Youth Deer Season

[LBrandt]

Good times CatDaddy. I had a grandson out this week-end. He thinks my 6.5 Creedmoor is the cats meow. He wasn't wild about dragging the deer, but the landowner drove over with his tractor and said dump it in the bucket. He crossed the small creek with the tractor and dropped it right at the truck, them took off before we coukd thank him. I think I see a turkey or ham in his future.

A gift for a gift. Thats the way it should be. LB

 

[Allen]

A gift for a gift. Thats the way it should be. LB

You know, while I have never turned down the bottle of fine bourbon, Juneberry pie, or ????. I just find it awkward to accept something in the name of hunting. So it's not something that even remotely crosses my mind when I give permission to hunt. I just want the story and to see the smile.

And if I can help track, gut, or skin...even better. Although those last two are more work than anything.

I've spent many hours in the field on the good graces of other landowners, so it's just me paying 10 cents on the dollar for all the experiences I've had in the field over the years. I wish I owned more acres so I could help more hunters.

 

[CatDaddy]

Big buck down! Story and pictures to come tomorrow....I'm in need of some sleep

 

[LBrandt]

All right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lb

 

[Maddog]

Big buck down! Story and pictures to come tomorrow....I'm in need of some sleep

Awesome! Congrats!

 

[shorthairman]

I am with Allen...wish I had more land to give permission to hunt on. And for those of you that have land to share and do share it thanks, my family has built more memories from gracious landowners than I can remember! As with most hunters, seeing someone else harvest game is as good, or almost as good as harvesting something yourself.

And while a landowner isn't always expecting something in return for hunting permission, it never hurts to show your appreciation. However, I will say that one time on bad advice from the landowner, I gave his hired man three cases of beer (not all the same brand) for getting my son a cow elk only to find out the guy rarely drinks...

 

[jr2280]

Am I the only one that keeps checking back to see the pics and story? Haha l, the suspense is getting to me.

 

[GSP]

Nope, Im checking too!

 

[tikkalover]

 

[CatDaddy]

Next episode in about an hour.....finding freezer space for the head and cape. Been a full couple days!

 

[LBrandt]

CAT your 1/2 hour late::: LB

 

[CatDaddy]

Ok guys, here it is...

We set out Monday just like we planned to. Perfect day with light rain and 55 degrees to be sitting in a covered elevated blind. We met the landowner at his house and followed him to the area we were going to hunt. Once there we were given instructions on what to expect and were shuttled to the edge of the corn. We were on our own from there!

Walking in we saw 5 deer - a group of 2 does and a fork buck and two other does at about 300 yards. The first group wasn't on the land we were hunting and the others were too far to comfortably shoot for my 11 year old. Decided to get up in the stand and get settled.

I got the boys situated and set up the tripod and spotting scope. Had the does come back again at 300 yards but passed again and let them go into the corn. Sit and wait, sit and wait.

An hour later the smaller doe came back out at 200 yards. With a rail to shoot off my youngest felt confident and drew down on her. Wait, wait, wait to let her stop walking but she went into a cattail draw. When she came out he decided it was time to shoot. I waited, waited, nothing. Turns out the safety needs to be off to fire the gun! Lesson learned, deer walks another day.

Fast forward a short 10 minutes later - 7 pm. We see a small deer standing about 250 yards away just outside the cattail draw. Must have been bedded and just gotten up. As I let my eyes focus I can see another deer on the edge staring straight at us - came out with the other one. I about had to rub my eyes because I didn't believe what I saw. I was staring straight at what appeared to be a very large buck! And he was staring right back at us - no movement.

I alerted my oldest and it took him a minute to see it. Once he did he assessed what he needed to do. It was quartering towards us and still not moving. The buck knew something was wrong, something was out of place but hadn't yet decided it was such a threat that he needed to bolt.

I lined the spotting scope up on him and heard the 100 grain .243 ring out. The buck dipped then ran into the cattails. He came out the other side about 20 yards and my son chambered another round. The buck turned, went back to the cattails before he could shoot again and I saw where he crashed. Didn't actually see him go down but the movement of the foliage told the story. HE WAS DOWN!

My son could hardly breathe. I could hardly talk. We whispered about it for a bit.

Him: "I hit him, right? I'm pretty sure I hit him!"
Me: "He's down! He's down! Dude, he just crashed - he's down!"

After a bit more whispering my youngest smiled and said "Hey guys, let's be quiet - I still have a deer to shoot!" Love that kid

We called the landowner and waited until shooting hours were over. I was confident he was laying 30 yards from where he was shot but didn't want to get over excited until we had our hands on him. We walked the 250 yards and it was the shooter who found him laying right at the edge of the cattails where I saw the crash. We had him!

I knew he looked nice when we spotted him. He was even bigger than we thought - both in body size and antlers. Couldn't wipe the smile off any of our faces as we admired the beauty of this creature. So thankful to have such an opportunity.

The landowner showed up and gave us the story on the deer. Biggest he has had on camera this year, 4.5 years old. Been watching him on camera for 3 years.

Now time to give the mystery up of who this "greedy landowner" actually is. Should come as no surprise that it's non other than NDA's own KDM! He reached out to me after reading my posts and graciously offered to help the boys put their first deer on the ground. In the end though he did so much more than that. My boys and I will forever cherish the memories from this day and carry them for a lifetime. The bonding, excitement, and learning we went through yesterday was unimaginable. The passage of my son from shooter to hunter that happened as Kirk taught him how to field dress his own deer was absolutely priceless. I can not thank this man and his family enough for this transformative experience. I'm only a little pissed at him for costing me an arm and a leg in a future taxidermy bill

Back to the deer:

250 yard shot through the front shoulder, both lungs, and completely removed the top of the heart. Dead perfect shot. 200 pounds field dressed. The symmetry is unreal - Kirk scored him at 144 7/8 gross, only loses 3 inches net. Score doesn't matter to us, but there it is! Got the whole thing captured on spotting scope cam and GoPro setup. Can't wait to splice the two together!

Took the big boy to Lamoure Lockers and had them cape it for a mount - now the decision on where to get it done. My son has already decided how he wants it posed - just like it looked when it was on high alert at 250 yards before he shot it.

I could go on and on and on about the things we experienced yesterday but I need to get gear reorganized for a doe hunt tomorrow. We're not done yet! I'll leave you with a few pictures of the adventure.

 

[BDub]

Great memories for sure! Nice 4 pointer!

 

[Mr. Stevenson]

This whole deal is fantastic. Congrats!!

 

[Allen]

Well worth the wait! Congrats to the boy on a dandy buck, and to you on being a dad. You will remember this day for a very, very long time.

And thanks KDM, this is what I talk about when it's someone else hunting your property. You could have easily put restrictions on "no shooting such and such deer", etc, etc. But you know exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to the joy of being able to let someone else hunt your own little piece of this world. Good on you!

 

[Prairie Doggin']

Wasn't surprised to hear it was KDM. My youngest got his first deer with the same generous guidance. When I read "We met the landowner at his house and followed him to the area we were going to hunt. Once there we were given instructions on what to expect and were shuttled to the edge of the corn," thought "that sounds like when we were out with KDM."
Congrats on the deer. Awesome tale. Thanks, Kirk, for giving another youngster the same experience my son had.

 

[LBrandt]

Nice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LB

 

[Maddog]

KDM you hound!!

Thumbs Up
[MENTION=314]KDM[/MENTION]

 

[NDSportsman]

Shout out to Catdaddy and KDM for ensuring our hunting heritage continues! :;:cheers

 

[Rowdie]

Now that's a REAL SMILE!!!!