LAST EDITED ON Oct-07-10 AT 06:28PM (MST)[p]My 9yr old son Tanner has been going hunting with me since he has been 5. Finally after soooo many years, he was able to hunt with me here in Eastern Oregon under the "youth mentorship program".
Opening day we awoke at 3:30AM and headed out to an area that I knew held a lot of deer, not huge deer, but at least an area he could get-a-look. We started out at 4,100 feet and by 8AM we were over 7,000 feet. I am so proud of him; he NEVER asked me to carry his gun and only stopped when his old man or papa needed a break. (I did carry the heavy pack) LOL
Here is the mountain we climbed
We jumped a few muleys and a bunch of different elk herds. We were even able to film a decent 6X5 bull with 7 cows at 50yrds! He thought that was pretty cool. After we filmed them, it was on; he wanted to find more elk!!! A boy after his old man?s heart
Around 10:30AM we jumped a small 3X3 muley at 50yrds and he just stood there. Tanner loaded his great grand father?s .308 lever action Savage with a 4X Weaver scope, the kind with a "t" type recital. After watching it for a minute he said in his quite voice to my dad, "papa I think we need to go higher and find a BIGGER buck!" WOW again a boy after his old man?s heart!!! I told him on the trip over that the higher up we go, the bigger the deer will get! That was his incentive to move on higher up the mountain...well we went higher, a lot higher and never saw another buck. He was grateful though, even just having the opportunity to have a choice to pull the trigger or not.
That evening we hunted the lower open plains. We were after whitetails now! After watching several does and a few small spikes and forky's a larger 4X5 came down this draw the others came down. It was over 300yrds. Within about 15 minutes it came to 215yrds. Tanner raised his gun onto his shooting sticks and was shaking like a leaf!!! I said (after) that was "buck fever!" He shot...about 30yrds to the left I watched the dirt fly. He loaded another round and BANG...right under the buck the dirt flew. It jumped I swear 4 feet straight up and took off! Tanner was so excited to get the opportunity like that.
The next morning we went back to the area we watched the deer in the lower plains. All the deer were at least 800yrds off and with it being open we needed to crawl on our bellies. I just about died getting within 200yrds. We got into position and the deer spotted us...that was the end of that hunt.
We went back to camp and Tanner decided it was time to switch gears and go after wild trout. You can see the stream behind out camp, it was small, but boy oh boy did he catch some biggins!
Here is Tanner hit'in the stream...
The next morning we awoke again and headed out to the plains to try and catch the deer moving back up into their bedding area. Right at daylight there must have been 10 shots all around us. We watched a group of 4 larger bucks come within 100yrds of us. My dad told Tanner, "Shoot the one on the end"! I said, "no wait another one much bigger is coming up the draw"! Well it turned and went back down...I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of that morning, from BOTH of them!
That afternoon I decided to go and setup a blind in the same area. It had been very nice the past couple days and about 5PM the deer would start to come out of their bedding areas. That afternoon it rained and by 2:30PM when I went to setup the blind the deer had already started making their way down. I went back to camp, got my dad and Tanner up from their nap and said, "Its time!"
We got setup in the blind that was big enough to hold...me. We managed to get comfortable enough. The deer that were down in the valley we were setup in boogied out of there as soon as we arrived. About an hour later, they started coming down. About 6PM we noticed about 5 pretty good bucks on the horizon at the top of the "mountain" we were glassing. I told Tanner, "I bet those deer come down to this embankment 230yrds up the hill from us". Both my dad and he didn't believe me. Well 20 minutes later they started their decent and for about 5 minutes they disappeared. All the sudden, there they were, right where I said they would be. Tanner loaded a shell as my dad and I scrambled to get the video camera ready. He aimed and BOOM! The entire blind shook and I looked at the window Tanner was shooting out of and the window was shredded!!! His barrel was just inside the tent when he pulled the trigger! Now the big 5X6 was broadside when he took the first shot. After he shot, it didn't run, it just turned straight into Tanner. Another buck turned broadside. He loaded another shell while my dad and I were "dancing" again to get into position in the small blind. BANG! The buck dropped!!! We were all freaking out screaming and laughing! It was 235yrds almost straight uphill from our blind.
Tanner and my dad (papa)
I will never forget this experience with my son, my dad and Tanners great grandfather. (Great grandpa was there, 2 uncles but they hunted a different area. Great grandpa stayed in camp for he can't walk very well anymore).
muleyman
PS Sorry just seen the "proud dad" post! didn't mean to copy the heading!!!
Opening day we awoke at 3:30AM and headed out to an area that I knew held a lot of deer, not huge deer, but at least an area he could get-a-look. We started out at 4,100 feet and by 8AM we were over 7,000 feet. I am so proud of him; he NEVER asked me to carry his gun and only stopped when his old man or papa needed a break. (I did carry the heavy pack) LOL
Here is the mountain we climbed
We jumped a few muleys and a bunch of different elk herds. We were even able to film a decent 6X5 bull with 7 cows at 50yrds! He thought that was pretty cool. After we filmed them, it was on; he wanted to find more elk!!! A boy after his old man?s heart
Around 10:30AM we jumped a small 3X3 muley at 50yrds and he just stood there. Tanner loaded his great grand father?s .308 lever action Savage with a 4X Weaver scope, the kind with a "t" type recital. After watching it for a minute he said in his quite voice to my dad, "papa I think we need to go higher and find a BIGGER buck!" WOW again a boy after his old man?s heart!!! I told him on the trip over that the higher up we go, the bigger the deer will get! That was his incentive to move on higher up the mountain...well we went higher, a lot higher and never saw another buck. He was grateful though, even just having the opportunity to have a choice to pull the trigger or not.That evening we hunted the lower open plains. We were after whitetails now! After watching several does and a few small spikes and forky's a larger 4X5 came down this draw the others came down. It was over 300yrds. Within about 15 minutes it came to 215yrds. Tanner raised his gun onto his shooting sticks and was shaking like a leaf!!! I said (after) that was "buck fever!" He shot...about 30yrds to the left I watched the dirt fly. He loaded another round and BANG...right under the buck the dirt flew. It jumped I swear 4 feet straight up and took off! Tanner was so excited to get the opportunity like that.
The next morning we went back to the area we watched the deer in the lower plains. All the deer were at least 800yrds off and with it being open we needed to crawl on our bellies. I just about died getting within 200yrds. We got into position and the deer spotted us...that was the end of that hunt.
We went back to camp and Tanner decided it was time to switch gears and go after wild trout. You can see the stream behind out camp, it was small, but boy oh boy did he catch some biggins!
Here is Tanner hit'in the stream...
The next morning we awoke again and headed out to the plains to try and catch the deer moving back up into their bedding area. Right at daylight there must have been 10 shots all around us. We watched a group of 4 larger bucks come within 100yrds of us. My dad told Tanner, "Shoot the one on the end"! I said, "no wait another one much bigger is coming up the draw"! Well it turned and went back down...I didn't hear the end of it for the rest of that morning, from BOTH of them!
That afternoon I decided to go and setup a blind in the same area. It had been very nice the past couple days and about 5PM the deer would start to come out of their bedding areas. That afternoon it rained and by 2:30PM when I went to setup the blind the deer had already started making their way down. I went back to camp, got my dad and Tanner up from their nap and said, "Its time!"
We got setup in the blind that was big enough to hold...me. We managed to get comfortable enough. The deer that were down in the valley we were setup in boogied out of there as soon as we arrived. About an hour later, they started coming down. About 6PM we noticed about 5 pretty good bucks on the horizon at the top of the "mountain" we were glassing. I told Tanner, "I bet those deer come down to this embankment 230yrds up the hill from us". Both my dad and he didn't believe me. Well 20 minutes later they started their decent and for about 5 minutes they disappeared. All the sudden, there they were, right where I said they would be. Tanner loaded a shell as my dad and I scrambled to get the video camera ready. He aimed and BOOM! The entire blind shook and I looked at the window Tanner was shooting out of and the window was shredded!!! His barrel was just inside the tent when he pulled the trigger! Now the big 5X6 was broadside when he took the first shot. After he shot, it didn't run, it just turned straight into Tanner. Another buck turned broadside. He loaded another shell while my dad and I were "dancing" again to get into position in the small blind. BANG! The buck dropped!!! We were all freaking out screaming and laughing! It was 235yrds almost straight uphill from our blind.
Tanner and my dad (papa)
I will never forget this experience with my son, my dad and Tanners great grandfather. (Great grandpa was there, 2 uncles but they hunted a different area. Great grandpa stayed in camp for he can't walk very well anymore).
muleyman
PS Sorry just seen the "proud dad" post! didn't mean to copy the heading!!!
