Hunting 101
Almost a decade ago I took my son out to harvest his first deer. He was 11 then and had practiced with my old 6mm all summer. The shot was longer than i would have liked but the 100 gr bullet found it's mark and the little buck dropped in his tracks. He's taken black bear, moose and several deer since then.
Last year my daughters friend took the core program in grade 9 and has been patiently waiting for an opportunity to hunt deer ever since. As her family doesn't hunt I offered to take her out and see if we could scare one up. My work schedule kept getting in the way so my son loaded her and his sister up at 5am on saturday and set out to see what wandered the slashes down near the Blackwater river.
She had practiced with my 25-06, but a problem with the rifle forced a last minute switch to an old savage 99 in 308 ( the only other non magnum I presently own ). She'd punched several holes in the small target pinned up at about 80 yds, from the bench and from a sitting position. She handled the rifle well on targets, I only hoped she'd do as well when lining up on an animal.
They checked all the usual spots without seeing a single deer. Late in the morning at the back of a grown in slash they came across a fresh set of tracks. As they rolled round the corner they found a deer wandering down the road ahead of them. They stopped the truck and followed on foot as it disappeared over a hill. As they followed, the trail opened up into a newly logged area, the deer had disappeared. Deer sign was everywhere, so they quietly walked the road scanning the rough terrain for the missing deer.
Soon they spotted a mule deer across a small gulley, she lifted the savage but was stopped by my son. A log pile lay just ahead so he had her sit down and rest the rifle for a steadier shot. She looked at the deer thru the scope until instructed to flip off the safety, this was all the the coaching she needed, only seconds passed before the 308 bullet was on it's way.
The mulie hopped as the bullet impacted then ran 80 yards and piled up. It was only after the shot my son began to gauge the distance, and admits he was fooled by the deep gulley as he had nothing to use as a reference. With the excitment of seeing a deer and the quick prep for the shot he never even thought of it.
The down hill shot was just over 200 yrds ( ranged afterward ). The 150 gr bullet entered low, just behind the front leg and passed thru the front of both lungs. Great shot and a great end to her first morning out hunting.
The deer is hanging in my shop, she had deer tenderloin for lunch today, and says she's looking forward to next week when she'll help me cut it up.
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