It’s been a slow day here and it just hit me that I never followed up with the story of K’s buck. I won’t belabor it too much, but there’s definitely a little backstory to the hunt that resulted in Kaydence killing her first buck. You could stretch it back to a hunt in October 2014 when she was a few months shy of her 3rd birthday. She was just along for the ride when I shot a doe from a ground blind less than 150 yards from where she has killed all 3 of her deer. I was hoping to set the hook that day and thankfully, it worked because she’s developed a genuine love for deer hunting and the results of this season have kicked it into overdrive! Ever since she shot her buck, she’s been asking when we can go hunting again and talking about shooting an even bigger buck next year. I’ve created a monster with unrealistic expectations and she’s not even 8!
Some of you will recall that she killed a big doe last year at the ripe old age of 6 on what was her first-ever deer hunt as the hunter. With the “first deer” monkey off our back, we set our sights on this season being the year she’d tag her first buck, and maybe with a little luck, she could also kill a doe. With our county moving to a two deer limit this year, she could say she “tagged out” as a bonus to shooting the second deer, which has a nice ring to it even if it did take just two deer. Leading up to opening weekend, I was getting consistent pics of a 150” main-framed 9 with a split-G2 and some junk on his bases. Of course, I was hoping he’d give her a shot on opening morning, but that wasn’t meant to be. Instead, a mature doe gave her a quarter-away shot after a fairly uneventful morning, and just like that, Kaydence was on the board for the 2020 season.
We ground out several hunts from opening weekend until late-October without much action. Several times I had to remind her that she only had one more tag and if she shot the doe standing in front of her, she was done. Her trigger finger was itchy, but she held off in hopes a buck was just behind the next tree. After I killed my buck on 10/30, we turned up the pressure on her end of things. Leading up to shooting her buck on the 14th, she hunted 5 straight days, including going twice before school, and when given the chance to sleep in on the morning of the 14th, she elected to grind it out and get up one more time. As a dad, I am proud of her for many things, but it’s her willingness to “tough it out” and “keep on keepin’ on” that makes me the proudest. Hunting teaches us many things, perseverance and rewarding hard work are the two things I hope my kids take from it above all else. And for Kaydence, those lessons were very evident this year.
The morning of the 14th broke cold and crisp; the perfect morning to kill a cruising buck. Right at first light, we had a big doe with a fawn, standing broadside at the corn, and once again, I had to remind her that if she shot that doe, she was done. After the doe and fawn wandered off, I was expecting a buck to cruise through at any minute, but it turned out to be a boring morning despite the conditions and the good start. By 9, she was getting cold and bored, so I turned the heater on, and we agreed to sit until 9:30. At 9:15, I turned the heater off and sat back down to check in on the Live from the Stand thread. As I was typing a response, I heard something to the right of the blind and when I looked up, all I saw was rack! It was a literal “Holy Shit!” moment as he was in our laps by the time we saw/heard him. Had I been sitting at the front of the blind, I could have leaned out and smacked him on the ass as he trotted by! He actually came down the trail we walked in on, following the same exact trail that my first buck followed back in 2003. In fact, I shot that buck standing where we first saw hers and Tracie killed her first buck from the tree he was standing next to when Kaydence shot hers. All 3 of us killed our first bucks inside a 30-yard square on the oak flat here behind the house. She’s standing where we first saw him, so it was truly close-quarters combat!
As soon as I saw him, he made an abrupt 90-degree turn and ran down our main shooting lane. My first reaction was to bleat and as soon as I did, he slammed on the brakes, turned broadside, and stopped. At this point, she’s still bundled up in the blanket reading a book, so it’s a mad scramble to get her unwrapped, the book down, the scope on, and her into shooting position. Within a matter of 20-30 seconds, we went from bored and half paying attention, to finding him in the scope and going into “kill mode”. I wish I could say she made a perfect shot, but she was rattled, and rather than back off the trigger to collect herself and tell me the scope was blurry, she touched one off and I watched the lighted nock disappear low and back. I could actually see the angle of the Rage blades on impact and knew we had some waiting and tough tracking on our hands. He ran 75 yards, stopped, then slowly walked towards some thick stuff along our property line.
We waited 4 hours before taking up the track and despite my initial concerns, the blood trail was actually phenomenal. It appeared to have bubbles and there was more than enough blood for even our troop of color-blind TOOzers to follow. We made it 50 yards from where I’d last saw him when I slammed on the brakes and froze. I had that feeling that I was being watched. Kaydence was right behind me and when I turned to look at her, she had this “oh shit!” look on her face and I realized she saw the buck about the same time I did. He was laying in a pool of water, entrance and exit wounds submerged in cool running water, and he was 10’ from us! Unfortunately, there was no opportunity for her to make a follow-up shot and we had to watch him struggle up the hill and over the crest of the ridge. So, we backed out for another couple of hours and I made her go with me to get permission from the neighbor’s so we could track him down.
When we returned, we immediately located the blood trail and within 10 minutes, we’d located her buck. The shot opened the stomach and put a 1.5” slice in the liver, and destroyed the diaphragm, which accounted for all the blood. When he jumped up and walked off, the look on her face was something that will be etched in my mind forever. She’s one of the biggest empaths you’ll ever meet, and I could see the commiserate hurt in her face. She legitimately felt bad for that deer in a way that was physically obvious and in a way most of us can’t relate to. Even a month later, if you ask her about that buck, she’ll tell you about it and close her story with “but I made a bad shot and I need to practice more”. We will use it as a learning experience and we’ll both do our best to make sure we’re in the 10-ring for the next one.
So, we accomplished both of our goals for the season and we carried on a family legacy of killing your first buck from “the oak flat”. In another year or two, Kenna Grace can make it 4-for-4! We are already talking about next year and our next goal: It’s time for her to kill her first deer off The Farm with No Name, and it’s time to take the training wheels off, meaning it’s time to kill one without the aid of a corn pile. We have our work cut out for us, but we’re up for the challenge and look forward to embracing the grind in 2021!
Some of you will recall that she killed a big doe last year at the ripe old age of 6 on what was her first-ever deer hunt as the hunter. With the “first deer” monkey off our back, we set our sights on this season being the year she’d tag her first buck, and maybe with a little luck, she could also kill a doe. With our county moving to a two deer limit this year, she could say she “tagged out” as a bonus to shooting the second deer, which has a nice ring to it even if it did take just two deer. Leading up to opening weekend, I was getting consistent pics of a 150” main-framed 9 with a split-G2 and some junk on his bases. Of course, I was hoping he’d give her a shot on opening morning, but that wasn’t meant to be. Instead, a mature doe gave her a quarter-away shot after a fairly uneventful morning, and just like that, Kaydence was on the board for the 2020 season.
We ground out several hunts from opening weekend until late-October without much action. Several times I had to remind her that she only had one more tag and if she shot the doe standing in front of her, she was done. Her trigger finger was itchy, but she held off in hopes a buck was just behind the next tree. After I killed my buck on 10/30, we turned up the pressure on her end of things. Leading up to shooting her buck on the 14th, she hunted 5 straight days, including going twice before school, and when given the chance to sleep in on the morning of the 14th, she elected to grind it out and get up one more time. As a dad, I am proud of her for many things, but it’s her willingness to “tough it out” and “keep on keepin’ on” that makes me the proudest. Hunting teaches us many things, perseverance and rewarding hard work are the two things I hope my kids take from it above all else. And for Kaydence, those lessons were very evident this year.
The morning of the 14th broke cold and crisp; the perfect morning to kill a cruising buck. Right at first light, we had a big doe with a fawn, standing broadside at the corn, and once again, I had to remind her that if she shot that doe, she was done. After the doe and fawn wandered off, I was expecting a buck to cruise through at any minute, but it turned out to be a boring morning despite the conditions and the good start. By 9, she was getting cold and bored, so I turned the heater on, and we agreed to sit until 9:30. At 9:15, I turned the heater off and sat back down to check in on the Live from the Stand thread. As I was typing a response, I heard something to the right of the blind and when I looked up, all I saw was rack! It was a literal “Holy Shit!” moment as he was in our laps by the time we saw/heard him. Had I been sitting at the front of the blind, I could have leaned out and smacked him on the ass as he trotted by! He actually came down the trail we walked in on, following the same exact trail that my first buck followed back in 2003. In fact, I shot that buck standing where we first saw hers and Tracie killed her first buck from the tree he was standing next to when Kaydence shot hers. All 3 of us killed our first bucks inside a 30-yard square on the oak flat here behind the house. She’s standing where we first saw him, so it was truly close-quarters combat!
As soon as I saw him, he made an abrupt 90-degree turn and ran down our main shooting lane. My first reaction was to bleat and as soon as I did, he slammed on the brakes, turned broadside, and stopped. At this point, she’s still bundled up in the blanket reading a book, so it’s a mad scramble to get her unwrapped, the book down, the scope on, and her into shooting position. Within a matter of 20-30 seconds, we went from bored and half paying attention, to finding him in the scope and going into “kill mode”. I wish I could say she made a perfect shot, but she was rattled, and rather than back off the trigger to collect herself and tell me the scope was blurry, she touched one off and I watched the lighted nock disappear low and back. I could actually see the angle of the Rage blades on impact and knew we had some waiting and tough tracking on our hands. He ran 75 yards, stopped, then slowly walked towards some thick stuff along our property line.
We waited 4 hours before taking up the track and despite my initial concerns, the blood trail was actually phenomenal. It appeared to have bubbles and there was more than enough blood for even our troop of color-blind TOOzers to follow. We made it 50 yards from where I’d last saw him when I slammed on the brakes and froze. I had that feeling that I was being watched. Kaydence was right behind me and when I turned to look at her, she had this “oh shit!” look on her face and I realized she saw the buck about the same time I did. He was laying in a pool of water, entrance and exit wounds submerged in cool running water, and he was 10’ from us! Unfortunately, there was no opportunity for her to make a follow-up shot and we had to watch him struggle up the hill and over the crest of the ridge. So, we backed out for another couple of hours and I made her go with me to get permission from the neighbor’s so we could track him down.
When we returned, we immediately located the blood trail and within 10 minutes, we’d located her buck. The shot opened the stomach and put a 1.5” slice in the liver, and destroyed the diaphragm, which accounted for all the blood. When he jumped up and walked off, the look on her face was something that will be etched in my mind forever. She’s one of the biggest empaths you’ll ever meet, and I could see the commiserate hurt in her face. She legitimately felt bad for that deer in a way that was physically obvious and in a way most of us can’t relate to. Even a month later, if you ask her about that buck, she’ll tell you about it and close her story with “but I made a bad shot and I need to practice more”. We will use it as a learning experience and we’ll both do our best to make sure we’re in the 10-ring for the next one.
So, we accomplished both of our goals for the season and we carried on a family legacy of killing your first buck from “the oak flat”. In another year or two, Kenna Grace can make it 4-for-4! We are already talking about next year and our next goal: It’s time for her to kill her first deer off The Farm with No Name, and it’s time to take the training wheels off, meaning it’s time to kill one without the aid of a corn pile. We have our work cut out for us, but we’re up for the challenge and look forward to embracing the grind in 2021!
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