Hedgelj 2021-2
- Thread starter Hedgelj
- Start date
Mickey Merrie
Junior Member
Because i haven't spent any time in the woods yet.....Doug, why ain't he dead yet?!
Moving, just got the storage unit unloaded last weekend
Coaching my kids football team (assistant)
Ky bourbon tour weekend
Assistant coach of kids basketball team
other kids in karate, basketball (x2), softball and soccer
The priority just hasn't been the woods yet
I literally just pulled cards soaking since August this past weekend
Zero pressure is a great hunting tactic. It'll work out!!! Good luck
Thanks for doing your part to raise good kids. Sorts hurts the hunting season. 
Youth season 2021.
Yesterday I had a conference to present at so my brother took my son out in the morning. Then my dad took him out in the afternoon. They saw nothing but squirrels. I got in Saturday night and Cooper wanted to go out in the morning. I had decided to hunt a different patch of woods.
My dad has been slowly accumulating plastic hunting blinds and we have made platforms for a few of them around the farm to be out of the weather but still somewhat elevated to hunt from. We went to one of those because of the rain in the forecast. This one is around 2 of the different cameras that I've gotten regular photos of nice bucks on so I knew the odds were decent to see something.
I woke Cooper up and then had to go back and get him back up again so we didn't get moving as early as I had hoped. As we were walking out it was later than I wanted (6:50ish), there were two deer in the pasture right next to the woods we were going to and they ran away but not panicked, just getting away from us. It was a good lesson for Cooper that Dad actually knows why we get up early for deer hunting.
We get into the blind and set up. I dozed a bit and then Cooper asked if he could lay down and doze. We hadn't seen anything so I was like sure. About 10 minutes later I looked over and there was a nice buck making his way down through the woods at about 50 yards. I woke Cooper up and got him on the buck. I asked him if he wanted to take it and he said yes, I asked him if he had a good shot and he said yes. I told him to take the safety off and take the shot. He did..I was watching in my binoculars (70 yard shot with a scope) and watched him drop like a ton of bricks. I watched him kick once or twice and then nothing.
My wife heard the shot and texted me. I told her that yes it was Cooper and to get ready I'd call her once we got to the buck.
I grabbed my binos and about the time Cooper and I went out the door of the blind I heard him the buck get up and then crash, but I thought it was just him thrashing and then death kicks.
Cooper and I slowly made our way towards where he had shot and then I spotted him laying down and obviously still alive. We stopped, Cooper pulled up and I got him a tree for a rest and I told him to take another good shot (probably 40ish yards), I hear the hammer fall (AR platform) but nothing happened. Cooper tries again and says "Dad! it won't shoot". I reach around him and manually work the action and there was no cartridge in the chamber, but it strips one from the magazine and I see it slide home. By this point the buck has gotten up and VERY unsteadily moved down the hill and I can tell he's hit and he's not putting much weight on one shoulder. He falls and lands on his back and kicks a few times.
We slowly move forward a few trees to get closer and I see him kick once or twice but he's still flat on his back. Cooper gets a nice tree for a rest and pulls up. He finds the deer in the scope and then I tell him to find the shoulder and he can do that. I then tell him to find the breastbone (trying to put a kill shot on him) and Cooper asks "what's the breastbone?" As I'm trying to explain that to him the deer rights himself and then gets up and very slowly and unsteadily moves towards some really thick stuff. We move a few trees over but Cooper has the scope turned up too high and can't find him in the scope.
I decide he's hit hard and the way he's moving if we push him any further he just needs to cross a fence and then he's got about 150 yards of pasture to a road and then onto land we don't have permission to hunt on. We back out and go to the blind to sit for a bit and hopefully he'll expire. At this point he's probably went 75-100 yards. We switch magazines back in the blind thinking it was a magazine problem. We wait almost and hour.
We walk out and around the patch of woods to come into the corner where I know he's bedded down at. We very slowly make our way closer and closer until there I spot his antlers laying behind a treetop. I then see different parts of his body and there's just enough of his shoulder exposed to offer a shot. Cooper at this point is about 1 step away from the fence posts on the edge of the woods. So I have him take a very slow step and of course he steps on a branch and it cracks and now the buck turns his head towards us and I can see his eyes from like 25 yards away. I'm whispering to Cooper how to find the antlers and after an eternity he finds them, and I'm talking him down the deer so he can see the shoulder to shoot at. He says he sees it and I tell him to take off the safety and fire. He shoots, but buck bounces up and the gun is jammed again! I reach around drop the magazine, and clear the jam and by this point the buck has moved up the hill. I watch him for a second and Cooper can't see him through the trees. I see he's slowly angling up to the far corner of the woods back to where we started but not moving well.
Cooper and I back out and around the woods and we're hustling up the hill. Stop to take a breather and I tell him we're gonna slowly move to where I think he's heading to. We make it 15 yards into the woods and I hear him coming up the hill towards us. Then I spot him and I tell Cooper to take a rest on the nearest tree. There are trees between him and Cooper and Coop can't see him. He lays down and Cooper and I slowly stalk from tree to tree trying to close the distance. We get to the last tree and Cooper takes up a rest and slowly leans around it. The buck is laying down facing us at about 30 yards. I can see shoulder to his left so I tell Coop to pull up and find his head. He says he has it, I then walk him to the left and he sees the shoulder and squeezes off a round, the buck jumps up and immediately falls over onto his back. I can see him kicking so I tell Cooper to take another shot and put it on his shoulder. Cooper goes "Dad the gun's jammed again!". I manually cycle the action and he takes another shot and the buck kicks and dies. We reload the gun and the slowly walk up and yes he's finally dead.
We share a moment and I call mom to bring the side by side over so we can get him out. We get him field dressed, skinned out, quartered and on ice. The cape and head are in the freezer to head to the taxidermist.
I thought that youth turkey season was bad being in the woods without a gun. This was 100x more stressful. Trying to teach him how to quietly walk and stalk through the woods, then trying to get him to get on the deer and find the right place to aim at and to keep him calm to make a good shot, holy cow it was a lot. But I'll never forget it either.
It was Cooper's first deer, first buck and first time shooting at anything besides a squirrel. He did great but his first shot was a bit too far forward, missed the heart and just clipped the lungs and took out one shoulder. In his other shots he clipped the spine and the back leg but I'll take it considering the stress and everything.
Yesterday I had a conference to present at so my brother took my son out in the morning. Then my dad took him out in the afternoon. They saw nothing but squirrels. I got in Saturday night and Cooper wanted to go out in the morning. I had decided to hunt a different patch of woods.
My dad has been slowly accumulating plastic hunting blinds and we have made platforms for a few of them around the farm to be out of the weather but still somewhat elevated to hunt from. We went to one of those because of the rain in the forecast. This one is around 2 of the different cameras that I've gotten regular photos of nice bucks on so I knew the odds were decent to see something.
I woke Cooper up and then had to go back and get him back up again so we didn't get moving as early as I had hoped. As we were walking out it was later than I wanted (6:50ish), there were two deer in the pasture right next to the woods we were going to and they ran away but not panicked, just getting away from us. It was a good lesson for Cooper that Dad actually knows why we get up early for deer hunting.
We get into the blind and set up. I dozed a bit and then Cooper asked if he could lay down and doze. We hadn't seen anything so I was like sure. About 10 minutes later I looked over and there was a nice buck making his way down through the woods at about 50 yards. I woke Cooper up and got him on the buck. I asked him if he wanted to take it and he said yes, I asked him if he had a good shot and he said yes. I told him to take the safety off and take the shot. He did..I was watching in my binoculars (70 yard shot with a scope) and watched him drop like a ton of bricks. I watched him kick once or twice and then nothing.
My wife heard the shot and texted me. I told her that yes it was Cooper and to get ready I'd call her once we got to the buck.
I grabbed my binos and about the time Cooper and I went out the door of the blind I heard him the buck get up and then crash, but I thought it was just him thrashing and then death kicks.
Cooper and I slowly made our way towards where he had shot and then I spotted him laying down and obviously still alive. We stopped, Cooper pulled up and I got him a tree for a rest and I told him to take another good shot (probably 40ish yards), I hear the hammer fall (AR platform) but nothing happened. Cooper tries again and says "Dad! it won't shoot". I reach around him and manually work the action and there was no cartridge in the chamber, but it strips one from the magazine and I see it slide home. By this point the buck has gotten up and VERY unsteadily moved down the hill and I can tell he's hit and he's not putting much weight on one shoulder. He falls and lands on his back and kicks a few times.
We slowly move forward a few trees to get closer and I see him kick once or twice but he's still flat on his back. Cooper gets a nice tree for a rest and pulls up. He finds the deer in the scope and then I tell him to find the shoulder and he can do that. I then tell him to find the breastbone (trying to put a kill shot on him) and Cooper asks "what's the breastbone?" As I'm trying to explain that to him the deer rights himself and then gets up and very slowly and unsteadily moves towards some really thick stuff. We move a few trees over but Cooper has the scope turned up too high and can't find him in the scope.
I decide he's hit hard and the way he's moving if we push him any further he just needs to cross a fence and then he's got about 150 yards of pasture to a road and then onto land we don't have permission to hunt on. We back out and go to the blind to sit for a bit and hopefully he'll expire. At this point he's probably went 75-100 yards. We switch magazines back in the blind thinking it was a magazine problem. We wait almost and hour.
We walk out and around the patch of woods to come into the corner where I know he's bedded down at. We very slowly make our way closer and closer until there I spot his antlers laying behind a treetop. I then see different parts of his body and there's just enough of his shoulder exposed to offer a shot. Cooper at this point is about 1 step away from the fence posts on the edge of the woods. So I have him take a very slow step and of course he steps on a branch and it cracks and now the buck turns his head towards us and I can see his eyes from like 25 yards away. I'm whispering to Cooper how to find the antlers and after an eternity he finds them, and I'm talking him down the deer so he can see the shoulder to shoot at. He says he sees it and I tell him to take off the safety and fire. He shoots, but buck bounces up and the gun is jammed again! I reach around drop the magazine, and clear the jam and by this point the buck has moved up the hill. I watch him for a second and Cooper can't see him through the trees. I see he's slowly angling up to the far corner of the woods back to where we started but not moving well.
Cooper and I back out and around the woods and we're hustling up the hill. Stop to take a breather and I tell him we're gonna slowly move to where I think he's heading to. We make it 15 yards into the woods and I hear him coming up the hill towards us. Then I spot him and I tell Cooper to take a rest on the nearest tree. There are trees between him and Cooper and Coop can't see him. He lays down and Cooper and I slowly stalk from tree to tree trying to close the distance. We get to the last tree and Cooper takes up a rest and slowly leans around it. The buck is laying down facing us at about 30 yards. I can see shoulder to his left so I tell Coop to pull up and find his head. He says he has it, I then walk him to the left and he sees the shoulder and squeezes off a round, the buck jumps up and immediately falls over onto his back. I can see him kicking so I tell Cooper to take another shot and put it on his shoulder. Cooper goes "Dad the gun's jammed again!". I manually cycle the action and he takes another shot and the buck kicks and dies. We reload the gun and the slowly walk up and yes he's finally dead.
We share a moment and I call mom to bring the side by side over so we can get him out. We get him field dressed, skinned out, quartered and on ice. The cape and head are in the freezer to head to the taxidermist.
I thought that youth turkey season was bad being in the woods without a gun. This was 100x more stressful. Trying to teach him how to quietly walk and stalk through the woods, then trying to get him to get on the deer and find the right place to aim at and to keep him calm to make a good shot, holy cow it was a lot. But I'll never forget it either.
It was Cooper's first deer, first buck and first time shooting at anything besides a squirrel. He did great but his first shot was a bit too far forward, missed the heart and just clipped the lungs and took out one shoulder. In his other shots he clipped the spine and the back leg but I'll take it considering the stress and everything.
