Good luck to Missouri's youth hunters tomorrow!

[Bowpredator]

It is upon us!  The youth hunt starts tomorrow morning.  Just want to wish all of our young hunters good luck!  Be safe and have a good time.  I'll be taking my daughter, our oldest boy will be taking his cousin, and a friend is taking my nephew.  If you are not taking a kid on the youth hunt, I gaurantee you are missing out on a great thing.  What could be better than spending more hunting time in the woods and mentoring a youngin at the same time?  If you dont have any youth to take hunting, then you need to find yourself one before the spring turkey season youth hunt gets here!

[rocko]

Good luck to you guys too Ron. I think me and Kelsey are ready to go. Ill call you tomorow to see how the mornin went. I hoep they all tag out in the monin. Ill give you a call tomorow to see how it went. We need to catch up anyway.


Takecare bud, and best of luck.

chad

[Bowpredator]

Man, if they all tag out, heck if any of them tag out, you wont have to call cause you'll hear me hootin and a hollerin from there!  lol  I'm so dang wore out from checking deer rifles, scouting locations, setting up blinds, and coaching kids target shooting all X 3 that I cant hardly see straight and you know I aint gonna get a wink of sleep tonight either!  I'm more pumped up for this then they are if that's possible.  Just hope the deer cooperate tomorrow!  Good luck to you and Kelsey!

[Bowpredator]

DEER DOWN!!!!!  DEER DOWN!!!!

Our nephew killed a young doe this evening!  His first year hunting, second hunt, and now his first deer.  He is pretty pumped!  Now if we can get the girls to fill their tags tomorrow!  Danyel and I had 3 does come in about 30yds away but stayed behind some cedars and brush and wouldnt give her a shot.  I have a good feeling about this spot too because after this morning's hunt, I found a fresh scrape 20yds from the blind that had to have been done during the previous night due to the rain we had the evening before.  I did a little rattling and doe bleats today but couldnt get any bucks to show.  The landowner also confirmed seeing 2 good bucks cutting up the same draw we are set up in so something good is bound to happen there sooner or later.  I was extremely proud of her this morning because we hunted till 10:00 and she never was ready to quit and it was pretty darn cold for her this morning.  She's a trooper and said she aint gonna give up till she gets her one.  Well, good luck again to everyone tomorrow!  I got to go fry up some deer heart!

[BobT]

That's GREAT!

Post some pictures if you can, there is no finer trophy than a first deer!

[Bowpredator]

Yep, I'll get some pics on here as soon as I can.  Hopefully of more than one kid!  I'll tell you one thing, there isnt a neater feeling in the world than holding your daughter's small hand in yours as you carefully guide her through the early morning darkness on her way to the ground blind.  Priceless!

[rocko]

Good to hear from you tonight BP. Glad to hear they all got shots. Ill be lookin forward to seeing pictures. Im gonna have trouble sleepin wonderin about  "horses " deer. I cant wait to get that "we found it " call tomorrow. Tell them all i said congratulations.


chad

[Bowpredator]

Yep, deer number 2 is down and hanging in the tree!  We ran short of guides tonight so I had to take my niece and daughter both in my yukon ground blind.  I told them both that if one was to get a shot, we would have to wait till dark or until the other one got a shot before pursuing to be fair.  Well, about 20-30 min before dark, a nice little buck comes across the field and gives the niece a 100+ yard shot.  I know she can make the shot and that it is also out of my daughter's range so tell her to take the shot.  She drilled him straight in the lungs.  Somehow he manages to run about 100yds before piling up in the field and we can see him from the blind.  I somehow keep her contained and told her to keep checking him in her scope while we see what happens in the remaining daylight.  5min later, another deer starts coming down the field to my right and might give my daughter a decent shot so i get her set up to shoot to my right.  Then, out of know where, I hear loud crashing and snorting to my left (directly behind my daughter).  It was 2 good bucks that just came out of the woodline behind her.  We are able to manage to slowly get her and the gun turned around in the blind undetected and just at the last bit of shooting light, she lets the 243 go on him.  I was watching her more than the buck to be sure she was ok with the gun noise and recoil.  when I looked back at the buck, he had doen a 180, took about 3-4 leaps then hit the ground hard.  He kicked and got back up and then bounded back into the woods from where they came.  There was an electric fence between him and us so going to check for blood meant going 200yards down the field.  We went and got the truck and loaded the niece's buck and all of our stuff, then drove down the other side of the fence to where the buck was shot.  i couldnt find any blood but it is a wheat field and my eyes aint that great in the dark with a flashlight so I could have been off somewhat too.  I was afraid of pushing him so decided to wait till tomorrow morning to search for him.  It is breaking my daughter's heart now that the other 2 kids got their deer and she shot hers but we dont have him yet.  I'll give anything to find him tomorrow morning for her.

[rocko]

I sure hated to get that message today Ron. I was sure looking forward to a quick recovery. But she will be raring to go next year. I hate it you didnt find him, but a clean miss is sure better than a bad hit anyday. I imagine the nerves just got to her a little. Just make her wanna hunt harder next year. Sorry i didnt get a chance to call you back. I got busy right before the voicemail popped up. But you gotta look on the bright side bud. You got 2 kids there first deer who might not have had the chance otherwise. Cheers to you buddy !! Talk to you later.

chad

[Bowpredator]

Yeah, it was a bitter sweet weekend.  3 kids who have never been deer hunting.  2 out of the 3 killed their first deer and the third (my daughter) got off a shot at one.  I consider it a hugely successful weekend, even for my daughter.  She handled it perfect when those bucks same up because she was set and ready to shoot in the opposite direction and then they came in so she had to move and stop exactly when I told her to to get repositioned for the shot.  I expected the bucks to get spooked in the process but she did a perfect job.  Just looks like the shot didnt hit its mark because there was not a spot of blood found and the boy and I grid searched the area for 3 hours with no blood or deer found.  I just finally got permission from te landowner on the other side of the rive to check on his side today and I'm about to head over there in a bit to see.  I'll tell ya, at 7 years old, I would not have had the patience and perserverence she had this year.  She stuck it out through the cold and never once wanted to quit or go back early and she watched both her cousins take their first deer with no jealousy.  Her season aint over yet though because I am gonna try and take her on the evening hunts on the weekends during regular season providing the private ground landowners let me take her cause I wont take her out on the public ground around here.  I dont even care about my season anymore.  I just want to get her out there as much as I can for as long as she wants to go.  Anyway, I'll get pics of all 3 of them as soon as I can but its the wife's camera and she has to email me the pics before I can and getting her around to doin it is a feat in itself sometimes.

[Bowpredator]

Finally got the pics down loaded!

Here is our nephew with his first deer!  (We have a tradition of smearing blood on their cheeks for their first kill!)

[Bowpredator]

Here is our niece and her first deer, a 5pt buck!

[Bowpredator]

Here is my daughter, ready to go hunting!  She shot at a buck but we never found him or any traces of blood so we are pretty sure it was a clean miss which was better than a wounded deer but as far as we are concerned, she shot her first buck, we just didnt find him!

[Bowpredator]

I took her out during the regular season and 3 does came in but I couldnt get her to take a shot because she was scared of the noise.  (we take her hearing protection to the woods with us now) so I finally asked her if she wanted me to take the shot and she did.  Had to shoot this doe in the head because that is all she would give me.  My daughter was real excited about OUR deer and she keeps calling it HER deer and even smeared some blood on her cheeks trying to claim it!

[Bowpredator]

See, I told you she was excited!