Season update

[fitch270]

Where he crossed off our line.

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[fitch270]

I'd say a "graze".
Either:
a) "good" bad sign - deer not hurt badly
or
b) a "bad" good sign - no deer

Either way, better luck next time.
You gotta get back on the horse. 😉

Typing at the same time again. 😎

I’m leaning that way now.

The trick is going to be convincing my daughter to climb back in the saddle. My wife told me today that she said last night she wasn’t ever hunting again. Hopefully just talk, I’d already told her she still has a doe tag she can fill and now I’m not convinced her burning the buck tag is remotely warranted.


Lots of lessons for the memory banks of both of us.

[fitch270]

More hair, but not a lot and all white.



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[FirstBubba]

Give her a little time. I'm sure she will come back around.
From the background you've given us about you and your family, there is a strong "constitution" there. She will be just fine.
Sometimes we need a little humility to make us more aware of "Murf's Law".
It's no worse that making a left turn when you should have turned right.
Sometimes......stuff just happens!

My dad shot a deer once that looked like you had poked a hole in a bucket of red paint. Tracked him about 2 miles. Blood dried up. Never did find him.

Another time, the deer was about 150 yards across an open bottom. We searched for that one a long time too.....and went back to start over.
"He was standing right here...." and pointed back towards the stand. About five feet from where he was standing was a pin oak tree about 3/4" diameter.
You could tell it had been dead centered with a bullet!
Needless to say, we didn't find that one either.

[FirstBubba]

There are a lot more hunters out there that have drawn blood and still never found their deer than will admit it.
Sure we want every shot to count and to never miss!
God didn't give us that option! We're human beings and we're fallible.

[dewman]

FWIW I think he has a good chance to survive, much better than 50%. You know what.There are far too many hunters of all ages who consider game in the Lay's potato chip mindset. (Oh well they make more every year). Her mindset is common among true hunters, we love that which we hunt.
It's why we don't give up we buckle down and shoot more, study shot placement more, strive to be better. Good overall way to live. Tell her that her hurt should be channeled into resolve and of course I KNOW you have already told her how proud you are to be her dad.
Stay safe, aim small(er)👍

[FirstBubba]

FWIW I think he has a good chance to survive, much better than 50%. You know what.There are far too many hunters of all ages who consider game in the Lay's potato chip mindset. (Oh well they make more every year). Her mindset is common among true hunters, we love that which we hunt.
It's why we don't give up we buckle down and shoot more, study shot placement more, strive to be better. Good overall way to live. Tell her that her hurt should be channeled into resolve and of course I KNOW you have already told her how proud you are to be her dad.
Stay safe, aim small(er)👍

You're spot on dewman.

[fitch270]

FWIW I think he has a good chance to survive, much better than 50%. You know what.There are far too many hunters of all ages who consider game in the Lay's potato chip mindset. (Oh well they make more every year). Her mindset is common among true hunters, we love that which we hunt.
It's why we don't give up we buckle down and shoot more, study shot placement more, strive to be better. Good overall way to live. Tell her that her hurt should be channeled into resolve and of course I KNOW you have already told her how proud you are to be her dad.
Stay safe, aim small(er)👍

This reminded me of something I’d thought about last night so I just went and checked.

Last year I had the other scope set at 4x because I was afraid a buck would show up close and she’d have trouble picking it up on a higher magnification. That was a 4-16X. I’d set the 3-9X that’s on it now to 4X to start for the same reason. When the deer was feeding where it was I realized she might do better with it turned up which is why I asked her. She was already looking through it as I turned it up until she stopped me. It’s now at about 7.5X. Out of curiosity I also checked her league rifle and she has that maxed at 9X for 50’. I realize a deer is a much bigger target but can’t help but wonder if I’d turned it all the way up if she might have locked in on the vitals better at that distance. Aim small and all.

She looked zoned in as she got ready but I knew I’d better be watching the buck as best as I could. I have no idea if she yanked back on the trigger or what happened. She definitely can make that shot. What really struck me was how shook up up she was right after the shot. She seemed much more nervous than last year, actually physically shaking, her eyes as big as saucers and her mouth open unable to really talk at first. Much different demeanor than just seconds before. I’ll give it a couple days before asking her how she thought the shot actually felt.

Since finding that hair I’m feeling better about the whole ordeal. It’s definitely another lesson to keep looking as best as you can, and at the start too. The more info the better in these cases. Taking her to ask permission to keep looking was the right thing to do as well, even though it didn’t gain us anything. As much as I felt like we gave it a good effort last night seeing it through today definitely paid off for peace of mind.


I can’t thank you fellas enough for taking interest and giving input. You definitely helped me process the situation by allowing an avenue to talk through things and to reaffirm what needed doing. This is exactly the kind of thing that keeps me hanging around.

[PigHunter]

Fitch, I'm sorry your daughter missed tagging that deer. It does look like the shot went low for some reason.

PigHuntress missed her first deer and in questioning her memory of the hold, I suspected it was an overshot. Turns out I'd never explained where to aim to strike the vitals. So, I bought a paper target that clearly showed the heart / lung area and we went to the range for practice. That made a world of difference and later she made a perfect shot on another buck.

Here's what I suggest,
1st) make sure the scope mount is still good and the sights are on.

2nd) have her shoot at a deer target that distance using different scope settings

3rd) It looks like you have a good padded rest on the window sill of your blind, but I'd check to make sure there's no slippage there that would cause a shot to go wrong.

4th) I'd check to make sure her seat and hold when in the blind are comfortable and rock steady.

[dewman]

I'm glad to see you are not obsessing but are being thoughtful and deliberate in your assessments. Most times buck fever isn't noticed by the victim but is more readily seen by a bystander so be careful here as most don't like to be told it happened to them, they consider it being picked on, though to me it has happened after the shot. Help your daughter process this at her own pace. I've seen overly concerned parents push a little hard and that does drive them away. Not just from hunting, but school sports and even driving.
We all want our kids to succeed, to have the best of memories, so sometimes when things go wrong we get a little carried away trying to make it all better. We can't make life perfect for them but we still try like the dickens to do it for them anyway.
I like PH's suggestions. Simple things to check and can't hurt to make sure. Restore a little confidence.
Finally tell her for us that we the outdoor community could use a lot more respectful and caring hunters just like her, badly.
Stay safe,aim small

[fitch270]

Well we’re giving the youth weekend one last hurrah.

The Kid is in the backup bow stand and we’re back in the shack. It’s above 70* degrees out so his orders are nothing less than the big 8pt. She’s looking to finish what she started on Saturday night, the only deer she’s looking for is the same 6pt should he happen to come back. That buck was in this field every night we’ve been up so he may just wander in. Stranger things have happened.

[fitch270]

Turns out we made a great decision to sit in the shack this evening. Right about 6:00 we’re just blankly staring out in front when a bear comes waltzing around the left corner at maybe fifteen to twenty feet.

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I grab my phone of the window ledge and get the camera on. The bear is absolutely clueless we’re there, I’m immediately trying to decide if this things alone should I let her shoot if she wants to. It’s a matter of seconds and the decision is made, a cub pops out, then another, then the third. The shack isn’t completely windproof but somehow they’ve come in just slightly above our scent cone as the winds been blowing in the whole time.


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They work their way in front of us, I’m taking pics and some video as is my daughter. We’re grinning ear to ear the entire time. I text the Kid a pic, he replies back “Cool!” followed by “I smoked a coyote”.

The bears feed for about a half hour until the sow works her way below us. The wind is still in our face but it must have been swirling some because all at once her nose goes up and she starts testing the air. She didn’t like something, she turned and started back for the far woods, cubs in tow. They’re headed in the Kids direction so I warn him they’re coming his way. It’s just past sunset and he’s in the woods with some big hemlocks so it will be getting dark, and he has a coyote to track. I don’t want him on the ground not paying attention and have them roll up on him. Turns out he gets a look at three of them snd they’re headed in the general direction the coyote went.

I text him to hang tight, we'll head down for the buggy again and drive up the log road he’s next to. While I’m at the house I grab my Shield .40 just in case. It’s a quick ride back up, followed by a ten minute tracking job. The arrow was stuck in the ground giving us an easy starting point. The trail wasn’t heavy but we did have steady drops that were pretty easy to follow. It was a good exercise. The dog actually went about 75 yards or so, he started uphill for aways then curved back down farther out in front of the Kid. He saw it cross the path but lost it in the trees. It was only about ten yards from where he last saw it.

His aunt works part time for our taxidermy guy, he called her for advice but she rolled in shortly after to show him how to skin it out to be tanned.

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All in all a great way to end the long weekend.

[fitch270]

A few more pics.

Unfortunately lens cover on my phone case is scratched up so the picture quality isn’t great.




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[dewman]

About as good as it gets.

[PigHunter]

About as good as it gets.

Agreed. Nice adventure