N10sivern

I agree, she should have practice with the rifle beforehand. Being time limited between my work schedule and the distance to our hunting property, I did not have time for a range session before this hunt to practice. However, I had full confidence she could fire a good shot and not wound a deer. Easier to say after the fact, but she can shoot benchrest, prone, and offhand accurately. In the end, firing any rifle is nothing more than mechanics. I've seen people that can't shoot 1 rifle accurately and others that can pick up any new to them rifles and shoot accurately, and i believe they just have better mechanics. Outside of the rifle and ammo, shooting accurately is a matter of breathing, position, confidence, the way you hold the gun, cheek weld, etc. I collect WWII military firearms. They all work and shoulder a little differently, but the only major difference between them and any other rifle is recoil and trigger pull. I had confidence in her mechanics and the recoil is very little in the .243. I haven't tried it but I have no doubt she could take my 45-70 in a lead sled (due to recoil) and accurately shoot it, based off mechanics alone. If I had to do over there would have been a range session and there will be before the next hunt at Christmas. As for luck in the shot, no doubt. I've shot deer with a 243 and had it go in at the shoulder, ricochet off bone, and exit the hind quarters. Somehow, the bullet must have missed bone through the first deer in order to hit the second. Thats why i think it was the impossible shot. I dunno if the bullet didn't expand or what, but I'm positive the bullet was in the 6 point. I dropped the deer off at the processor since we had to get on the road because she had school and my neighbor had work the next day (didn't get home til after 10pm). It would have been interesting to process the deer and find the bullet.

i generally would not let somebody take a rifle hunting that they haven't shot before, but in her case i was confident that she could do it. i zeroed the scope in shooting 1/2" groups at 100 yards the week before so i knew it was dead accurate. she target shoots with a scoped 22 several times a month and i have to admit that she's a damn good shot, so i felt confident that she could properly put the reticle on where she wanted to shoot. the night before we left to go hunting, i let her cycle the action to get used to the feel, had her shoulder the gun at different angles to simulate shots she may have to take from the stand, and let her dry fire the rifle (once) to see how the trigger compared to her rifle. i also pulled up diagrams of the anatomy of deer and hogs and taught her where to shoot and about how the shot placement is different between deer and hogs. i also taught her about where to aim for various quartering shots. lastly, i pulled up probably 100-150 different pics from the game cameras this year and had her go through them 1 by 1 and say if she would take a shot (based on the animal's position) and if so i had her put the cursor on where she would aim. other than letting her actually shoot the rifle, i don't think was much else i could have done to better prepare her. below is one of her targets at 50 yards with her 22

thanks, i appreciate it. she's really stoked about it. made me print out all the pictures off the camera so she could take them to school.

oh, she is quite aware of this, but it didn't really apply here. he was shooting at the 6 point and the button buck ran between her and the 6 point when she pulled the trigger. the deer started running around and cutting up when the 6 point came into the field. i didn't see the button buck run out in front and didn't see it fall as i was focused on the 6 point when it started to run off, but that is the only explanation i can come up with since the button buck had entry and exit wounds and the 6 point only had the entry wound. plus the button buck was dead in his tracks and behind him i saw where the 6 point disturbed the ground when he took off out of the field.

i took my 11 year old daughter hunting for the first time ever today. she shot not 1, but 2 bucks. here is the kicker, she did it with one shot. it was the craziest thing i've ever seen. we had a bunch of does in the field and she was going to harvest a fat doe about 50 yards in front of us when i caught movement on the other side of the field. a 6 point walk into the field and we watched him for about 10 minutes and she decided she wanted to shoot him. i cautioned her several times to take her time because the does had run over to the buck and were all around him. i just wanted her to make sure she shot the right deer. she had to sit in my lap as the shooting rail on the stand was too high for her. the buck finally turned broadside and she pulled the trigger. i saw the the 6 point run toward the woods like he was injured so i grabbed my gun and threw up to take a second shot to drop him. well, i had been watching the 6pt so when i looked through my scope, something in the field caught my eye.....a dead deer. i told cloie that she shot the wrong deer but i was still proud of her for getting her first deer. we got down and walked over to the deer and it turned out to be a young button buck. i was a little angry she shot this button buck, especially after cautioning her to shoot the right deer, but i didn't let it show because i was also excited she got her first deer, and a buck at that. i heard something about 30 yards away in the woods and i looked up and saw the 6 point walking on a ridge. i scoped the deer and saw no blood, but something about the deer just wasn't right as he walked the ridge and away from us down a deer trail. we went back and got the polaris ranger to pick up my neighbor who was hunting with us and then went to load up the deer. the shot was a through and through shoulder shot on the button head buck, so i told my neighbor to follow me up on the ridge to look for the other deer. we went down the deer trail and we found the 6 point dead, about 50 yards from the other deer. the 6 point had a single wound perfectly placed on his shoulder. damndest thing i've ever seen. first time hunting, first time shooting a rifle larger than a .22, and she shoots 2 deer with 1 shot, not to mention both deer had excellent shot placement. needless to say, i'm a proud father with a very excited daughter. and to those that think a .243 isn't adequate for hunting deer, this is proof that it is more than enough. it dropped 1 deer in its tracks and the other only ran 50 yards. i can honestly say, i've been out shot by my 11 year old daughter because i have never done that and don't think i will ever see it happen again. the 6 point both deer the shot on the 6 point the shot on the button buck

i was able to thin my hog and doe population today. gonna be some good sausage. also some pics of the view from my stand.

deer video I raised many deer as a kid. I grew up on a farm and when we combined soybeans the does would run out the field leaving the fawns. Some years the fawns couldn't run yet, other years they could. The tractor operators for our farm would get out and check for fawns when they jumped a doe. I there was a fawn unable to run, they'd bring it back to the house. We tried just putting the fawns on the edge of the woods but the does neglected them and they became coyote food. The deer we raised would come and go once grown. They were just as docile as a pet dog. I remember trying to ride one when I was about 5 and I was thrown off into a holly bush. They would act like a pet around the house but they also were seen hanging out with other deer. We would see them with other deer while hunting (we had a pact to never shoot a deer around them). The does usually had twins and we would see them quite often. They would come into the yard but that was it, they wouldn't walk up to us despite their mother doing it. Eventually as the offspring got older, they would stay away, but the does we raised would always come back. Had one doe for 6-7 years before she disappeared, possibly dying of age or predators. All in all we probably raised between 10-15 deer successfully. By successful, i mean we would see them for 2 or more years and also see them interacting with other deer and they didn't rely on us for food outside of the first 1/2 year of age.

PA Game Warden Killed Sad sad. I say take the guy, chain him to the ground, and cover him in molasses and corn. Let the wild hogs, coyotes, and ants get him.

Swamp People Awesome show. Troy is hilarious. "he shot my tree, I can't believe he shot my tree."

Thinking of Buying a Cuddeback need opinions? I have a wildgame innovations x6c that has done a good job this year. Go to chasing game web site for reviews of trail cams. Lots of good info there.