Doug in Idaho
Member
I am truly a lucky man and have 5 daughters. My oldest daughter Olivia is 11 this year which is a legal hunting age here in Idaho. She shot a doe last year, and was adamant that she would only shoot a buck this year. We practiced her shooting quite a bit this year, as well as getting her comfortable on/around the horses. We looked over a lot of deer before we found a buck that would hold still long enough for her to get set up and get a shot off, and she made it count with 1 shot. She could have shot at a lot of does this year, but surprising to me she was never tempted by them. She was pretty tickled with her first buck, and is already talking about how she will get a bigger one next year. 223 shooting 60 grain Nosler Partitions at 145 yards.
She also had a cow tag and after a few good storms we went out and found a few groups to chase. She shot this big old cow with her first shot at 315 yards with a 260 Remington shooting Nosler Accubonds. (Side note I bought the 223 and the 260 in the exact same gun, Tikka T3's. We only practice and shoot with the 223 during the year so she doesn't get recoil sensitive. I asked her after she shot the elk if she realized it was a different gun then the one she normally shoots and she said no. The excitement of shooting at an elk masked the extra recoil which was my hope) Her third animal she's shot, I was amazed at how little coaching I had to do through the process. Once she saw them on the side of the hill and she knew where to hold, it took her 10-15 seconds maybe to get set up on her shooting sticks, find it in her scope, and squeeze off a shot. All with no help from me. I'm quickly learning that if she has time to get set up on her shooting sticks, things are in trouble. Always fun to put the horses to work hauling it out as well.
I never even chambered a round this season, as I never found anything that got me excited to shoot, but it sure was fun playing guide.
She also had a cow tag and after a few good storms we went out and found a few groups to chase. She shot this big old cow with her first shot at 315 yards with a 260 Remington shooting Nosler Accubonds. (Side note I bought the 223 and the 260 in the exact same gun, Tikka T3's. We only practice and shoot with the 223 during the year so she doesn't get recoil sensitive. I asked her after she shot the elk if she realized it was a different gun then the one she normally shoots and she said no. The excitement of shooting at an elk masked the extra recoil which was my hope) Her third animal she's shot, I was amazed at how little coaching I had to do through the process. Once she saw them on the side of the hill and she knew where to hold, it took her 10-15 seconds maybe to get set up on her shooting sticks, find it in her scope, and squeeze off a shot. All with no help from me. I'm quickly learning that if she has time to get set up on her shooting sticks, things are in trouble. Always fun to put the horses to work hauling it out as well.
I never even chambered a round this season, as I never found anything that got me excited to shoot, but it sure was fun playing guide.
