Hunting & Fishing My 9 yr old tags his first buck!

Mudcat-NC

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 15, 2009
588
1
Western NC
Went out Tuesday morning and hunted our back field from our ground blind where I have us set up to shoot off bipods and Trey, my 9 yr old, has a rear bag too. We tested him earlier this year as this was his first year hunting and first time shooting a centerfire rifle. During our tests, I had him shoot at a 10 inch AR500 plate and kept moving it further away and as long as he could consistently hit the plate at the given distance, he would be allowed to shoot at a deer at that distance. Well, he backed it up to 325 yards, the max distance we have in this field. I tried to have him use the new FN SPR I had built in 6.5Creedmoor but the still factory trigger was just too heavy for him and he was moving the gun when he fired. So I grabbed one of my T2ks that hasnt been set up for XTR/LR use yet as I bought it like it sits (someone here will recognize it as I got this one off the for sale pages! The bbl is missing the first 1/4 inch of rifling but it will still shoot at 300), set up for tactical use. We stuck a NightForce on it and he loves the 1.5 pound trigger and it seems to work really well for him, but forget about him carrying it around, just too heavy for him...he weighs 60 pounds, soaking wet.

So, on Tuesday, at about 7:15am we had a doe and yearling come out, then this guy followed. Trey was calm, didn’t get buck fever and even waited for me to get the video camera set up to get the shot. He then calmly told me where he was putting the crosshairs and I told him to squeeze off the shot when he was ready. BOOM! Hammered this guy at 315 yards, one shot (you can see where he hit it in the pic). Nice heavy bodied 7 point. Trey hit him square and he dropped like a rock, tried to get up, kicked for a few seconds and then nothing. He used a T2k in the pic with a Berger 105VLD. That’s his second deer of the year, both 300+ yard shots.

To say I am thrilled that my son is now hunting with me would be an understatement, to know he can make such a shot, well, thats really awesome. I figured 15 hits in a row on a 10 inch steel gong at 325 yards proved he had what it took...and two deer down so far, well, just confirmed it. Hopefully high power is in his future too! :)

If you want to see what a Berger 105 hunting bullet out of a 6XC does to a deer, watch this. http://tinypic.com/r/16anypl/7


209lwmo.jpg
 
Re: My 9 yr old tags his first buck!

Congats, Nice Buck. Enjoy them while they are young because they grow up too fast and then go away. I remember when my son shot his first deer and that seems so long ago. He's almost 21 now.
 
Re: My 9 yr old tags his first buck!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: VTR</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Enjoy them while they are young because they grow up too fast and then go away. I remember when my son shot his first deer and that seems so long ago. He's almost 21 now. </div></div>

Truer words are yet to be spoken...

Take as many pictures as you can and preserve the memories.

My oldest with his first, and latest deer, and there's a bunch of stuff so far in between.

He's 16 now, and likely headed to the Corp, eventually...hopefully I can talk him into a hitch at VMI first.

His childhood has been the best part of my life...

Something I like to do is put a season's pics on an SD card and plug them into one of those electronic picture frames.

Good conversation pieces when folks come over....

P1010018.jpg


HPIM2875.jpg
 
Re: My 9 yr old tags his first buck!

Big congrats to you and your son! You should be very proud.

My boys are 3 and 1. I can't wait for the day I can take them hunting and shooting, but then on the other hand I don't want them to grow up. Kids are a ton of work, but the best thing in life.