Took a buddy on his first hunt

bullsi1911

This was a first for me- introducing someone older than 7 to hunting!

A buddy of mine that I have been shooting with for a few years made a few hints about wanting to go hunting, and we had a plethora of deer that needed to be taken in our extended spike/ doe season. I have been incredible fortunate to have a very good family share the hunting heritage with me (my family growing up was not into hunting- at first), and I was very happy to share that with someone who will share the heritage into his family as well. First, a bit of background- my best friend when I was a kid asked me to go on a hunt with him when I was about 12 or so. Ever since then, I have been hooked. My friend's dad is a true cowboy rancher- been living in a saddle or on a truck since he was old enough to walk, and honest to god looks like Sam Elliot if he was actually a rancher/ cowboy. These are the people that took a poor kid that never had venison before to being an absolute hunting fanatic, and shaped my life in ways that cannot be expressed here. Suffice it to say, my buddy from back then is still my best friend, his dad is still my hero, and I make time to be with them and hunt with them as much as I can.

I had the chance to spread this heritage into another family. Of course I am going to jump at the chance!

We made it to my lease early in the morning yesterday, and the day started off strange. While my buddy was setting up in my blind, I had a fox come running at me while I was putting corn out for the deer (cue a south park "He's coming right at me!" moment). I only had a gun with me in case I saw a pig, but in this case, I decided to whack the fox. On the plus side, I blooded one of my AR's. On the minus side, I had a fox on the ground and no idea what to do with it. So, I tossed it under a tree and went back to get my buddy set up for taking his first deer.

We are out, I am enjoying the hell out of being out and not in the hot seat. Then the cows come in. Anyone that has hunted this way knows that if there are cows under the feeder, the chances of seeing a deer drop to almost zero. I feel like crap that my buddy won't see a deer, but he is having fun. The morning passes, and we pack up to go. My friend that I have known forever texts me to pack up the fox and take it to a taxidermist friend that trades me for credit on my next deer mount. Bonus!

My buddy and I have a great lunch, go pick up my sausage from my last deer at the processor, and then get back out to another blind that does not have cows near it, and is KNOWN to have lots of cull bucks come in. So we go get very cozy in a small blind. An hour or so passes, and the feeder spins... empty. We are screwed. if the feeder has been empty for a few days, then the deer have probably stopped coming in. I apologize to my buddy and tell him that we are now just hoping a stupid one comes in with no corn on the ground.

We are both reading books about 30 minutes later when my buddy says "Deer!" I don't even have time to grab the binocs, so I grab the range finder, look at the deer and seen two spikes on top of his head.

"As soon as you can, take him." I say.

My buddy waits, and when the deer stops for just a second, clocks him with a picture perfect 'quartering away' shot into the heart. The deer drops like Atropos cut his thread... It was a textbook bang-flop. Gun is a Springfield M1Awith a Burris scout scope, and the round was a Remington CoreLokt 150 grain .308.



I'm more proud of this than I am of most of the deer I have harvested. And for someone that had never shot an animal, he got in to his elbows and did the majority of the work of taking the animal apart (with inept guidance from me).

As an aside, this is deer #5 that my Mora Companion has taken apart and is still shaving sharp.

Anyway- I wanted to share. I had an absolute blast out in the woods, and introduced a new hunter to the sport.

Zee

Well done!!! That's a cool looking rifle.

Farm Boy Deuce

Awesome. Helping someone new to hunting is a bigger thrill to me.

CHIRO1989

First one is always a good one, good on him to get his hands dirty.

Diver43

Congratulations to you both
Well done all around

You must have borrowes Zee's camera

Jeff in TX

Very cool story and hunt! Congrats to you both and well done!

bisley

Great story! Introducing the uninitiated is very rewarding. Your buddy did good - no 'buck fever,' apparently. Cool rifle, too.

early

Hey, that's pretty cool!
Nice rifle too.

snake284

That's cool Bullsi, you're a class guy doing that. I too did similar a few weeks back. Wasn't a deer, I think they're extinct here now. But My Filipino friend killed his first wild animal with MY .270 yet. He's still floating on a cloud. He killed a nice sow on my lease. This wasn't his first rodeo but it was his first kill. I had my 8mm with me also but the .270 is luckier so I let him use it. It wasn't bang flop but it ran about 20 yards. Never made the brush line so it was an easy recovery. We took it to my house and cleaned it and put it on ice for 5 days, after which I cut up and froze. All he wanted was half the back strap and half the tender loins. He said to make us some sausage so that's what I'll do in another couple weeks.

Anyway, I take it since this guy shoots with you he's no stranger to firearms. I love his rifle. That's the perfect hog gun. Congratulations to both of you, him for his first kill and you for giving your time and skills to propagate hunting. This is one less bunny hugger we have to worry about and most likely he's going to pass this on to his kids. I love it!!! Good on you, and God Bless you brother!

snake284

Diver43 wrote: »

Congratulations to you both
Well done all around

You must have borrowes Zee's camera

:rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao::rotflmao:

JerryBobCo

Well done. I think that for a lot of hunters there comes a time when one gets more satisfaction from helping a friend take an animal that to actually take one.

I hope your friend realizes just how great a gift you have given him. There are a lot of people who would love to have an opportunity such as this.

bullsi1911

Thanks for the replies everyone. I now have another friend who wants to go whack an axis or a pig now that whitetail season is over for us.

Zee, snake and Early- I liked his rifle as well. Short and handy in the blind, but heavy to carry.

Bisley- when we got the text (remember the old days when we used radios to communicate between blinds?) from my other friend who was in another blind with his daughter and said deer were heading our way- the new hunter said he got more buck few than when he was actually shooting the deer.

NN

Great hunting story

R51MAN

bullsi1911 wrote: »

This was a first for me- introducing someone older than 7 to hunting!

A buddy of mine that I have been shooting with for a few years made a few hints about wanting to go hunting, and we had a plethora of deer that needed to be taken in our extended spike/ doe season. I have been incredible fortunate to have a very good family share the hunting heritage with me (my family growing up was not into hunting- at first), and I was very happy to share that with someone who will share the heritage into his family as well. First, a bit of background- my best friend when I was a kid asked me to go on a hunt with him when I was about 12 or so. Ever since then, I have been hooked. My friend's dad is a true cowboy rancher- been living in a saddle or on a truck since he was old enough to walk, and honest to god looks like Sam Elliot if he was actually a rancher/ cowboy. These are the people that took a poor kid that never had venison before to being an absolute hunting fanatic, and shaped my life in ways that cannot be expressed here. Suffice it to say, my buddy from back then is still my best friend, his dad is still my hero, and I make time to be with them and hunt with them as much as I can.

I had the chance to spread this heritage into another family. Of course I am going to jump at the chance!

We made it to my lease early in the morning yesterday, and the day started off strange. While my buddy was setting up in my blind, I had a fox come running at me while I was putting corn out for the deer (cue a south park "He's coming right at me!" moment). I only had a gun with me in case I saw a pig, but in this case, I decided to whack the fox. On the plus side, I blooded one of my AR's. On the minus side, I had a fox on the ground and no idea what to do with it. So, I tossed it under a tree and went back to get my buddy set up for taking his first deer.

We are out, I am enjoying the hell out of being out and not in the hot seat. Then the cows come in. Anyone that has hunted this way knows that if there are cows under the feeder, the chances of seeing a deer drop to almost zero. I feel like crap that my buddy won't see a deer, but he is having fun. The morning passes, and we pack up to go. My friend that I have known forever texts me to pack up the fox and take it to a taxidermist friend that trades me for credit on my next deer mount. Bonus!

My buddy and I have a great lunch, go pick up my sausage from my last deer at the processor, and then get back out to another blind that does not have cows near it, and is KNOWN to have lots of cull bucks come in. So we go get very cozy in a small blind. An hour or so passes, and the feeder spins... empty. We are screwed. if the feeder has been empty for a few days, then the deer have probably stopped coming in. I apologize to my buddy and tell him that we are now just hoping a stupid one comes in with no corn on the ground.

We are both reading books about 30 minutes later when my buddy says "Deer!" I don't even have time to grab the binocs, so I grab the range finder, look at the deer and seen two spikes on top of his head.

"As soon as you can, take him." I say.

My buddy waits, and when the deer stops for just a second, clocks him with a picture perfect 'quartering away' shot into the heart. The deer drops like Atropos cut his thread... It was a textbook bang-flop. Gun is a Springfield M1Awith a Burris scout scope, and the round was a Remington CoreLokt 150 grain .308.



I'm more proud of this than I am of most of the deer I have harvested. And for someone that had never shot an animal, he got in to his elbows and did the majority of the work of taking the animal apart (with inept guidance from me).

As an aside, this is deer #5 that my Mora Companion has taken apart and is still shaving sharp.

Anyway- I wanted to share. I had an absolute blast out in the woods, and introduced a new hunter to the sport.

Bullsi1911,
That is almost word for word for my first hunting experience. It was not Deer, but Squirrel hunting. I was 10.
Years later, I took a neighbours kid who was 12 hunting, and now he hunts regularly. His dad did not hunt. You are right, it makes your day!
BTW, a deer that size, I usually put one in his ear. More meat that way.

Six-Gun

Great working helping this gentleman score. I was not a hunter until adulthood myself. It took a friend offering to help me for it to start clicking.

snake284

Reflecting on this past year's hunting results, I didn't kill anything. Overall we had a suck year for deer. It was too hot too long. Also the full moon cycle was such that we had a full moon during the rare times it was cool. Having said that, going along with the theme of this thread, I did have an opportunity to introduce a friend, an adult friend, to hunting. And not only hunting, but actually killing, Game! And, since this guy is not really set up to deal with game, He doesn't have a large Freezer, only the one on top of his refrigerator, he gave me most of the meat. So, I told him that we will make sausage and share it. So not a bad year afterall. But the feeling that goes with helping someone kill game that has never done so makes up for not killing anything myself. A good year after all.

bobbyrlf3

Well done!