SDBugler
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My 12 year old son Kyle was pretty excited going into this past fall hunting season. He had been on a couple ?Mentored Youth? hunts here in South Dakota when he was 10 and 11 but they only allowed harvesting of does. He has also tagged along with me and his older brothers on several of our archery and rifle hunts. Now that he was finally 12 and could get an archery tag and a regular rifle tag, he was really looking forward to the opportunity to harvest his first buck.
We made a couple trips out to our usual hunting area during the archery season. We saw some nice whitetail bucks but very few shooter muley bucks. On our second weekend trip my 16 year old son Spencer found a nice muley buck but got busted by some does while putting on a stalk. During our third trip we located the same big muley along with another nice buck about a half mile away.
(Here are the boys as we watched the buck early in the morning waiting for him to bed for the day)
It was too noisy for all three of us to try sneaking on this buck, so the boys wanted me to try stalking him and they would set up on the opposite ridge and watch from a distance. I was able to belly crawl to within 25 yards of him in his bed. I could only see his head and antlers and guessed that his body position would present a broadside shot. However, when I got up on my knees and drew back, I found out his body was facing directly away from me and offered no shot. The buck spooked and took off. I am guessing this buck to score in the 185 ? 190 range.
(Here is a really bad pic of the buck taken with my cell phone through the spotter.)
We couldn't get out the last weekend before rifle season but we were all hoping that one of us in our party would be able to get a chance at this buck during the rifle hunt. For the rifle hunt, my dad joined us as well as a friend of mine and his 12 year old son so there would be six of us looking for this buck.
Opening morning of the rifle season we woke up to a light fog. However, by shooting time the fog had thickened to the point that we could only see about 150 yards. Kyle and I were sitting in one of my favorite lookout points and Spencer was about a half mile away in what we call the ?Honey Hole?. We were all getting a little frustrated with the thick fog before it finally lifted about two hours later. As soon as the fog lifted, I spotted a buck and three does on a distant ridge about 800 yards away. I told Kyle he was a shooter and we immediately took off to close the distance on this buck. The deer were in a spot where they were quite visible and I wanted to get to them before another hunter spotted them. This is a public area and it gets plenty of pressure from other hunters.
It took us a few minutes to close the distance to a small ridge about 150 yards from the deer. I told Kyle to drop his pack and gloves and catch his breath while I peeked over the top to see where the deer where. I found the deer across the valley from us right away but they were looking directly at me. I told Kyle to leave his gun and hurry up and get up on the ridge next to me. I set my gun up on the bi-pod next to me and told Kyle to get set up behind it. All three of my boys love shooting my gun. It's a .300 Rem short mag and it is very accurate. They have all harvested several animals with it and it is our go-to gun whenever we have the chance. Kyle had yet to see how big this buck was and I knew shooting my gun would help calm any buck fever and boost his confidence taking the shot.
The does got nervous and started taking off to our left as Kyle was getting positioned behind the gun. Just as he got the crosshairs on the buck, the buck took off trotting after the does. I grabbed the gun and told Kyle to stay on my heels as we ran down the ridgeline parallel to the deer. The deer were going through some thick cedars and would be coming out the far side in a small clearing where we could hopefully get a shot. We dropped back to the ground as the does came into the clearing. Luckily the does started to slow down as they came to the clearing and I told Kyle to get set up behind the gun again. The buck soon came into view and Kyle told me he had the cross hairs on him. I didn't have time to range the deer but I told Kyle that I guessed them to be about 300 yards, hold 3? high, and to wait and I would stop the buck first. The buck stopped at my whistle and I barely had time to reminded Kyle to control his breathing and use correct trigger squeeze when the gun barked and the buck kicked his back legs up and took off. The buck went over a small hill and out of site. The does hung around confused for a few seconds before leaving but the buck didn't follow. We didn't see the buck go down and so we didn't know if he was dead, alive, or wounded. After the things settled down, I ranged the shot and found it was 265 yards. With my gun zeroed at 250 yards the 3? high hold for a 300 yard shot would have been a little high but should still place it in the lungs. We gave the buck some time in case he was just wounded, and approached the spot where we last saw him. As we neared the small hill I immediately saw the buck?s antlers laying above the grass. There was no ground shrinkage as we approached the buck.
We shared several high fives and hugs while waiting for Spencer to arrive. I told Kyle he would have a hard time topping his first buck. Although it wasn?t the same buck we had seen during the archery hunt, we were very happy to harvest his buck.
This smile still comes across his face everytime someone asks him about his hunt!!!
He also bagged his first antelope last fall. We had to sit on this buck for over an hour waiting for him to rise from his bed to take the shot.
We made a couple trips out to our usual hunting area during the archery season. We saw some nice whitetail bucks but very few shooter muley bucks. On our second weekend trip my 16 year old son Spencer found a nice muley buck but got busted by some does while putting on a stalk. During our third trip we located the same big muley along with another nice buck about a half mile away.
(Here are the boys as we watched the buck early in the morning waiting for him to bed for the day)
It was too noisy for all three of us to try sneaking on this buck, so the boys wanted me to try stalking him and they would set up on the opposite ridge and watch from a distance. I was able to belly crawl to within 25 yards of him in his bed. I could only see his head and antlers and guessed that his body position would present a broadside shot. However, when I got up on my knees and drew back, I found out his body was facing directly away from me and offered no shot. The buck spooked and took off. I am guessing this buck to score in the 185 ? 190 range.
(Here is a really bad pic of the buck taken with my cell phone through the spotter.)
We couldn't get out the last weekend before rifle season but we were all hoping that one of us in our party would be able to get a chance at this buck during the rifle hunt. For the rifle hunt, my dad joined us as well as a friend of mine and his 12 year old son so there would be six of us looking for this buck.
Opening morning of the rifle season we woke up to a light fog. However, by shooting time the fog had thickened to the point that we could only see about 150 yards. Kyle and I were sitting in one of my favorite lookout points and Spencer was about a half mile away in what we call the ?Honey Hole?. We were all getting a little frustrated with the thick fog before it finally lifted about two hours later. As soon as the fog lifted, I spotted a buck and three does on a distant ridge about 800 yards away. I told Kyle he was a shooter and we immediately took off to close the distance on this buck. The deer were in a spot where they were quite visible and I wanted to get to them before another hunter spotted them. This is a public area and it gets plenty of pressure from other hunters.
It took us a few minutes to close the distance to a small ridge about 150 yards from the deer. I told Kyle to drop his pack and gloves and catch his breath while I peeked over the top to see where the deer where. I found the deer across the valley from us right away but they were looking directly at me. I told Kyle to leave his gun and hurry up and get up on the ridge next to me. I set my gun up on the bi-pod next to me and told Kyle to get set up behind it. All three of my boys love shooting my gun. It's a .300 Rem short mag and it is very accurate. They have all harvested several animals with it and it is our go-to gun whenever we have the chance. Kyle had yet to see how big this buck was and I knew shooting my gun would help calm any buck fever and boost his confidence taking the shot.
The does got nervous and started taking off to our left as Kyle was getting positioned behind the gun. Just as he got the crosshairs on the buck, the buck took off trotting after the does. I grabbed the gun and told Kyle to stay on my heels as we ran down the ridgeline parallel to the deer. The deer were going through some thick cedars and would be coming out the far side in a small clearing where we could hopefully get a shot. We dropped back to the ground as the does came into the clearing. Luckily the does started to slow down as they came to the clearing and I told Kyle to get set up behind the gun again. The buck soon came into view and Kyle told me he had the cross hairs on him. I didn't have time to range the deer but I told Kyle that I guessed them to be about 300 yards, hold 3? high, and to wait and I would stop the buck first. The buck stopped at my whistle and I barely had time to reminded Kyle to control his breathing and use correct trigger squeeze when the gun barked and the buck kicked his back legs up and took off. The buck went over a small hill and out of site. The does hung around confused for a few seconds before leaving but the buck didn't follow. We didn't see the buck go down and so we didn't know if he was dead, alive, or wounded. After the things settled down, I ranged the shot and found it was 265 yards. With my gun zeroed at 250 yards the 3? high hold for a 300 yard shot would have been a little high but should still place it in the lungs. We gave the buck some time in case he was just wounded, and approached the spot where we last saw him. As we neared the small hill I immediately saw the buck?s antlers laying above the grass. There was no ground shrinkage as we approached the buck.
We shared several high fives and hugs while waiting for Spencer to arrive. I told Kyle he would have a hard time topping his first buck. Although it wasn?t the same buck we had seen during the archery hunt, we were very happy to harvest his buck.
This smile still comes across his face everytime someone asks him about his hunt!!!
He also bagged his first antelope last fall. We had to sit on this buck for over an hour waiting for him to rise from his bed to take the shot.
