This is going to be long, so bear with me…
My son and I went to Idaho in 2023 and he shot the first 3-point we saw. Fast forward to this year, and he told me, “Dad, I’m holding out for a bigger one.” I told him it’s his tag, and he can do what he wants. He is 12 this year.
First day of the trip yielded just 5 does.
Second day, we saw 19 deer, I shot a 3x4 (counting eye guards), and we saw two smaller bucks. One he passed on, and another that even if he wanted to shoot, there would not have been a shot as he took off running.
Third day we saw 22 deer. With about 2 hours of light left, we spotted a nice buck that he would have been happy with. Unfortunately, it was just too windy, and too far of a shot from where we spotted him. I told him we could hustle and try and circle around above him and we would be right on top of him. When we got over there, we could not locate him due to the thick brush trying to look down from above, and we ran out of daylight.
Fourth day, I let him choose between two areas, and after a lot of debating, he finally settled on a choice.
We got a late start due to some mechanical difficulties, and it was already getting daylight before we even got into the woods. At about 8:30-8:45am we reached a glassing point overlooking a large clearing. After glassing for 10 minutes or so, I told him I was going to walk down a little bit to try and look back into a corner of the clearing we couldn’t see very well. I look back, and he’s right behind me, leaving our packs and rifle about 20 yards up (first mistake). What he did have in his hand was my Phelps Akern Pro Grunt-n-Bleat call that I just bought. He starts blowing the call, alternating from grunts to bleats. At this point I’m just letting him have fun, as we hadn’t see a deer all morning. I ask him, “what are you going to do if a buck walks out?” His reply, “run up and get the rifle”.
Well, about 5 minutes or so of him blowing on the call, I look up on the hillside and see a deer standing there. Throw my binos up, doe. She had come from the little corner we were still unable to see. She takes off moving, and here comes another deer. Didn’t need the binos to tell my son it was a shooting buck coming out onto the hillside at 220 yards. My son takes off running up the hill to get the rifle while I watch the buck. I can’t quite see the packs and rifle from where I’m standing, and after what felt like an eternity, my son still hadn’t returned with the rifle. Meanwhile, the buck had chased the doe into some thick stuff in a bowl we couldn’t see into from our lower vantage point.
I run up the hill to see what’s going on, and he’s struggling to get the rifle unclipped from my pack due to his cold hands. I help him get the rifle off and ready, and tell him the buck and doe went into the little bowl we can’t see, but good news is we can see the entire perimeter, and they can’t leave without us seeing them. Rifle ready and spotter now aimed at the hillside with my phone on the Ollin adapter, just meant it was a waiting game. Few minutes go by, and I was getting impatient, so I blow on the grunt call a few times. Out comes a smaller buck, from the exact same spot they did, with his nose to the ground. With us having the first buck pinned down, this one wasn’t a shooter. This smaller buck followed the exact same trail, and disappeared into the bowl exactly where the bigger buck did. Told my son, “hopefully he goes in there and stirs things up to get the big one to push his doe out”.
Few minutes go by, and I catch the doe coming out of the bowl going from left to right across the hillside. Right behind her comes the bigger buck. The shot angle was too steep uphill that by bipod would not extend tall enough, so I had to hurry up and get the gun clipped into the tripod. Quick range (440 yards), dial the scope, and hit record on the Ollin. Shot goes off, and I watch it go right over the buck’s back. The buck looks around confused (shooting suppressed), and then starts moving left to right, over a ridge, and into another patch of brush. Same story, though, he can’t get out of there without us seeing him.
While the buck is hidden, we reposition, anticipating he will be to the right when another shot presents itself. Couple minutes later his doe comes out of the brush with him in tow. He finally stops, re-range (380 yards), redial the scope, and hit record. Shot goes off, and it’s a little forward, but height is good. Buck starts to move off favoring his entry side front shoulder, but as soon as he gets to the first incline he stops, looking like he doesn’t want to go uphill, but that’s the way his doe went. At this point, I still have the buck in the spotter, but my son can’t find him in the scope, and honestly I was having a hard time finding him in my rangefinder to get a new range. I thought the first shot was going to kill him, but since he was still on his feet, I told him he should put another one in him. We both finally find him, get a new range, small adjustment on the scope, and the shot goes off. For some reason I couldn’t see it very well thru the spotter, but the buck runs about 20 yards sidehill and then just starts tumbling down the hill end over end.
After a bit of a fiasco trying to find which “dead tree next to the green tree” he stopped rolling at, we laid hands on his second whitetail ever, and definitely his biggest. Got him quartered, and my son insisted he could pack the two front quarters, and really wanted to pack the head so I could take some “cool pack out pictures” of him. Guess holding out for a “bigger” one paid off.
Rifle: Seekins Havak PH2 6.5 PRC
Ammo: Factory Hornady 147 ELD-M
Chassis: XLR Element 4.0 MG
Scope: Nightforce NX8 4-32 FFP MOA
My son and I went to Idaho in 2023 and he shot the first 3-point we saw. Fast forward to this year, and he told me, “Dad, I’m holding out for a bigger one.” I told him it’s his tag, and he can do what he wants. He is 12 this year.
First day of the trip yielded just 5 does.
Second day, we saw 19 deer, I shot a 3x4 (counting eye guards), and we saw two smaller bucks. One he passed on, and another that even if he wanted to shoot, there would not have been a shot as he took off running.
Third day we saw 22 deer. With about 2 hours of light left, we spotted a nice buck that he would have been happy with. Unfortunately, it was just too windy, and too far of a shot from where we spotted him. I told him we could hustle and try and circle around above him and we would be right on top of him. When we got over there, we could not locate him due to the thick brush trying to look down from above, and we ran out of daylight.
Fourth day, I let him choose between two areas, and after a lot of debating, he finally settled on a choice.
We got a late start due to some mechanical difficulties, and it was already getting daylight before we even got into the woods. At about 8:30-8:45am we reached a glassing point overlooking a large clearing. After glassing for 10 minutes or so, I told him I was going to walk down a little bit to try and look back into a corner of the clearing we couldn’t see very well. I look back, and he’s right behind me, leaving our packs and rifle about 20 yards up (first mistake). What he did have in his hand was my Phelps Akern Pro Grunt-n-Bleat call that I just bought. He starts blowing the call, alternating from grunts to bleats. At this point I’m just letting him have fun, as we hadn’t see a deer all morning. I ask him, “what are you going to do if a buck walks out?” His reply, “run up and get the rifle”.
Well, about 5 minutes or so of him blowing on the call, I look up on the hillside and see a deer standing there. Throw my binos up, doe. She had come from the little corner we were still unable to see. She takes off moving, and here comes another deer. Didn’t need the binos to tell my son it was a shooting buck coming out onto the hillside at 220 yards. My son takes off running up the hill to get the rifle while I watch the buck. I can’t quite see the packs and rifle from where I’m standing, and after what felt like an eternity, my son still hadn’t returned with the rifle. Meanwhile, the buck had chased the doe into some thick stuff in a bowl we couldn’t see into from our lower vantage point.
I run up the hill to see what’s going on, and he’s struggling to get the rifle unclipped from my pack due to his cold hands. I help him get the rifle off and ready, and tell him the buck and doe went into the little bowl we can’t see, but good news is we can see the entire perimeter, and they can’t leave without us seeing them. Rifle ready and spotter now aimed at the hillside with my phone on the Ollin adapter, just meant it was a waiting game. Few minutes go by, and I was getting impatient, so I blow on the grunt call a few times. Out comes a smaller buck, from the exact same spot they did, with his nose to the ground. With us having the first buck pinned down, this one wasn’t a shooter. This smaller buck followed the exact same trail, and disappeared into the bowl exactly where the bigger buck did. Told my son, “hopefully he goes in there and stirs things up to get the big one to push his doe out”.
Few minutes go by, and I catch the doe coming out of the bowl going from left to right across the hillside. Right behind her comes the bigger buck. The shot angle was too steep uphill that by bipod would not extend tall enough, so I had to hurry up and get the gun clipped into the tripod. Quick range (440 yards), dial the scope, and hit record on the Ollin. Shot goes off, and I watch it go right over the buck’s back. The buck looks around confused (shooting suppressed), and then starts moving left to right, over a ridge, and into another patch of brush. Same story, though, he can’t get out of there without us seeing him.
While the buck is hidden, we reposition, anticipating he will be to the right when another shot presents itself. Couple minutes later his doe comes out of the brush with him in tow. He finally stops, re-range (380 yards), redial the scope, and hit record. Shot goes off, and it’s a little forward, but height is good. Buck starts to move off favoring his entry side front shoulder, but as soon as he gets to the first incline he stops, looking like he doesn’t want to go uphill, but that’s the way his doe went. At this point, I still have the buck in the spotter, but my son can’t find him in the scope, and honestly I was having a hard time finding him in my rangefinder to get a new range. I thought the first shot was going to kill him, but since he was still on his feet, I told him he should put another one in him. We both finally find him, get a new range, small adjustment on the scope, and the shot goes off. For some reason I couldn’t see it very well thru the spotter, but the buck runs about 20 yards sidehill and then just starts tumbling down the hill end over end.
After a bit of a fiasco trying to find which “dead tree next to the green tree” he stopped rolling at, we laid hands on his second whitetail ever, and definitely his biggest. Got him quartered, and my son insisted he could pack the two front quarters, and really wanted to pack the head so I could take some “cool pack out pictures” of him. Guess holding out for a “bigger” one paid off.
Rifle: Seekins Havak PH2 6.5 PRC
Ammo: Factory Hornady 147 ELD-M
Chassis: XLR Element 4.0 MG
Scope: Nightforce NX8 4-32 FFP MOA
