I messed up my step-sons hunt

[Pete112288]

So here is the story, long one, bare with me. I tagged my deer in early modern season. I take my 15 year old step-son out yesterday for the last day our schedules would let him hunt deer for the year. We push through a lot of our normal areas seeing a lot of sign but no animals. Its cold and crisp but clear and sunny. We head down through a massive new clearcut to get to another spot. They just pulled the equipment off of the clearcut earlier this week. We are going down a switch back in the log road and stop to talk about the plan from there and soak up some sun. I look over 5 minutes later and there is a big doe standing broadside in the middle of this portion of the clearcut. This is in an "any deer" area. I get more shaky than if it was me shooting at a buck of a lifetime. I try to range it but cant hold on her. Closest guess was 70 yards. He is shooting a 28 inch barrel smoothbore 12 gauge, we practiced and he gets touching groups at 40 yards and 8 inch groups at 70, but that was off of a rest and we had no way to take a rest this time. She doesent see us but we are standing in the open with no where to sneak and stay hidden so from my experiences we need to shoot now or else she is going to see us and be gone in a blink of an eye. I want him to fill his tag almost more then he does, haha. He even questions it “shoot from here?” I told him yes. He shoots, misses, she doesent even twitch an ear or look up to the gunshot. He shoots again. She starts walking down the clearcut towards the thick brush at the bottom. We circle around to cut her off. She never raises her tail or even jumps, she just casually walks away. We get to the road just after she crosses it. We can hear her and see movement 20 feet or so into the brush but never clear for a shot. And she disappears. Then it all becomes clear to me. She didn’t hear us at all and probably only a faint gunshot. The wind was howling straight towards us from her. We could have made noise sneaking closer and it would have been alright. Second thing, the sun is high so we are not casting shadows on her but it is behind us so its right in her eyes, so she would not have seen us either. She never even looked our way when she was walking away and we were scrambling to circle on her. If I wouldn’t have gotten so panicked about her spooking I would have realized all of this and there was big log 35 yards from her first location so it would have been a chip shot. The other thing was that he was using that shotgun because it is his and we both wanted him to get one with his own gun this time. So I left my rifled barreled scoped slug gun at home (which he shoots amazingly out to 120 yards). I was under the impression since I didn’t have a deer tag I could not legally carry it and he wanted to use his so it got left behind completely. If we had the slug gun then at that point he would have used it and it would have been an easy shot in theory. I have messed up on chances at animals for myself before but never on someone else’s chance. Never felt so small in my life. He is busting my chops for it too, which I give him props for, at least he is in better spirits about it haha. I am gonna be kicking myself for this one for a little while. On the flip side, when we headed from there to close out the day on our family property we found fresh elk sign, which normally means they will be there all winter and he still has a muzzy elk tag to fill, his first year elk hunting too.

[billythekidrock]

Sounds like normal hunting to me.
The only mistake in my book was having him shoot at a distance farther than he can consistently group within a few inches.

[Pete112288]

Even with a smoothbore slug gun? I dont want to get into an ethics debate, just to be honest most of the opinions I have heard about hunting with rifled slugs in a smoothbore is when you cant hit a paper plate with every shot, thats when you are beyond the limit.

[BoomWhop]

Sounds like normal hunting to me.
The only mistake in my book was having him shoot at a distance farther than he can consistently group within a few inches.

shoulda woulda coulda, I know I have kicked myself for not taking a longer shot at a non spooked animal than a closer shot after I spooked it trying to sneak in.

[billythekidrock]

What I am saying is that you had him shoot in a situation and at a distance that even he had to question. He might be fine shooting that distance from a rest, but even with an 8 inch group from a rest is risky under hunting situations.

It amazes me that people still think a hunter is good to go if they can hit a pie plate or beer box at x distance. For the record, 8 inch groups at any distance is not acceptable to me.

[Muleyslyr]

That's why I think we learn more from our mistakes hunting than anything else. Don't beat yourself up, it's hunting. Btw..I spent the weekend in Woodland also..deer were scarce, so glad you at least got an opportunity.

[zwickeyman]

Don't be too hard on yourself. It always hurts worse when you mess something up for someone else then it does when you blow it for youself

[haugenna]

Legally you would not have been able to loan him your rifled barrel slug gun.  Under 594  you would have been a felon.   

Sounds like hunting and you both learned something. 

[Pete112288]

Since he is a minor it would have still been legal per 594. And in a hunting situation where the individual recieving the temporary possession is legally liscenced to hunt in that area and season is open.

[Little Dave]

I agree, a typical situation.  You might want to use this one as a positive learning experience for both of you and make your team stronger.  Is he comfortable telling you no if he's not sure he can make the shot?  He may lose interest hunting with you he has that kind of tension.

[Pete112288]

He is for the most part comfortable with me. He just did what I was advising him to do since it is only his second year hunting. But we talked about it after and I told him not to be afraid to say no, by all means if he is not comfortable with the shot then dont take it. I just got so into the moment I couldnt step back and look at the situation. The other thing that plays a part is I very rarely have had people that I am hunting with before him. A buddy every once in a while and my dad for the first few years. I never have had a shot at anything when someone has been with me. All my animals have been when I am solo.

[Little Dave]

When I was in second grade I had a really easy shot at a deer about 40 yards in front of the truck on a hairpin curve in the Blues.  I'd never shot a gun before, my stepdad told me to get out of the truck on his side take the rifle and shoot the deer.  I didn't want to, nothing about the situation was right.  However, it looked like I was going to get beat up pretty bad if I didn't take the shot and quick because the road was well travelled.  So I moved the barrel up to intentionally miss when I fired.  My first hunting experience.

A few years ago, my son was urged to take a shot at a deer.  He knew he could make the shot but declined it and confided in me his reasoning.  The deer was skylined, he was concerned about the folks in the valley beyond.  Proud of him.

[Seahawk12]

In the big picture the young man got to go out with a solid father figure and will appreciate your time spent with him regardless of whether or not he got the deer. The moment will live with him and, though it wasn't "perfect" it was still very positive.
Good job taking the time to teach him the sport of hunting. 

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

Turning it into a positive experience is what was most important.

To much these days depends on success. Teaching kids that it is ok to not succeed and to keep trying is what it is all about. Thats how we learn.

[Pete112288]

I agree wholeheartedly. I think that is one thing that I have forgotten about. I have not been able to hunt with my dad much since I became an adult so I have hunted solo. Then I got my first deer and first elk the same year and since then its been 6 deer in 6 years and 5 elk. But I have not had anyone to share those moments with, it has all been solo. I think I have began focusing on filling the tag more so then the experience and time with fellow hunters and family. This has kinda opened my eyes to it all, especially since my step-son is a pretty easy going kid. Not much really bothers him, a lot just rolls off of his shoulders. They say you learn something new every season hunting, this year I have learned a lot more and it has a lot less to do with the hunting itself.