During the MI youth hunt, Spt 22nd, my nephew scored on his first ever buck. It was a dandy by any definition but for a first buck, WOW!
We set up under some small trees looking west into an hay field. Big roundbales were lined up behind us and the wind was straight out of the west into our faces. His Dad was videoing and I was guiding and videoing the hunter. AJ had taken his first deer last year during the firearm season, a large doe, and really wanted to harvest a buck. We have a deer management program on the farm so no bucks are harvested until they are at least 3.5 years old. He said he would take a large doe but I knew he really wanted some horns to go on the wall.
Even before shooting light we had a group of 1.5 year old bucks sparring in the field right in front of us. It was spectacular and the look on his face was priceless. Shooting hours finally came and we watched the bucks wander down to the pond and then into the woods to the north. A doe and fawn came out in the field, went right to the pond and then made their way south in front of us. AJ asked if she was a big doe and I told him no, there were much larger ones out here. His dad, Arn, accused us of being trophy doe hunters. :lol: Several more small bucks showed themselves in the field but no shooters. A BIG doe with twins in tow came into the field and AJ was thinking about dropping the hammer on her when a coyote showed up. After watching the fawns for a couple minutes the coyote charged at them. Arn stopped her with a lip squeal and AJ dumped the yote in it's tracks. I paced it off to just over 70 yards, put the powerbelt right through the boiler room. We got settled back in and had two more small bucks come from the south and some does working the north end of the field. Just then I spotted this buck coming from the west to see what those two smaller bucks were up to. I spotted him at about 110 yards, gave AJ the go ahead, and then just watched the buck through my binos to make sure he wasn't going to spook. He just fed down the hill toward us and AJ waited til he was about 60 yards before taking a quartering frontal shot. He went about 80 yards and piled up out of sight.
I found the buck first, we set up the camera and then called AJ in so we could capture his reaction. Priceless!
The buck has 10 scoreable points, 17.5 inch spread. The right is a typical 4 points with a hole in the horn. The left side is a double main beam, three on one, two on the other with a drop tine. Just an awesome day for a young man. I was very proud and happy I could be a part of it. We got the whole days events on video and I can't wait to get it burned to DVD so I can watch it over and over again.
BTW AJ shoots a .50 Knight Disc with a Nikon 3-9X40 loaded with two 777 pellets that push a 245 gr Powebelt hollowpoint.
His coyote and our set up. The yote is right in front of AJ, it's hard to see. It wasn't dark, my camera just made it look that way under those trees.
We set up under some small trees looking west into an hay field. Big roundbales were lined up behind us and the wind was straight out of the west into our faces. His Dad was videoing and I was guiding and videoing the hunter. AJ had taken his first deer last year during the firearm season, a large doe, and really wanted to harvest a buck. We have a deer management program on the farm so no bucks are harvested until they are at least 3.5 years old. He said he would take a large doe but I knew he really wanted some horns to go on the wall.
Even before shooting light we had a group of 1.5 year old bucks sparring in the field right in front of us. It was spectacular and the look on his face was priceless. Shooting hours finally came and we watched the bucks wander down to the pond and then into the woods to the north. A doe and fawn came out in the field, went right to the pond and then made their way south in front of us. AJ asked if she was a big doe and I told him no, there were much larger ones out here. His dad, Arn, accused us of being trophy doe hunters. :lol: Several more small bucks showed themselves in the field but no shooters. A BIG doe with twins in tow came into the field and AJ was thinking about dropping the hammer on her when a coyote showed up. After watching the fawns for a couple minutes the coyote charged at them. Arn stopped her with a lip squeal and AJ dumped the yote in it's tracks. I paced it off to just over 70 yards, put the powerbelt right through the boiler room. We got settled back in and had two more small bucks come from the south and some does working the north end of the field. Just then I spotted this buck coming from the west to see what those two smaller bucks were up to. I spotted him at about 110 yards, gave AJ the go ahead, and then just watched the buck through my binos to make sure he wasn't going to spook. He just fed down the hill toward us and AJ waited til he was about 60 yards before taking a quartering frontal shot. He went about 80 yards and piled up out of sight.
I found the buck first, we set up the camera and then called AJ in so we could capture his reaction. Priceless!
The buck has 10 scoreable points, 17.5 inch spread. The right is a typical 4 points with a hole in the horn. The left side is a double main beam, three on one, two on the other with a drop tine. Just an awesome day for a young man. I was very proud and happy I could be a part of it. We got the whole days events on video and I can't wait to get it burned to DVD so I can watch it over and over again.BTW AJ shoots a .50 Knight Disc with a Nikon 3-9X40 loaded with two 777 pellets that push a 245 gr Powebelt hollowpoint.
His coyote and our set up. The yote is right in front of AJ, it's hard to see. It wasn't dark, my camera just made it look that way under those trees.
