mcaustin
AH senior member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2018
- Messages
- 98
- Reaction score
- 273
- Media
- 23
- Hunted
- Namibia, South Africa, US - Alaska, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, Virginia, and Kansas.
My 11 year old daughter has been shooting archery for about 1.5 years with a local archery club and is a great shot. She hadn't expressed much interest in hunting until around April of this year, when she asked me out of the blue, "what draw weight would I need to hunt deer?"
I answered her "uhhh....more than you're pulling now. Let's talk to the shop owner next week when you shoot." The following week I chatted with the shop owner and we cranked up Claire's draw weight tp 26 lbs and starting making plans to see howuch progress we'd be able to make before the KS youth season (9/3-9/11).
I also started making back up plans, just in case it looked like we'd run out of time to come up with an archery solution for this year. Around mid-June, I asked Claire if she would be willing to hunt with a rifle this year and she said yes. With that, I started working with her shooting my short barreled and suppressed 300BLK using 110gr Barnes Tac-TX bullets. I've used this set up to take 2-3 deer when not bow hunting and that bullet is absolutely devastating.
Fast forward to last weekend, Claire and I had our first sit on Monday morning. Unfortunately, the only deer we saw took off before it was light enough to shoot.
So, we went back to our camper on our property to have breakfast, coffee and a nap (for me). After some fishing on the pond and lunch, we hit the blind again for the evening hunt. About an hour into the hunt, we saw two does walking through the woods and they came out right where we needed for a shot.
Claire confirmed with me which deer to take, and was rock solid. She made a perfect shot at 27 yards! We had a short track and found her doe in the woods. I asked my wife to take the truck to get ice while Claire helped me quarter the doe to get her bagged and into the cooler since it was still in the upper 70s as the light faded.
I'm so proud of Claire and this was one of the most fun hunts I've had! She practiced, studied whitetail shot placement, and learned her way around an AR in preparation on for this hunt. I've been showing everybody who would listen (and probably some who didn't) this picture all week and thought I'd share with you all as well.
I answered her "uhhh....more than you're pulling now. Let's talk to the shop owner next week when you shoot." The following week I chatted with the shop owner and we cranked up Claire's draw weight tp 26 lbs and starting making plans to see howuch progress we'd be able to make before the KS youth season (9/3-9/11).
I also started making back up plans, just in case it looked like we'd run out of time to come up with an archery solution for this year. Around mid-June, I asked Claire if she would be willing to hunt with a rifle this year and she said yes. With that, I started working with her shooting my short barreled and suppressed 300BLK using 110gr Barnes Tac-TX bullets. I've used this set up to take 2-3 deer when not bow hunting and that bullet is absolutely devastating.
Fast forward to last weekend, Claire and I had our first sit on Monday morning. Unfortunately, the only deer we saw took off before it was light enough to shoot.
So, we went back to our camper on our property to have breakfast, coffee and a nap (for me). After some fishing on the pond and lunch, we hit the blind again for the evening hunt. About an hour into the hunt, we saw two does walking through the woods and they came out right where we needed for a shot.
Claire confirmed with me which deer to take, and was rock solid. She made a perfect shot at 27 yards! We had a short track and found her doe in the woods. I asked my wife to take the truck to get ice while Claire helped me quarter the doe to get her bagged and into the cooler since it was still in the upper 70s as the light faded.
I'm so proud of Claire and this was one of the most fun hunts I've had! She practiced, studied whitetail shot placement, and learned her way around an AR in preparation on for this hunt. I've been showing everybody who would listen (and probably some who didn't) this picture all week and thought I'd share with you all as well.
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