First MT Buck!

[thecrittergitter]

I had the absolute privilege of helping out one of my best friends' boy this weekend in filling his first Montana buck! My son Braden and I called up Tate (Fivers son) and asked if he wanted to go look for a deer Friday morning since they were out of school. Fiver had a huge work project due by Saturday so he wouldn't be able to join us. So we took off in the am looking for a good buck for Tate to hang on his wall! We put on a good hike in the morning but ended up having some other deer hunters blow out all the deer we were hoping to target prior to us getting there. We were bummed but that's just how it goes on public land sometimes. We did get some glassing in and even lined up on a deer once but it took off before Tate could get fully settled in.

 

[thecrittergitter]

I call this the deer destruction duo.....

 

[thecrittergitter]

We decided after a long morning with little action, we would go hit up another place I like to hunt for a evening stay. The three of us climbed into one of my treestands and got set for the evening hunt. Tate was really wanting to shoot one with his bow so I told him he could bring the bow and I'll pack his gun up there too just in case we can't get one bow range. About 6:30pm, we noticed a big doe coming in on the trail right by the stand. Tate got an arrow nocked and got set and ready. Just before the deer was about to get into a shooting lane, I glanced behind us and saw a nice buck coming out of the brush on our back side. I grabbed Tates bow and started to hang it up He was confused as heck. I told him to slowly turn around and get ready. I grabbed the rifle and got him set. His excitement was at high level when he saw the buck come out from behind a tree. I ranged it for him and moved down two steps on the ladder so I could hold the shooting sticks for him up there. Tate settled in and said he felt good about the hold. He jacked in a shell and settled in right behind the bucks shoulder at 152 yards. At the crack of the rifle, the buck instantly dropped. The excitement that kid had was priceless. It was really cool, I just barely caught the end of the two boys high fiving in their excitement.

 

[thecrittergitter]

We were considering shooting couple more does but after about 3 minutes, he wanted to get down and see his buck Very understandable!!

What a great first buck and honestly couldn't have been to a more deserving kid. Tate is almost like a son to me as close as our families are and very proud of the little sucker!!! One thing that is so cool about this kid is how thoughtful and polite he is. As soon as the rush of excitement poured out after the shot and his voice lost some of the shakeyness, the very first thing he said was, "thank you for taking me out hunting today, that was awesome". You just don't hear kids be that appreciative on their own anymore, especially at his age. What a deserving kid for a great buck!

Have to thank Tate for letting me be a part of this great day!!

 

[thecrittergitter]

I'll guarantee you this is the first of VERY MANY of these cuts to come..........

 

[thecrittergitter]

And when you do the shootin..........you do the guttin!!

Awesome job Tate, Congrats little buddy!

 

[Big Slick]

That is awesome, Matt! Way to go Tate.

 

[mixedbag]

Very cool story!!!Congrats to Tate and many more to come.I'll tell you I have more fun getting my boys their tags filled then my own.Between your friend,your friends wife and now your friends son,I think you know what I'm talking about
Next time I come to Montana I'm going to have to get ahold of you.Guess you should go fillyour tags now huh

 

[1_pointer]

Great job Tate! CG and Braden, you guys are racking up the assists this season, well done.

Very good buck!

 

[drahthaar]

That is a great first buck!!! Way to go Tate!!

 

[kenton]

Great story, congrats to Tate

 

[kansasdad]

Kudos to the entire crew.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Getting Slimed! Good stuff right there! John

 

[TheShootist.41]

Congrats to Tate on his buck! Congrats to Matt for a job well done!

 

[putm2sleep]

Excellent critter! Sweet buck boys - very cool to help foster and grow
Then next generation of polite and deadly duos!
There is one here in CO who is itching to shoot his
1st deer and say 'thanks for a great hunt and time dad.'
Good work!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Great job Tate and crew! Well done!

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I just love young hunter stories! Good job Tate.

 

[Phil Tuccillo]

Great job you guys!

 

[elk_hunter]

That is super cool!!! Love seeing when the kiddos are out enjoying and getting into the swing of things - brings back memories from when I started out. Love it! Very cool giving back like that Matt!

 

[----]

That's awesome. After seeing all the youth hunt pictures the last couple days, I'm convinced they're making first bucks a lot bigger then they did 15 years ago.