's hooked. I hope everyone had a great weekend and good luck the rest of the year. He did have an orange sweatshirt on before the pic.
Casedog and 1fowl - both great POV and stories. Thanks for sharing.
I think my son "get's" it. All the work into stands, food plots, scouting, cameras etc. And boy is he patient. We had 27 deer come by this weekend including 4 legal bucks. I don't care what he shoots - but he chose not the pull the trigger at all. Last night we had 2 bucks fighting in front of us for 25 minutes. Very cool to watch. He kept on saying which one he thought would win like we were betting on a boxing match. The one buck was actually able to roll the other deer over. Mother nature at its finest.
While we/he did not harvest a deer, still a very successful weekend. I am sure I will look back when I am old and gray and think about the times him and I were in a stand together.
Well I sure am glad this forum went back to being civil and I enjoyed the last few posts very much!! My daughter got hooked last year(at 10 years old) over a little basket 6 pointer that had us pinned at 40 yards broadside while I was getting her some hand warmers!! I was able to get the gun up and she was able to get it in thscope(( my heart was beating out of my chest and she had the shakes going on)) the little buck knew we were there but he didn't bolt out of there-- he just took a fast walk to the northeast!! We had 1 last opening for a shot and my girl was calm and ready to go!! That buck never made it to that last opening as he slowly vanished straight north instead of northeast out of sight and never to be seen again!! I will never forget them frantic 5 minutes but the important thing was my daughter was immediately hooked on hunting and no we didn't fire a single round!! Now she is consumed by it and she actually woke me up this morning-lol-one happy daddy!! Casey
I'm a big bowhunter and at one time did not like the youth hunt. Then I took my daughter out 2 years ago. She got a doe, the weather was nice (not freezing, with blowing snow) she is now addicted to deer hunting. She talks about it all year. My point is if the 1st time she went out would be opening day of the regular season she maybe so miserable and cold and not want to hunt again.