Firebird
AH legend
This is my second to oldest daughter. We have tried unsuccessfully to get her a deer for several years now. We have been thwarted by weather, other hunters and her very ambitious high school sports schedule-stupid soccer playoffs in October every year! Also her older sister shot a nice four point mule deer for her first buck, so her competitive nature came into play.
Our local deer herd got hit hard getting worse the farther north you go. So we went south. I put her in for a “cooperative wildlife management unit.” These are basically private properties the state works with so they will allow some lucky permit holders to hunt their property as well-in exchange for private permits they can use or sell.
The area reminded me very much of Nebraska with huge winter wheat tracts and plowed under barley fields surrounded by dense jungles of oak brush, sage and cedar/pinion trees.
The manager was a great guy. Met him on Friday before the Saturday opener and he gave us the basic rules and layout. Without On X maps this would be very challenging, but with it on our phones it was a piece of cake! Highly recommend!
Friday night and Saturday we scouted what we could and tried a couple tough stalks. Lots of eyes and ears and they know their territory. There were a handful of other hunters but they were rarely an issue. We found a lonely little pocket, a corner pocket that was impossible to see from anywhere and far enough to drive and walk to that no one else seemed to have noticed it.
We hunted one other little spot where we had deer wandering past on their way to the green winter wheat. She had many bucks in her scope but never what she was looking for or some just out of reach. Saw some dandies at 600 plus yards.
She likes to shoot and goes with me often to the range. She shoots off the Rudolph brand sticks I bought and if I give her time, she can smash gallon jugs at out to 350 yards from her sticks.
Her rifle is a Winchester m70 featherweight in 7mm-08 and shoots hand loaded 120 gr Barnes ttsx. This is a smaller frame rifle and perfect for youth or female builds. Her scope is a leupold vx-3 4.5x14x40 with a custom ballistic turret. This is wonderful for her and she loves to tinker with the zoom and the turret for distance. One thing I know about her is that everything must be perfect or she won’t pull the trigger!
For example, in the middle of the day we were out exploring roads and a giant two point was parallel to the road at twenty yards. I told her to jump out and shoot him. She jumped out and held on him forever before he got bored and turned straight away. I asked why she didn’t shoot and she said shooting offhand she was “a bit wobbly” and so she didn’t shoot. In my mind I was thinking “close your eyes and pound him!” Another time there was a huge three by three that had been pushed by other hunters and when he got to 15 yards of us I chirped and he stopped to look. There was one small dead tree right in the middle of his body. “Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!” No, she wanted him to take one more step so she wouldn’t hit the stick by mistake. I thought I might die!
So we found a corner where deer came from far and wide and left the dense jungle and fed free from responsibility in the green winter wheat. Her buck was already in the field and the wind was bad for us. So we walked all the way around a different field to get the wind right. On the way she had a chance at two bucks but passed saying she wanted the bigger buck in the field. She was killing me!
Walking along the fence between the field and the thick stuff I couldn’t believe the deer and the sign-we were in the sweet spot for sure. Finally got the wind just right and let some other deer feed past us so we could hunker down in some oak brush. Got her on the sticks and he had his butt to us at 267 yards. He fed straight away for 15 minutes and never turned a bit. Finally at 310 he turned to the right. I told her to aim at his far leg. This was new to her and we had to discuss it before she got back on him. -320, she is killing me. . .
Finally she gives the trigger just enough. Custom trigger as well, Timney target model that is made for this model Winchester. The whump is audible and the buck is hit hard and going nowhere, but still on his feet. She runs the bolt and he slowly turns 180 degrees so she hits him again on the “other side.”
Her first shot hit him on the humerous and exploded it then went on through and exited far side in front of the shoulder. Second shot just finished destroying both shoulders but put him solidly on the ground. Best part-he is near a two track that runs between the two fields-easy deer removal!
My daughter is 18. She has killed a deer and at the mothers inquisition late that day, she tells us all that she had a good time but she did feel bad about killing an animal. But she was excited to get the head mounted and thought it was cool when we told the butcher how we wanted it cut and wrapped and she gets her own jerky. Asked if she wanted to hunt again next year, she said sure, but only for a bigger buck than this one.
Just kill me now. . . !
Our local deer herd got hit hard getting worse the farther north you go. So we went south. I put her in for a “cooperative wildlife management unit.” These are basically private properties the state works with so they will allow some lucky permit holders to hunt their property as well-in exchange for private permits they can use or sell.
The area reminded me very much of Nebraska with huge winter wheat tracts and plowed under barley fields surrounded by dense jungles of oak brush, sage and cedar/pinion trees.
The manager was a great guy. Met him on Friday before the Saturday opener and he gave us the basic rules and layout. Without On X maps this would be very challenging, but with it on our phones it was a piece of cake! Highly recommend!
Friday night and Saturday we scouted what we could and tried a couple tough stalks. Lots of eyes and ears and they know their territory. There were a handful of other hunters but they were rarely an issue. We found a lonely little pocket, a corner pocket that was impossible to see from anywhere and far enough to drive and walk to that no one else seemed to have noticed it.
We hunted one other little spot where we had deer wandering past on their way to the green winter wheat. She had many bucks in her scope but never what she was looking for or some just out of reach. Saw some dandies at 600 plus yards.
She likes to shoot and goes with me often to the range. She shoots off the Rudolph brand sticks I bought and if I give her time, she can smash gallon jugs at out to 350 yards from her sticks.
Her rifle is a Winchester m70 featherweight in 7mm-08 and shoots hand loaded 120 gr Barnes ttsx. This is a smaller frame rifle and perfect for youth or female builds. Her scope is a leupold vx-3 4.5x14x40 with a custom ballistic turret. This is wonderful for her and she loves to tinker with the zoom and the turret for distance. One thing I know about her is that everything must be perfect or she won’t pull the trigger!
For example, in the middle of the day we were out exploring roads and a giant two point was parallel to the road at twenty yards. I told her to jump out and shoot him. She jumped out and held on him forever before he got bored and turned straight away. I asked why she didn’t shoot and she said shooting offhand she was “a bit wobbly” and so she didn’t shoot. In my mind I was thinking “close your eyes and pound him!” Another time there was a huge three by three that had been pushed by other hunters and when he got to 15 yards of us I chirped and he stopped to look. There was one small dead tree right in the middle of his body. “Shoot him, shoot him, shoot him!” No, she wanted him to take one more step so she wouldn’t hit the stick by mistake. I thought I might die!
So we found a corner where deer came from far and wide and left the dense jungle and fed free from responsibility in the green winter wheat. Her buck was already in the field and the wind was bad for us. So we walked all the way around a different field to get the wind right. On the way she had a chance at two bucks but passed saying she wanted the bigger buck in the field. She was killing me!
Walking along the fence between the field and the thick stuff I couldn’t believe the deer and the sign-we were in the sweet spot for sure. Finally got the wind just right and let some other deer feed past us so we could hunker down in some oak brush. Got her on the sticks and he had his butt to us at 267 yards. He fed straight away for 15 minutes and never turned a bit. Finally at 310 he turned to the right. I told her to aim at his far leg. This was new to her and we had to discuss it before she got back on him. -320, she is killing me. . .
Finally she gives the trigger just enough. Custom trigger as well, Timney target model that is made for this model Winchester. The whump is audible and the buck is hit hard and going nowhere, but still on his feet. She runs the bolt and he slowly turns 180 degrees so she hits him again on the “other side.”
Her first shot hit him on the humerous and exploded it then went on through and exited far side in front of the shoulder. Second shot just finished destroying both shoulders but put him solidly on the ground. Best part-he is near a two track that runs between the two fields-easy deer removal!
My daughter is 18. She has killed a deer and at the mothers inquisition late that day, she tells us all that she had a good time but she did feel bad about killing an animal. But she was excited to get the head mounted and thought it was cool when we told the butcher how we wanted it cut and wrapped and she gets her own jerky. Asked if she wanted to hunt again next year, she said sure, but only for a bigger buck than this one.
Just kill me now. . . !
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