ATTN Huntwa family: Did I make the right call?

[turkeyfeather]

My wife, three boys and I just spent the last 4 days at deer camp. This morning I am having second thoughts about a call I made last night and am starting to feel a little sick about.
My oldest (13) is in his 5th deer season and despite some close calls hasn't been able to notch a tag yet. Last night with about 10-12 min of shooting light left we have a deer appear at 65 yards.
 This is not only the first deer he has been able to lay the crosshairs on but its a buck at that. Here's where the problem comes into play. The buck is facing us directly and my son is shooting a .243 with a 95 grain Fusion bullet. He is a very good shot, but I tell him to wait cause I am hesitant that that is gonna be a good shot to take. So we wait for what seems like forever (probably only a couple mins) for the deer to put his head down and turn one way or the other. I finally tell my son to go ahead and take the direct head on shot if he feels he can take it. And that is the very moment that the buck trots off.

Did I make the right call or did I just cost him his first buck.

[hollymaster]

Better not to shoot, than shoot poorly. Good call. 
Stay with it.

[Bob33]

If you're not confident of a one shot ethical kill, waiting is the right decision. I wish more hunters thought like you did.

[Gobble]

Thats a tough call, penetration with a .243 is very light, if it was a .30-06, .30-30, or any 300 cal. I would say take the shot. If your gut told you not to take the shot it was probably the right call 

[3nails]

 You absolutely made the right call! Hunting with the kids is about teaching them life lessons, not necessarily killing an animal. The patience you are teaching him will pay off big later.

[quadrafire]

That's the right call IMO

[Rainier10]

Right call all day every day.  Any time you have to ask yourself if you should shoot for whatever reason the answer is no.

Good call.

Continue to praise him all year for not taking the shot, when he does get a shot and connects on his first buck it will make it all that much sweeter.

[pianoman9701]

It was a good lesson in patience and ethics for your son. Good call.

[kellama2001]

If you're not confident of a one shot ethical kill, waiting is the right decision. I wish more hunters thought like you did.

Agreed!   

[tgomez]

.243 square in the chest at 65 yards that deer would have dropped like a sack of potatoes. If he wasn't comfortable with the shot it was the right descision to make. But a frontal shot that close=dead deer. The deer in my avitar was shot in the front of chest square on at 120 yards last October and he didn't even move again. Instant kill.

[DOUBLELUNG]

You made the right call.  Congratulations to you both.  His first kill should be a shot you both are comfortable with him taking. 

[turkeyfeather]

.243 square in the chest at 65 yards that deer would have dropped like a sack of potatoes. If he wasn't comfortable with the shot it was the right descision to make. But a frontal shot that close=dead deer.

He was more than confident with the shot. It was I that wasn't. I was having flashbacks of several years ago when a good buddy took a similar shot with a .308 and we never found that deer.

[jackelope]

Good call. Always better to be safe than sorry for a bad shot. Probably a lot easier for you to understand that than the boy, but hey...lessons learned.

[tgomez]

.243 square in the chest at 65 yards that deer would have dropped like a sack of potatoes. If he wasn't comfortable with the shot it was the right descision to make. But a frontal shot that close=dead deer.

He was more than confident with the shot. It was I that wasn't. I was having flashbacks of several years ago when a good buddy took a similar shot with a .308 and we never found that deer.

You made the right call. Don't feel bad, better to keep and live ethically EVERYTIME. You taught him a valuable lesson. More deer hunting together for you two, it will happen if you keep at it. Good luck and God bless.

[cowboycraig]

Sometimes good sportsmanship really sucks. You did the right thing.

It is like "Not shooting" 2 minutes after legal hours when the perfect shot becomes possible. Have been in that situation. No one would have ever known, but I just cursed under my breath and said "next year".

[h2ofowlr]

To many individuals that just go for hair and pull the trigger and loose animals.  I have not taken the shot numerous times, due to bad angles.  It's never a good feeling, but it is the right one.
Many of the hair tag holders that just pull the trigger and loose animals seem to step up in gun and caliber, thinking it will solve the problems or be the cure for any shot placement.

[hirshey]

If you're not confident of a one shot ethical kill, waiting is the right decision. I wish more hunters thought like you did.

The ethical, clean shot is the best way to teach. I think in the long run your son will reflect back on it and appreciate the good foundation you have laid for him. I'm proud of your decision!

[ctwiggs1]

Great call and great job to your son on being patient. 

[D-Rock425]

I've only taken 1 frontal shot with a rifle.  It was a bear 100yds away.  I shot of a set of tripod shooting sticks bear dropped when hit only to get up about 20 seconds later and run off through the thick stuff never to be seen again.  We searched for 2 days.  Better safe than sorry.

[coachcw]

probably the right call with fading light . he has about a pie plate area to square with the 243 , buck fever , rest all comes into play. if he wounded it and lost that would feel worse.

[Karl Blanchard]

Odds are it would have been a dead deer right there, but like most have said, if there is doubt then the right call was made.  Especially with a light caliber and in MY OPINION, a marginal bullet.  Last 95gr Fusion I saw launched out of a .243 was at a broadside mule deer @ 70 yards.  Hit a rib going in and grenaded.  Looked like someone shot the one lung with bird shot out of a .410!  Off side lung was perfect.  I'd switch to a 100gr Nosler Partition and never look back.  This is just my personal experience with the bullet so don't flame me.  I'm sure lots of folks have nothing but good to say about the bullet.

[Whitpirate]

My answer to my son is always the same "if there is any doubt in your mind we never take the shot.   No matter how much we want it we can never bring a bullet back so if there is doubt it is better to wait and find a better alternative."  I had my father-in-law passe a buck last week that I was pretty sure was legal but at the end of shooting light but I couldn't 100% make out the 3rd point.  He's never shot a buck but I told him we had doubt so we let it go.  It is tough but the best solution I think to not have a "why did I take it" moment later.

[Katmai Guy]

I'm going to say you made the right call because I did the same thing to my son this last Sat in GMU101.  15 min of legal shooting light left, whitetail doe at 50yds, called him off because I thought it was to dark to make a good shot.  Glad the WDFW leans to the dark side with the shooting times but makes some decisions tough at times.

[CoryTDF]

If it was me shooting at 65 yards I would take that shot all day long.  I am positive that at 65 yards a well placed neck shot would have put that deer into the dirt. However, you know your sons skill level and so whatever choice you made was the right one. The question is could the kid keep his nerves under control? The choice has been made and it is over. Trust that is was the right one at that time and keep hunting. I always tell new or young hunters the same thing " That just was not the buck you were meant to shoot, at least, not today".  I also  +1 the comment about teaching him patients as it will pay off in the long run. There is a time to be aggressive and a time to be cautious. I feel it is best to be good at both as each havr their place and offer opportunity for success.   

[turkeyfeather]

Thanks all for your thoughts on the subject. I never had any doubt that my son could make the shot, he never had doubt (that he showed anyway) that he could make it. In fact he kept saying he could take it. He practices regularly and I trust his shooting out to 150 maybe even better than my own. He was nervous and admitted that but I was more concerned that a lightweight load like that would not have made a quick kill and that we would be tracking forever or worse never find it.

[Wacenturion]

You absolutely made the right call! Hunting with the kids is about teaching them life lessons, not necessarily killing an animal. The patience you are teaching him will pay off big later.

 

[RadSav]

The 243 with Fusion combo would have had absolutely no problem killing that deer with a front on shot.  However, that is not an easy shot for a lot of veteran hunters to make in poor light.  While I'm sure your son is disappointed he did not get to shoot, I'm also sure he would have been more disappointed to shoot and not recover the deer.

Even if the equipment is capable I will take the instinct of a father over the eagerness of youth every time.  The lesson learned is a good one.  It wasn't a lesson that the weapon was poor.  It was a lesson that waiting for a high percentage shot is worth the risk of escape.  He may not understand that today.  But he will understand that when he drops the hammer on that perfectly positioned buck that becomes his first kill.

Hunting is filled with the frustrations of "Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda".  I think that is half the fun!  I know for myself, if I shot and killed every animal I wanted to kill I would have learned very little.  I'd also have only one boring story to tell each year. 
...And I have a lot of fun stories

[DoubleJ]

We had not the same scenario but similar last week.  Found a herd of 14 does and the boys held doe tags.  We sat and watched them as we caught our breath for about 10 minutes.  In that time I ranged them at 385 yards.  After 10 minutes or so, I set the rifle up on the sticks and one by one, sat both boys behind the rifle. 

At 3x power, the crosshairs completely covered the deer so 9x power it was.  Both boys did their proper breath control and tried and tried and each one said, "I don't feel like I can hold the gun steady enough to take the shot".

I was so proud of them both.  The oldest boy is 13 and has been hunting for 5 years now and my middle son is 11 and has been hunting for 3.  Either one of them could have easily said, "I'm good, I can take the shot" and I would have taken their word for it, trusting that they knew they could.  Since I couldn't see what they were seeing in the scope, I was prepared to trust their judgement, knowing how much they shoot and how well they handle the rifle.

I told the story back at camp and both boys got BIG congratulations for not taking a shot they didn't feel comfortable with.  I'll be more proud of that moment and their ethical and proper decision making skills until the day I die than any deer they ever harvest.

[jpharcher]

Absolutely the right call.
Regardless of relatively short range (65 yards) or off sticks at 500 yards ethical shots are the only shots any of us should take.
Your son's are lucky to have an ethical dad teaching valuable life lessons.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Might have been the right call for your son. Myself, I would have skipped the chest shot. Too much chance of a deflective non fatal shot off the ribs. Also a good hit can still cause a lot of damage at that angle. But I'd take a throat shot in those circumstances in a heartbeat.

[Jonathan_S]

I'd personally take the shot, right in the throat patch.  I wouldn't have at that age though, my dad wouldn't have given me the go ahead and I wasn't as confident in my abilities either.

The positive here:  it is very empowering to "pass" on a deer or a shot and that feeling of being in control of the hunt will stay with the kid forever 

Plus that buck can grow and grow and grow as the story is retold 

[boneaddict]

I think you made the right call.   You can never un send the bullet.