YE missed opportunity

[Smokepole]

First thing Saturday at just before 7:00 a.m. on the opening of the youth elk hunt, I bugled and cow called. One minute later we heard a response over the ridge. Then I seen a bull (4x4) skyline the ridge (300 yards) and come down the hill towards us. The bull stopped just down hill (53 yards) and behind some brush, with his head, neck and most of his shoulder exposed. My son and I were both excited to have this happed so quickly. We had talked earlier about shooting an elk in the shoulder and I pointed to my shoulder. My son said he had the cross hairs on the bulls shoulder and so I said to go ahead and shoot. The bull turned and ran off after the shot through some thick oakbrush, unhurt. I asked him after how low on the shoulder did he aim and he responded just below the top of his back. His gun is sighted in at 2.5 inches high at 100 yards, so he shot over the bull. I was able to track this bull along a trail for nearly 400 yards and did not find any indication of a hit.

First elk hunt (he turns 14 in a week), first shot at an animal, he admitted too that he was shaking pretty hard. It's amazing how hard your heart get pounding (even for a dad) when it takes a few minutes for something like this to all happen. He was pretty upset at himself for missing something so big that was so close. I told him that when I was young I missed some shots too. Next time maybe he'll be a little more prepared. He also knows he should have aimed as low on the shoulder as he could. When I pointed to my shoulder, to him it looked like I pointed up high and not low. My advice to all you dad's with first time hunters is to make sure your kid knows exactly where to shoot at on and elk or deer, etc. and think about how the gun is sighted in.

We still have next weekend to try again.

Smokepole

 

[Zigga]

I feel like a kid when I go shooting and still freak out when an animal comes in. I hope I never out grow that. Good Luck!