Daughters First Deer!

[Qzilla]

First off, thanks for the kind words! We are obviously very proud of her ans she is pretty proud of herself!

I think she appreciates it a lot because we did a lot of practicing until I was 100% confident she could make an ehtical shot!

I hunt all over the place but, that is on one of our South Texas ranches and a 223 is perfectly legal. I personally do not recommend shooting a 223 for whitetail but, sometimes you have to bend the rules. Shot placement is more important to me than anything and knowig she was able to make the shot allowed me to go ahead and use the 223.

Another factor is that we shoot 100's of deer every year and I have a top notch tracking dog should things go bad. I did not need him on this doe but, I did cut him out and let him find her 20 yards up in the brush just to make darn sure we were able to make a recovery.

I have it all on video and a soon as I put it in a watchable format I will post it up so you can check it out.

Also a quick word on guns for little ones. My daughter is pretty darn tall for her age and I still had trouble fitting everything on different rifles for her. I started with a cricket and found out that it is not a great gun for really little ones. In order to fire the cricket you have to pull the firing pin back towards te butt of the gun. This is fine but, my daughter knicker her thumb a couple of times. Her hands were small enough to slide under he cocked pin as she was trying to hold the rifle and still reach the trigger. It is hard to explain but, the first time ou look at one in person you will see the finger pincher!

What I ended up doing was taking a Ruger 10/22 and cutting it down to fit. No 3yr old needs more than 1 shot at a time so I only load 1 shell. It is a little more time consuming but, safe. This way there is no moving parts at the rear of the reciever. This was her training rifle and she actually killed a hog with it this summer! I had to use the dog but, by golly we recovered it. It was about a 45-50lb boar. I will post pictures when I am back in town.

Also, something else that really helped me as a child and I have now passed on is a little game we play while practicing with the rifle. I ALWAYS load the rifle. In doing this she only actually gets a shell 40-60% of the time. This stops any flinching or anticipation that the rifle will go off. She never knows if that rifle will bark when she squeezes the trigger. This has helped her develop a very nice and easy trigger pull which is very important in my opinion. It is also a little fun for both of us and breaks up the shooting which is important at her age!

I am actually down at a ranch right now working on fire breaks so we can do soe controlled burns, when I get back I will post up some pictures when I get back!

 

[diderr]

With respect, do you know where Qzilla and his daughter were hunting? If not, how could you possibly know what the laws are there?

sorry, i just read texas laws and 22 cals for big game are legal. With all do respect I still think its a wee bit small for big game hunting.

 

[brianla]

With all due respect I still think its a wee bit small for big game hunting.

I concede that you may have a point, but I very much believe that shot placement is worth a whole pile of caliber.

If I have to pick between shot placement with a smaller caliber I can handle, and a larger "adequate" caliber that will make me flinch (because I am 4 yrs. old) ... I'd go for the humane placement kill every time. In point of fact, we have obvious proof (in the form of a fantastic picture) that .223 is quite sufficient.

Generally speaking, I wouldn't recommend that people use .223 to go deer hunting. Having said that, this is clearly not a "general" situation given the amount of training and practice that went into the hunt.

Similarly, I would not generally recommend that people shoot at big game past 250-300 yards. That's because most "hunters" really shouldn't! Again, having said that, the people on these forums are very able to shoot at 4x-8x that distance ... because they put the training time in.

Everything is relative...

Qzilla: Thanks for the impromptu review on crickett rifles - I have been looking at buying three of them for my kids, but it sounds like I might be better off looking at a more custom solution. At the very least, I need to do some more homework.

Best regards,
Brian

 

[Troutslayer]

Two things are exceptionally cool about this hunt. One is being there to assist your deer with her first deer. (Great photo too, by the way.) Two, I find it especially neat that you can let your child hunt at such a young age. What I wouldn't give to be able to let my kids hunt when I felt they were ready rather than the state mandated age of 12. My 10 year old daughter is my favorite hunting partner. She can out shoot all her brothers and a fair number of adults I know. She loves to hunt and be outdoors. It drives us both crazy that she still has to wait two years to hunt deer. Pretty much every week she gives me a count down until she's 12. Right now the count is 1 year, 2 months, and 3 weeks. Yeah, I'd say she's anxious. All that aside I think it's fantastic that you and your daughter were able to successfully get her first deer. Great job to both of you!

I hear you on this and there are a lot of people who feel the same way. Better to let them hunt at a younger age and keep the sport alive and more kids out of trouble. Don't know how I'd feel if I knew there were 3 year olds hunting in the same area as me.

 

[Shawn Carlock]

Brian,

Have to agree with Q on the cricket rifles my kids had the same problems. I went to an AR-15 with a .22 RF upper and a colaspable stock. The col stock allows for short LOP and is easy to shoot. I also loaded mags with 1 round each when the kids were very small. It is amazing what the little ones can do if you give them a chance and some of your time.

 

[Neo nimrod]

Congrats

I was thinking, wow, now that's what I need in a daughter-in-law. Lol. Good job! Three sons and they all like squirrel hunting. No big game hunters in the lot.

 

[41mag]

Great going to the both of you. I know how hard it is to get the fit down for the little onnes. I had the same trouble with my grandson. Luckily for me the Ruger Compact was only a tad long when he started and fits him real good now.

Keep up the good work and enjoy every minute of it.

 

[grit]

Fantastic!!!!

 

[Jared06]

My son was in the same boat here in Oregon, patiently waiting for 12. Then the state started a new mentorship program where younger kids can shoot game while in company of the actual tag holder, after signing up for the program too. My ten year old shot his first doe with my .308 at 315 yards. He started shooting when he was very young also. He usually shot my heavy rifles that hardly recoil, and sometimes while they sat in a bench rest. He would drape over the stock to obtain eye relief since recoil was not there. Basically had the top of the stock tucked into his arm pit. Sometimes I'd put my first behind the butt plate just to catch any movement if I was worried.

Fantastic research and prep for your daughters doe. Very cool and a great photo. .22 center fire is legal in Oregon for deer, .24 for elk.

This guy on the hide did some hunting with his .22cal rifle witih good results...maybe not long distance but seemed to work well. PAI 223AI + 62TSX = dead deer - Sniper's Hide Forums

 

[jeff 300]

i remember that day like it was yesterday. great job!!!!!!!!!!! for dad and the little one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dogdinger]

this thread.....

brings back fond memories.....my twin sons were natural shooters and they had 22's starting at about 4yrs old....bb guns before that....always supervized of course and i did they same with regard to the loading and not letting them know if i slipped in an empty.....made them very trigger pull aware....

you guys out there with little ones might try the oregon arms chipmunk...it is a lot more user friendly than the cricket....it is a little hard to get cocked but my boys maged real well with it....it is also chambered in the 17 HMR...i later aquired an anshutz woodchucker in 22mag....they both took coyotes with it at very young ages. this is an awesome rifle for little ones.

i freely admit to bending the rules a little when it came to the legal age for hunting here in colo. those ages are arbitrarily picked for the "average kids" ...i feel that with proper supervision as was the case here, this is more than ethical....hell i've known thirty yr olds that should not be allowed to hunt...

great job Qzilla......you have instilled the desires in your daughter that will last a lifetime, and be passed on to her kids as well i bet...we need more of that from everyone. AJ