castnblast
New member
Took My son hunting with me - I'm really proud of my 7 year old, not because he shot something, but because he didn't and had the opportunity - he apparently listens to me more than I give him credit for. On Saturday afternoon, we had just gotten to the stand, we weren't up there 5 minutes. We were loading the guns, going over safety checks, etc, and getting comfortable. I decided he needed to be where I was to have a better shot down 3 of the 4 scendaros. Anyway we switched positions, and he goes - dad HOGS!!! I told him to get the rifle and ease it out. He did. They were kindof far. I told him to crank up the scope, he did, but said, dad, I'm not shooting, they are too far, I can't hold steady on them. WOW!!! this is coming from a 7 year old. He hears me preach about knowing your abilities - I'm proud of him. We switched positions and I decided to see how my new reloads worked on this 243 for hogs. Bang - flop - one down, one wounded, 1 shot (but 2 hit pigs). The shot went through the neck, into the second pig and behind the ribs and out lodged in it's hind quarter - figured this out after cleaning. Pig ran around and I missed the next 2 successive shots and made a 2nd hit with the 4th in the head putting that one down. We unloaded the guns and climbed down - I took my range finder with me, and hit the stand with it. It was a 238 yd shot. I was proud of him to know this was outside his ability to shoot on his own. Wedid our inspections, and drug them a bit out of sight. It was early and I told Collin he'd have another chance after thigs settled down. We climbed back up. About an hour and a half later, he had to pee. I figured better do it now, we still had an 1.5 hours of shooting light left. I took my rifle with me, (should've taken the 243) I told him to take his, he said, nah, we'll be fine. So we did our business. when we walked back to the 4 way intersection where the stand was, there was a HUGE 8 pt 300yds away, walking straight toward us. I told Collin to get in position and he could shoot the deer, but it had to be with my gun. He didn't want to - he said he was afraid of the recoil, he wanted me to shoot. I didn't. I was hoping the deer would walk in the brush, but he continued walking - straight toward us. He came within 53 yds, then finally saw us (in full camo, but laying on the ground with nothing between us and him). He sorta spooked, but not really, and trotted off. We got back in the stand hoping he'd come back. This deer had a 20" spread but real short tines. It was a definite management buck.
Time went by we watched some does - this place has no feeders, and is managed as a quail ranch. We corned the roads, and we watched several does. About 5:45 I see what I call a huge buck. He was about 450 - 500 yds away, and I could see he had a big rack. He's also walking toward us in a cactus flat. He slowly is closing the distance as he follows a brush line along the cactus/grass flat. Finally, he get's inside 200. Then at 180 yds he turned broadside. This was a huge deer, and too far for Collin to shoot. His change of direction ment now or never, so I took the shot. I dropped a beautiful 10 pt that scored 153 1/8. Has real tall tines. It's my personal best whitetail. But I'm just as proud of my son - he is listening and watching more than I give him credit for - he does not want to wound an animal, and did the right thing. I cannot be a happier dad.
Got so excited about the buck, I didn't take pix of the hogs. The were typical 80lbish boars. Good eatin' size!
