elkantlers
Well-known member
My 14 year old daughter was able to tag this really nice buck with a muzzle-loader on opening morning here in Utah. We had to get up extra early so we could hike out in the dark and be in position before shooting light. She loves to hunt and never complained about the early wake up call. As it was getting light enough to shoot I spotted 4 deer heading our way about 1/2 mile out. I knew we need to move if we wanted any chance at them. We dropped in a wash and headed in the general direction I thought the deer would go. after a couple hundred yards we were able to spot them still coming along. Another hundred yards and we were in position. I got her set up prone over my backpack and we waited. I could see the deer coming and saw that all were bucks and two were very nice. I tried to remain calm so my daughter would be a calm as possible. as they came up the draw in front of us i told her to shoot the front one as it was the biggest. They were about 80-100yds away when i stopped them. As soon as she got settled on the buck she fired. I was pretty sure it sounded like a hit but as the smoke cleared I could see 4 deer all running up the hill. They each stopped as they reached the skyline to look around and that is when we saw the big one come up from behind struggling to keep up. We quickly reloaded but wasn't able to get a second shot off before they were gone. This is about the time that buck fever hit my daughter. She got a pretty good look at the buck before it went over the hill and was now in full adrenaline rush. We hurried and got on their tracks but didn't see and blood as we followed. I was a little concerned with no blood but the tracks were easy to follow. After about 200yds I spotted the buck in the bottom of a deep ravine with his head still up. we crept toward the edge to finish him off but just as we were close enough to see his body he jumped up and too off like nothing was wrong. I was yelling for my daughter to shoot him again. He was now about 100 yards away in a death run when she shot. It was an off hand shot, no rest with a muzzle loader and she smacked him again. I honestly couldn't believe it. We saw him drop in another wash and out of sight. We reloaded and hurried forward. He was in the bottom of the wash and wasn't going anywhere now. We were both very relieved. we said a little prayer of thanks to our maker for the experience we just shared and then made our way to her buck. My daughter was on cloud nine and was still shaking. lol He was much more than I could have ever expected but I think that is part of why we hunt.
.
.
