A hunting we will go

[27hand]

Talked to my good friend and hunting buddy of the past 30 or so years in preparation for the upcoming deer season.

A twist this year is he is taking his two 12 year old sons.

His 29 YO and my 31 YO no longer hunt (His son because of a medical condition. mine is living in NH).

Years ago, I had offered to him to take one of the boys when they were of age.

Age is now here.

They have taken their hunter safety classes, have fired the guns they will use(bolt Savage 30-30 and lever Win 94 in same caliber) and are about ready. We were going to get together, shoot some deer rifles, further review rifle handling and hunting safety and perhaps talk about how we will approach the opening day.

I will more than likely take one of his sons to a spot i like and he will take the other to his favorite spot. We have as yet to work out the details as to how long we will hunt together until we switch the two young men.

I already told him that I would probably not hunt but will carry my Ruger Redhawk and/or my Marlin 336 in 30-30. This rifle will be very similar to the rifle one of the boys will be using OR, if he likes the lever gun as opposed to the bolt Savage, I would let him use it.

We will have radios to keep in touch and will only be about half a mile apart.

I talked to my buddy about keeping the boys warm,dry and somewhat focused on what we were out there doing and he had the same concerns as I did.

I don't know them well aside from visiting occasionally and hope to establish at least some bond with them when we finally get together to shoot. The two young men have been busy with soccer and other things and that has kept this meeting from happening earlier.

I believe I am a very patient man and hope for nothing more than to see these two boys enjoy themselves, not get disinterested by not seeing game, and kind of letting them dictate the course of their day. We will probably hunt in 2 hour shifts before changing sons.

If one boy does get a deer, I will help him dress it and drag it. If the son that my friend has with him gets a deer, I will do the same and the son can then hunt with his father. If I don't get a deer, it is no big deal as i have shot plenty in my 36+ years of hunting.

Do you guys have any suggestions that might help make our hunt more enjoyable?

I wished we had gotten together earlier but our schedules just crapped up that possibility.

27ahuntingwewillgohand

[bnkrtstk]

Just treat him how you would want to be treated on your first hunting trip. The biggest thing will be keeping them focused. Once they realize getting a deer is a bonus, and being out there is the treat they will be just fine. Make sure they have good warm boots and socks.

[27hand]

Just treat him how you would want to be treated on your first hunting trip. The biggest thing will be keeping them focused. Once they realize getting a deer is a bonus, and being out there is the treat they will be just fine. Make sure they have good warm boots and socks.

I plan on taking extra boot warmers and larger body warmers for the boys along with a couple spare lightweight ponchos.
When my son was about 13 , we drove up to Tionesta for the last Sat of buck season. It was very cold and windy. We posted about 20 feet apart and he told me his feet were freezing. I gave him a pack of boot warmers. He proceeded to take off one of the boots to put the heater on his sock when we heard the sound of deer running behind us through the crusted snowcover. He got excited and was hopping around on one boot trying to pick up his rifle as the nice 8 point ran about 30 yds past him. I had to wait till the buck ran down the hill about 70 yds or so before I realized he wasn't ready to shoot. I pulled up on the deer and shot him just as he went over the edge of a small rise.

He was happy I got the deer but I wished it would have been him.

The next year, he shot his first buck(forkhorn) as we sat together and a few years later, he shot a nice 8 point the day after I shot an 8 point.

I hope my buddy's kiddos each get something and they will both have antlerless tags so it will be their choice to shoot or not if we see anything.
I hunt in very thick cover and popped a small deer last year with my .44 mag RedHawk.

Only a few more weeks to go. I'll probably go out there to look around next weekend. The property was sold after last season so I should verify it is still available for us to hunt on.

I think it'll be cool to watch a brand new hunter hopefully get his first deer.

27hand

[Dredly]

Sounds like you are on the right track, nothing makes a hunt more miserable then being cold... the WORST! If he is cold the day is going to suck.

If they haven't yet make sure they have lots of very warm clothing. Personally I love this stuff, its CHEAP and is great stuff for sitting all day

http://shop.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=69739

It helps if they take something with them to read, hunting mags are great, old ones, new ones... doesn't matter it hasn't changed much in 100+ years

Make sure they have something to sit on, a pad, a chair... whatever, they will get tired and miserable of standing and they will freeze sitting on the ground, plus their butts will hurt

I would suggest switching the teams every day, or even better at noon / lunch time. That way they have someone new to talk to. Be ready with lots of hunting stories.

As for lunch - strongly recommend it, you may miss that deer that gets kicked out when hunters leave but knowing that they have an end in sight will make the long hours of sitting still not seem so endless.

On the walk in make sure they have their own flash light, give em a GPS to the spot if its far and let them lead the way... they'll feel more like a hunter and less like a tag along, also traveling at their speed will keep them from getting tired and overheating.

If you have a 2 man blind it would probably be a good idea to use that as it will conceal a kids moving and fidgeting


Good Luck and of course, HAVE FUN!

[markheck1]

All Good Advice!!

One thing I would Re-Stress....

SAFETY!!! Especially with the lever gun.
Even tho that's the first gun I hunted with, I cringe when I see people stuff levers into kids hands......mine's 16 this year, and wants to hunt with the 1894 and I am a Safety Nazi with him on that gun, even tho we've been shooting and hunting together for a few years

I know, after being around you at the shoots, you will more than take care of any of the kids around you.

[27hand]

Thanks for the input guys.

Mark, I agree with you on the levergun.

My Marlin 336 with a 4 power fixed scope has a offset hammer for easier halfcocking of the safety (especially with gloves on).

I don't know which son will end up with which rifle but i told my friend that mine is available for either of his kiddos to use.

I don't particularly like this rifle as a first choice for a relatively new hunter but aside from my Rem 760 in 30.06 and a milsurp Spanish .308 bolt, I don't have much of an option. The Savage boltgun he has is probably a better choice but he only has 1 of those.

I was just looking at my reloading components and could possibly download my 30.06 even further than i do now. I reduced the 4350 to 57.5 gr (down from 59gr max load) to get a tighter group. I'll check the load data to see how much lower is feasible (I just checked and can go as low as 55gr with a 150 gr Speer without doing any further research) Maybe I'll load a few and see if one of the kiddos can handle that without a problem.

I'm not sure if he has any goretex outerware for them but I have a few items with goretex I can put in my daypack.

I do want to have at least one rifle handling session prior to the day and would prefer more.

27hand

[dman]

Good luck with this one !I found I became 30 years younger,I was a kid again!
Thank you my son, for you have kept my life open.
Keep them safe,quiet,focused,good humored and prepare yourself for an experience of a life time !!

PS. oh yeah, keep them warm and dry too !