Post by Snareman on Feb 12, 2005 2:45:21 GMT -5
Looking back at how young my father started me using a gun and hunting really fascinated me. I remember being 10 years old and was already a good aim using a .22, but wanted to shoot the CANON... my dad's 30-30! It was a winter day after school and I got the nerve(if you can call it that. LOL!) to shoot the Canon. I grabbed the gun, loaded it and was standing to aim at a huge white pine tree. I was wearing my snowmobile suit, helmet and had serious padding on my shoulder under the suit. I readied the gun, pulled the hammer back, aimed... and ..... BAM.... gun went off! I felt all big chested because I finally got the nerve to fire the beast and it didn't hurt like I thought it would and the noise was hardly nothin'. LOL!... snowmobile suit, padding AND a helmet!
After telling my dad about the experience it was later that year in the fall, he took me deer hunting. By then I was on a few hunts walking with the adults, but this time I got to hold the gun and walk point. We walked about a 1/3 of a mile before we crested this hill. While scanning around, my dad pointed out a deer in the bottom of the hill. I really only remember seeing color... no deer body, no head, no flicking tail... nothing but color! I was so nervous. I pulled up gun, steadied it, aimed.... and BOOM, gun goes off! I didn't see a thing after the shot as the recoil disrupted my focus. My dad grabbed the gun from me and started shooting like a mad man! It was a buck and running away!... NO!
He said I hit it because it was nocked down, got up stumbling and ran off. I'm glad he told me this because I didn't see anything except the running part! He told me to go back to my uncle, who was on a deer stand that we had to pass to where we were at, to get more 30-30 shells. While I did this, he followed the buck with his 12 gauge with slugs. As I got the shells from my uncle, I was walking back and heard a muffled loud gun shot. I knew it was my dad but could only wonder.
Eventually I met my dad near where I fired the shot from. He said he got the deer. I recall seeing a lot of blood following one of the easiest blood trails ever. It ended up I hit the deer in the neck. After looking at the deer, he said he shot it as it was still alive. It took me several years to really accept the fact I got that deer. I always felt he got the deer. After I got older, I understood he just put the deer down for me and am happy the adventure worked out that way too and was fun for the both of us!
Here's the good part. 3 of us couldnt' budge the buck so we left to get help. How we got the deer out from there was foggy, but do recall there was some dragging as we couldn't get a truck all the way back there. That buck ended up weighing 307 pounds! It had a 10 point rack, but my dad never made a big deal about that. It was the weight and size of the deer that impressed him. He said he never saw one that large before! To this day I haven't either and none of my bucks after has ever come close. Dad is passed on now, but he left me things money could never buy.... memories.
That's my first deer/buck ever and it had to be a whopper! The funny thing is that our family never put any emphasis on rack size, but weight and we always threw the racks away.
Snareman
After telling my dad about the experience it was later that year in the fall, he took me deer hunting. By then I was on a few hunts walking with the adults, but this time I got to hold the gun and walk point. We walked about a 1/3 of a mile before we crested this hill. While scanning around, my dad pointed out a deer in the bottom of the hill. I really only remember seeing color... no deer body, no head, no flicking tail... nothing but color! I was so nervous. I pulled up gun, steadied it, aimed.... and BOOM, gun goes off! I didn't see a thing after the shot as the recoil disrupted my focus. My dad grabbed the gun from me and started shooting like a mad man! It was a buck and running away!... NO!
He said I hit it because it was nocked down, got up stumbling and ran off. I'm glad he told me this because I didn't see anything except the running part! He told me to go back to my uncle, who was on a deer stand that we had to pass to where we were at, to get more 30-30 shells. While I did this, he followed the buck with his 12 gauge with slugs. As I got the shells from my uncle, I was walking back and heard a muffled loud gun shot. I knew it was my dad but could only wonder.
Eventually I met my dad near where I fired the shot from. He said he got the deer. I recall seeing a lot of blood following one of the easiest blood trails ever. It ended up I hit the deer in the neck. After looking at the deer, he said he shot it as it was still alive. It took me several years to really accept the fact I got that deer. I always felt he got the deer. After I got older, I understood he just put the deer down for me and am happy the adventure worked out that way too and was fun for the both of us!
Here's the good part. 3 of us couldnt' budge the buck so we left to get help. How we got the deer out from there was foggy, but do recall there was some dragging as we couldn't get a truck all the way back there. That buck ended up weighing 307 pounds! It had a 10 point rack, but my dad never made a big deal about that. It was the weight and size of the deer that impressed him. He said he never saw one that large before! To this day I haven't either and none of my bucks after has ever come close. Dad is passed on now, but he left me things money could never buy.... memories.
That's my first deer/buck ever and it had to be a whopper! The funny thing is that our family never put any emphasis on rack size, but weight and we always threw the racks away.
Snareman