my daughter and the impossible shot

[N10sivern]

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

[PotashRLS]

Congrats to you and your daughter. I hope though you discussed with her one of the 4 rules of hunter safety.......know your target and what is beyond. This kind of thing makes for an excellent learning tool. Congrats again.

[N10sivern]

Congrats to you and your daughter. I hope though you discussed with her one of the 4 rules of hunter safety.......know your target and what is beyond. This kind of thing makes for an excellent learning tool. Congrats again.

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.

[BamaTrae]

Very cool for her first! Let her know we all think she's awesome! I hope my girl will get out there with me when she's old enough.

Congrats on a great hunt!

[The_Kat]

Interesting........

[N10sivern]

Very cool for her first! Let her know we all think she's awesome! I hope my girl will get out there with me when she's old enough.

Congrats on a great hunt!

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.

[wtnhunt]

Interesting........

Yep, sure is.

So much of what you post sounds familiar with hunting with my oldest daughter. We went through the times with her sitting on my lap to be in position for shots and also went through the tedious times of what seemed to be forever of her flipping the safety off to shoot and flipping it back on with waiting for the deer she wanted to shoot to be alone without other deer in the way. Could see where it could happen very easily that 2 deer could be lined up perfectly for such a thing to happen.

In regards to her first time shooting that rifle, sounds like she is quite a shot, great shot placement. That said, I would not condone setting a kid up to hunt without having them practice with the gun they intend to hunt with, but thats just me.

Congratulations to her and to you too.

[N10sivern]

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

Edited December 6, 2010 by N10sivern

[redkneck]

Yep, sure is.

So much of what you post sounds familiar with hunting with my oldest daughter. We went through the times with her sitting on my lap to be in position for shots and also went through the tedious times of what seemed to be forever of her flipping the safety off to shoot and flipping it back on with waiting for the deer she wanted to shoot to be alone without other deer in the way. Could see where it could happen very easily that 2 deer could be lined up perfectly for such a thing to happen.

In regards to her first time shooting that rifle, sounds like she is quite a shot, great shot placement. That said, I would not condone setting a kid up to hunt without having them practice with the gun they intend to hunt with, but thats just me.

Congratulations to her and to you too.

Well said William.

Congrats to the little girl on her first bucks!

[njbowhntr]

Congrats to your daughter. I hope that someday I can share in your excitement when my girls take their first deer.

As for the 2 deer. That is a one in a fifteen million chance. She did know her target and beyond. How can you ever explain a deer running in front of a speeding bullet? It is like hitting a deer with your car. It is not like someone tries to hit the deer to total their car.

And for the never shooting the gun before. There is alot of veteran hunters who hunt with a gun they have never shot before. It is something that happens, but theyfail to mention. Like borrowing a gun on a hunt because your gun broke. It happens.

Edited December 7, 2010 by njbowhntr

[huntnfish]

Congrats to your daughter.

[wtnhunt]

i took my 11 year old daughter hunting for the first time ever today. ........................................

first time hunting, first time shooting a rifle larger than a .22,

And for the never shooting the gun before. There is alot of veteran hunters who hunt with a gun they have never shot before. It is something that happens, but theyfail to mention. Like borrowing a gun on a hunt because your gun broke. It happens.

And wal mart's biggest gun sale day of the year is the day before rifle season opens. Not something I would do, but to each their own I guess.

Like I said, I would not do this with a kid, but that is just me. A veteran hunter/shooter has likely fired several different firearms and is able/competent with an accurate weapon even without having fired that weapon before. A bit different than a kid that has never even fired a centerfire don't ya think?

and she shoots 2 deer with 1 shot, not to mention both deer had excellent shot placement.

Not to take anything away here and maybe this should be brought up in a thread on its own, but to be honest I tend to think there was probably a bit of luck involved with the second deer being hit where it was hit. Pretty darned lucky the bullet did not detour any. Would likely had to have had missed any bone in the first deer to remain on the same path to hit the second deer with the placement the same.

Again congratulations to her. Certainly an interesting topic, one that has actually come up here before.

[redkneck]

My twin girls are now 11. They both have had to slowly graduate from level to level. First deer they took were does at age 8 with a 20ga and a laser-level attached so that I could see where they were placing their shots. Of course they had to show me at the camp they could hit the target, not to mention they had to be able to take the kick without too much drama later. Next we moved up to the scoped .243. One daughter has proven she can hold shot after shot, no flinching, no shaking, and she can put them on the ground. Jody still has yet to prove that, and she understands when we hunt and the buck of a lifetime walks out, it belongs to daddy until she shows me otherwise, lol.

I'm all for minimizing the risk of wounding deer, with new shooters. Wouldn't dare take my kids to the woods without having a high confidence they'll make a good shot.

Not trying to detract from you post, I understand she had been shooting a 22, just sorta reiterating what William is getting to.

[doubledrop]

congrats on the 2 bucks. sounds like she just proved she could shoot and handle the gun.

[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.

[redkneck]

A friend of mine killed a doe and fawn with one arrow once (accident). The stars line up from time to time. Congrats to the little girl!

[earnhardts12000]

congrats to ur daughter

[Ravin R10 man]

Congrats to your daughter!! Glad it all turned out..I know lady that shot two deer with her crossbow..shot a huge buck and a doe had stepped up behind it in the balsam, she never saw it..until they both ran off and dropped over! It happens