ptarmigan
FNG
Last fall I put my sons name in for a DC485 tag and he drew one. We took the hunters safety course together over the winter and spent even more time at the range. He has hunted with me the last two years but this hunt was going to be just for him.
On Sunday we headed left the house around 3:30 am and got to our spot by about 2 pm. Nothing moving around that day but we were able to get an idea of the areas being most heavily traveled by animals. The next morning we started seeing caribou as soon as we got out of the tent. Only one decent bull in the morning and we weren't able to make a move on it. At about 1:30 we spotted a group of 6 bulls that were feeding about 500 yds from camp. We were able to get within 300 yds before we ran out of cover.
We watched the bulls bed down and I made a plan to clear a little shooting lane for my boy to take a prone shot. I wasn't confident with the accuracy of his 6.5x55 at that range as we hadn't shot it out that far. He said he wanted to use my T3x .300 wm to make the shot. I was a bit apprehensive but he kept reassuring me he was steady and the first dot was dead on. When the bulls stood up there was one real big one but another was right behind it and wouldn't move. My boy decided to take the last one in the group as it was clear. One shot at a ranged 297 yds and it went right down in its tracks! It was one of the coolest moments in my life. I couldn't have been more proud of him! Pretty awesome hunt for an 11 yr old and he can't wait to out again next year.
On Sunday we headed left the house around 3:30 am and got to our spot by about 2 pm. Nothing moving around that day but we were able to get an idea of the areas being most heavily traveled by animals. The next morning we started seeing caribou as soon as we got out of the tent. Only one decent bull in the morning and we weren't able to make a move on it. At about 1:30 we spotted a group of 6 bulls that were feeding about 500 yds from camp. We were able to get within 300 yds before we ran out of cover.
We watched the bulls bed down and I made a plan to clear a little shooting lane for my boy to take a prone shot. I wasn't confident with the accuracy of his 6.5x55 at that range as we hadn't shot it out that far. He said he wanted to use my T3x .300 wm to make the shot. I was a bit apprehensive but he kept reassuring me he was steady and the first dot was dead on. When the bulls stood up there was one real big one but another was right behind it and wouldn't move. My boy decided to take the last one in the group as it was clear. One shot at a ranged 297 yds and it went right down in its tracks! It was one of the coolest moments in my life. I couldn't have been more proud of him! Pretty awesome hunt for an 11 yr old and he can't wait to out again next year.
