Post by: lokidog on December 01, 2013, 09:52:43 AM
She tried her mom's ML but it misfired a couple of times so she tried mine. No misfires but the stock was a bit long so we put her mom's stock on my gun.
We sat out in the neighbor's meadow almost every day during early season. She had some shots at a couple of does, including one really dumb one that just begged her to shoot it, but she didn't. We did see some bucks, including one face to face at 12 yards but could not get a shot. One evening, we had a smaller forky come out and then saw a really, for here, big fork horn behind him. The smaller buck came out and stopped within my daughter's self-imposed 50 yard range with the big buck following. I suggested she wait for the big guy... of course, at 62 yards he turned and walked away, and pulled the smaller one with him. >:( at myself for getting greedy for her. After that, she had no more opportunities.
Late season comes along, and the orchard near the meadow is empty. We sit Thanksgiving morning and evening and see nothing. We went to the Apple Cup Friday so no hunting. We got out again last night and jumped a buck bedded about 50 yards from our blind, nothing else was seen.
Shortly after getting home last night, I saw a decent sized buck and a doe out behind the house. I decided to try to keep him around until morning by tossing some apples over the fence during the evening and just before bed. I got up early and waited until just before legal shooting time and tossed a few more apples out. At about 7, legal time but stil way too dark to shoot, I saw a big bodied deer, too dark to see antlers, but I knew he was a buck.
My daughter was getting antsy, so we snuck out around the house. He was munching away so did not mind our bit of activity. He turned mostly broadside and BOOM, he flipped around, landed on his back with his feet flailing. I thought, nice, no looking for him, but then he stands up and hurries off while we reloaded. We waited about 40, for her quite agonizing minutes, to let him die and get some better light for searching. When we went back out, we found a small splotch of bright blood and a small piece of bone. We followed the trail we saw him leave on and only found one small drop of blood. We continued on the trail hoping to find him piled up, but found no more blood. She moved off on a slight side trail while I continued almost to our property line. Seeing nothing, I circled back and found him piled up in the salal about 20 yards farther than my daughter had walked. I breathed a big sigh of relief, as I think most of us do when we find them.
It is kind of cool that she got her first deer in the same location as my wife's first deer and with a piece of each of our muzzleloaders. Now, she just wants me to grind the whole thing as she doesn't like steak... good luck with that though. :chuckle:
Post by: PolarBear on December 01, 2013, 09:54:43 AM
Post by: Bob33 on December 01, 2013, 09:56:52 AM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on December 01, 2013, 10:00:54 AM
Post by: Taco280AI on December 01, 2013, 10:02:05 AM
Post by: Whitpirate on December 01, 2013, 10:03:51 AM
Post by: MLBowhunting on December 01, 2013, 10:05:17 AM
Post by: Sabotloader on December 01, 2013, 11:07:15 AM
Holy Cow! Assume! Congrats to the proud young lady... cool!
Post by: Hunterman on December 01, 2013, 11:19:01 AM
Hunterman(Tony)
Post by: Turner89 on December 01, 2013, 11:20:56 AM
Post by: gonehuntin68 on December 01, 2013, 11:28:17 AM
Post by: SemperFidelis97 on December 01, 2013, 11:30:30 AM
Post by: huntnfmly on December 01, 2013, 11:37:48 AM
Post by: runamuk on December 01, 2013, 11:43:33 AM
Post by: singleshot12 on December 01, 2013, 12:11:01 PM
Post by: Wea300mag on December 01, 2013, 12:16:20 PM
Post by: Rooster1981 on December 01, 2013, 12:32:08 PM
way to go you two :tup:
Post by: BOOM!! on December 01, 2013, 12:39:32 PM
Post by: lokidog on December 01, 2013, 12:40:31 PM
Awesome! When she's off at WSU you'll have an excuse to hunt whitetail in the Palouse.
Yep, but we're also heading up to U of A Anchorage next weekend for a looksee since she has been accepted there as well. I hear there's some good hunting up there as well..... :rolleyes:
Thanks everyone. She was getting worried that it might not happen as she just started basketball and their practices are 7-9 pm so she will be staying on Lopez during the week.
She made a decent shot, back a little as it destroyed his liver but did hit the back of both lungs and no stomach. Had some heart for brunch, yum!
Post by: scoyoc5 on December 01, 2013, 12:50:53 PM
Post by: Skillet on December 01, 2013, 01:26:01 PM
Post by: steen on December 01, 2013, 01:29:19 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on December 01, 2013, 01:30:47 PM
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on December 01, 2013, 01:47:25 PM
So is the big buck still out there? I bet it's the one my daughter missed last year.
Post by: lokidog on December 01, 2013, 01:48:26 PM
Looking back through photos, we found two pics of him from this year. The first was taken on May 7 and the second taken on July 27. Sorry for the bad second photo, we need to wash those bedroom windows more. :chuckle:
Post by: ICEMAN on December 01, 2013, 05:08:24 PM
Girl hunters rock!
Post by: Smokepole on December 04, 2013, 06:35:46 PM
Post by: oneshot12 on December 06, 2013, 09:24:46 PM
Post by: denali on December 06, 2013, 09:44:12 PM
Post by: brew on December 06, 2013, 09:44:36 PM
Post by: Hawgdawg on December 06, 2013, 10:29:41 PM
Post by: lokidog on December 07, 2013, 12:00:31 AM
Conrad's to you and your Daughter, You Island people got it made. Then Island Critters can't swim can they????
They swim fairly well, that's how they got here to begin with. ;) I did find a stinky floater last summer though.
42 pounds of meat off her buck, not the biggest we've gotten, but not the smallest either. :tup: I think we are going to get a shoulder mount done for her for an X-mas present. Not sure she will hunt again as her asking to hunt this year was somewhat a surprise. She doesn't like the look of just antlers or euro mounts so... a shoulder mount might be enough to keep her in the game in the future. If not, she'll at least have a cool story for her grandkids. :tup:
Thanks all.
Post by: billythekidrock on December 07, 2013, 05:52:07 AM