Last year my son really wanted to go hunting. He was only 8 at the time so I made a deal with him that if he could pass the hunters safety course then I would sign him up for a hunt for next season. He was very determined and we studied the book everyday and when test time came they would read the younger kids the questions. The test was pretty dang hard for an 8 year old but man if he didn't pass it. So this year I bought him a cow elk youth encouragement tag in New Mexico. I took him out every weekend to practice shooting.
By the time his hunt came around, I was having him hitting a 10" bullseye on my 2ft by 2ft steel target out to 600 yards with awesome repeatability. He just turned 9 years old in August and weighs 55 lbs sopping wet. So I let him use my 6.5 Sherman shooting a 140 Gr Berger at 3205 fps. He fell in love with that rifle (no recoil) and it has now been called "our" rifle for sometime now.
The day before the hunt, we got all packed and headed out (my son, my wife and I). I had been in the area a few weeks before and found that this area had a lot of hills that you could get up on and glass from without much trouble. So that was our plan for the morning. We got up early and it was 18 degrees (wife was not pleased with that). We drove and glassed the meadows along the way and then we stopped at this one area where I thought there would be elk and sure enough there were 40 elk near a tank. We put a stalk on them and got to within 150 yards of them. We had been playing the wind just right and then all of a sudden the wind changed and blew right to the elk. Their noses went into the air and I knew tha gig was up. To my surprise the elk almost ran right to us but stopped about 70 yards away. My son is not able to shoot a rifle standing or kneeling very well because he is small and they are too heavy for him to hold up. So we only take prone shots. It also takes him a little time to acquire his target in a scope. By the time he was ready to shoot at one, they were on the run and never stopped. He was a little disappointed but I kept giving him encouragement.
That evening my buddy came up to help and we figured we would get on the hill and see if the elk we had got on this morning would come back out into the meadow. We sat and glassed until almost dark. And just inside the cut that we thought the elk would come out of, we heard a shot and then another shot and....after all was said and done a kid with his dad had fired 13 times, yes 13 times, at the herd of elk and never got one. And then we saw them walking out of the woods without an elk. My kid looked up at me and said "Dad, that kids father should have taken him shooting more." I just told him that we shouldn't judge but inside I was cringing.
The next morning we glassed up about 60 elk in a meadow and we walked a pretty good distance to get into the tree line and play the wind right. We walked quite a ways to get up to them and my kid was a little wore out but he soldierd on. When we almost got up to the elk, we saw a kid with his rifle and 3 adults just cutting straight across the open meadow to the herd. Well of course the elk winded them and saw them and were starting to get out of town and the kid just shouldered his rifle and started blasting away. 4 shots later they walked up to the area where I guess he thought the elk he was aiming at was. A few minutes later they walked back to their truck and left. My kid was getting a little agitated but I told him that this was all part of hunting and that other kids had this tag and wanted to kill an elk too. I told him that all we have to do is find a place where people arnt going and there will be elk.
That evening we drove to where we saw a large meadow with cuts coming out of the mountain into the meadow. It just screamed that elk would be in the area. I had also noticed that people for some reason never stopped here and hunted the area. I checked my gps and it was all state land. So my buddy and I got up on the hill and glassed. My wife and my son stayed in the truck as they were a little tired from the long hike this morning.
We glassed for a while and the wind really started to pick up (15-20mph). I glassed up two elk a ways south of us and couldn't find them again but knew they were on the move. I moved up and along the hill to get a better vantage point. When I did, I spotted an elk in a hill about a mile away. This hill was near the main dirt road we were on so I figured it would be worth a try. My buddy and I practically ran down the hill and to the truck as it would be past shooting light in about 45 minutes. As we drove to the area, my kid was calm and very still. My kid is never still so I knew he was getting a little anxious. I just talked to him about what we needed to do when we got set up and for him to remember what we practiced.
We got to the area and got out and started glassing. We picked up 4 elk on the hill side. We grabbed all of our gear and walked a bit and I then ranged the elk. The Leica came back with 493 yards. With his training, I and he were confident that he could make that shot. The wind was still blowing but it was blowing right into our faces so no wind adjustment would be needed. While we were getting set up for a prone shot, the elk ran a little bit. My heart sank as I thought they were running away but my buddy who was spotting for us said that a coyote had walked up on them and the elk charged it and scared it off. I ranged again and the elk were exactly 500 yards away. I dialed 6.6 MOA up and no adjustment for wind.
As I said, my son has a hard time finding the target through the scope so I had the NF dialed down to 5.5 power to make it easier for him to find his target. He found the elk and we got him sighted in on the elk at 5.5 power. I then turned the power up and had him readjust to be dead on just behind the shoulder. When he was sure that he was dead on it, I gave him the go ahead to shoot. After a few seconds I asked him why he wasn't shooting and he said that he couldn't. I asked him why and he said that another elk had moved behind the one he was wanting to shoot. At that point whether he had gotten an elk or not, I knew this hunt was a success and I was very proud of him.
In very short time, the other elk moved from behind his intended elk and when he was ready I told him to go ahead. I was watching him the whole time to make sure he was doing everything right as I coached him. He took his breath in and let it out a little and started squeezing the trigger but nothing happened (coach forgot to take the safety off!). Got that taken care of and my son took another breath in and let it out a bit as I calmly told him to squeeeeeze the trigger nice and smooth. The rifle barked and I could hear the "thwap" sound that the bullet makes when you hit an animal. I looked up and all 4 elk were running off. We got another round In the chamber and just as we were ready for another follow up shot, my buddy said she was down. She ran about 20 yards and fell over and laid still. I gave my son a hug and told him how proud I was of him. He was very excited.
We got everything packed up and headed up to the cow elk. When we got there we made sure she was dead. He hit her perfect right behind the shoulder and took out both lungs. It was a very nice large cow. The meat should be awesome!
Couldn't have been more rewarding. I was very proud of all the work he put in to make this happen at such a young age.
Rifle: 6.5 Sherman
Load: 140 Gr Berger VLD begind 64 Gr of retumbo going 3205 fps.
By the time his hunt came around, I was having him hitting a 10" bullseye on my 2ft by 2ft steel target out to 600 yards with awesome repeatability. He just turned 9 years old in August and weighs 55 lbs sopping wet. So I let him use my 6.5 Sherman shooting a 140 Gr Berger at 3205 fps. He fell in love with that rifle (no recoil) and it has now been called "our" rifle for sometime now.
The day before the hunt, we got all packed and headed out (my son, my wife and I). I had been in the area a few weeks before and found that this area had a lot of hills that you could get up on and glass from without much trouble. So that was our plan for the morning. We got up early and it was 18 degrees (wife was not pleased with that). We drove and glassed the meadows along the way and then we stopped at this one area where I thought there would be elk and sure enough there were 40 elk near a tank. We put a stalk on them and got to within 150 yards of them. We had been playing the wind just right and then all of a sudden the wind changed and blew right to the elk. Their noses went into the air and I knew tha gig was up. To my surprise the elk almost ran right to us but stopped about 70 yards away. My son is not able to shoot a rifle standing or kneeling very well because he is small and they are too heavy for him to hold up. So we only take prone shots. It also takes him a little time to acquire his target in a scope. By the time he was ready to shoot at one, they were on the run and never stopped. He was a little disappointed but I kept giving him encouragement.
That evening my buddy came up to help and we figured we would get on the hill and see if the elk we had got on this morning would come back out into the meadow. We sat and glassed until almost dark. And just inside the cut that we thought the elk would come out of, we heard a shot and then another shot and....after all was said and done a kid with his dad had fired 13 times, yes 13 times, at the herd of elk and never got one. And then we saw them walking out of the woods without an elk. My kid looked up at me and said "Dad, that kids father should have taken him shooting more." I just told him that we shouldn't judge but inside I was cringing.
The next morning we glassed up about 60 elk in a meadow and we walked a pretty good distance to get into the tree line and play the wind right. We walked quite a ways to get up to them and my kid was a little wore out but he soldierd on. When we almost got up to the elk, we saw a kid with his rifle and 3 adults just cutting straight across the open meadow to the herd. Well of course the elk winded them and saw them and were starting to get out of town and the kid just shouldered his rifle and started blasting away. 4 shots later they walked up to the area where I guess he thought the elk he was aiming at was. A few minutes later they walked back to their truck and left. My kid was getting a little agitated but I told him that this was all part of hunting and that other kids had this tag and wanted to kill an elk too. I told him that all we have to do is find a place where people arnt going and there will be elk.
That evening we drove to where we saw a large meadow with cuts coming out of the mountain into the meadow. It just screamed that elk would be in the area. I had also noticed that people for some reason never stopped here and hunted the area. I checked my gps and it was all state land. So my buddy and I got up on the hill and glassed. My wife and my son stayed in the truck as they were a little tired from the long hike this morning.
We glassed for a while and the wind really started to pick up (15-20mph). I glassed up two elk a ways south of us and couldn't find them again but knew they were on the move. I moved up and along the hill to get a better vantage point. When I did, I spotted an elk in a hill about a mile away. This hill was near the main dirt road we were on so I figured it would be worth a try. My buddy and I practically ran down the hill and to the truck as it would be past shooting light in about 45 minutes. As we drove to the area, my kid was calm and very still. My kid is never still so I knew he was getting a little anxious. I just talked to him about what we needed to do when we got set up and for him to remember what we practiced.
We got to the area and got out and started glassing. We picked up 4 elk on the hill side. We grabbed all of our gear and walked a bit and I then ranged the elk. The Leica came back with 493 yards. With his training, I and he were confident that he could make that shot. The wind was still blowing but it was blowing right into our faces so no wind adjustment would be needed. While we were getting set up for a prone shot, the elk ran a little bit. My heart sank as I thought they were running away but my buddy who was spotting for us said that a coyote had walked up on them and the elk charged it and scared it off. I ranged again and the elk were exactly 500 yards away. I dialed 6.6 MOA up and no adjustment for wind.
As I said, my son has a hard time finding the target through the scope so I had the NF dialed down to 5.5 power to make it easier for him to find his target. He found the elk and we got him sighted in on the elk at 5.5 power. I then turned the power up and had him readjust to be dead on just behind the shoulder. When he was sure that he was dead on it, I gave him the go ahead to shoot. After a few seconds I asked him why he wasn't shooting and he said that he couldn't. I asked him why and he said that another elk had moved behind the one he was wanting to shoot. At that point whether he had gotten an elk or not, I knew this hunt was a success and I was very proud of him.
In very short time, the other elk moved from behind his intended elk and when he was ready I told him to go ahead. I was watching him the whole time to make sure he was doing everything right as I coached him. He took his breath in and let it out a little and started squeezing the trigger but nothing happened (coach forgot to take the safety off!). Got that taken care of and my son took another breath in and let it out a bit as I calmly told him to squeeeeeze the trigger nice and smooth. The rifle barked and I could hear the "thwap" sound that the bullet makes when you hit an animal. I looked up and all 4 elk were running off. We got another round In the chamber and just as we were ready for another follow up shot, my buddy said she was down. She ran about 20 yards and fell over and laid still. I gave my son a hug and told him how proud I was of him. He was very excited.
We got everything packed up and headed up to the cow elk. When we got there we made sure she was dead. He hit her perfect right behind the shoulder and took out both lungs. It was a very nice large cow. The meat should be awesome!
Couldn't have been more rewarding. I was very proud of all the work he put in to make this happen at such a young age.
Rifle: 6.5 Sherman
Load: 140 Gr Berger VLD begind 64 Gr of retumbo going 3205 fps.
