Took my daughter hunting, got a pig
Dec 2, 2018 22:02:33 GMT -5
paul105, Markbo, and 9 more like this
Post by potatojudge on Dec 2, 2018 22:02:33 GMT -5
Last year I took my daughter (now 6) hunting a few times, but this year she's been more interested in playing with her cousins and jumping on the trampoline. She finally agreed to go last night and we had a great time.
We talked about it all in advance and here's what she decided: she got to pick her outfit and needed a bigger backpack for her gear. Trip to Academy, easy. Snacks were a given and keeping them on a shooting ledge prevents the wrappers from making a bunch of noise. A couple of years ago we worked out a system where it wouldn't be so much of a struggle for her to be still and quiet while keeping hearing protection from being a fight- so we set up her tablet with a male-male audio cord plugged into my Howard Leight ear muffs. They still amplify ambient sound so she can hear me and so she realizes how loud she talks. The binoculars were her responsibility, and she spent a lot of her time glassing and whispering questions to me. She wanted to carry her Red Ryder and shoot it a couple of times. I considered unloading it, but decided that I'd have her carry it barrel down and the rattling of BBs would let me know if she brought the muzzle up for any reason- just in case I didn't see it.
She did great (as always when we've hunted together). At last light a fork horn deer walked out and she was disappointed I couldn't shoot it since we've got antler restrictions, but I'm glad she got a good look at it through the binoculars. Just a couple of minutes later the deer bolted and a group of pigs walked out about 40 yards in front of us. I unplugged her audio cable, made sure she got a good look, then shot one with my Contender carbine in 44 mag (16 inch MGM barrel, Zeiss Diavari 6x scope) using a 240 grain XTP over H110. The pig dropped for a few seconds then got up and ran back into the woods.
The best part is this: when I told my daughter that we'd need to go look for the pig she picked up her BB gun, cocked it, and said "I'll bring my gun in case it needs a finishing shot"
We looked for blood together but found none and she agreed it was safer for me to check the woods myself. She shot her Red Ryder to unload it and settled back in the blind, now well after dark.
I found the pig about 30 yards behind the tree line, in a tangle of cedars, still kicking it's legs a bit. I finished it off with a FA97 44. In the dark and the mass of pigs, I mistook the head for it's rump and shot it through a femur, across the pelvis, and out the other leg. My daughter watched as dad and I dragged it out, strung it up, gutted it, skinned it, and dumped the guts.
She's asking to hunt the tree stand this week and is very particular that we either shoot a coyote, big doe, or a bigger pig than this one since it was too young (her words).
We talked about it all in advance and here's what she decided: she got to pick her outfit and needed a bigger backpack for her gear. Trip to Academy, easy. Snacks were a given and keeping them on a shooting ledge prevents the wrappers from making a bunch of noise. A couple of years ago we worked out a system where it wouldn't be so much of a struggle for her to be still and quiet while keeping hearing protection from being a fight- so we set up her tablet with a male-male audio cord plugged into my Howard Leight ear muffs. They still amplify ambient sound so she can hear me and so she realizes how loud she talks. The binoculars were her responsibility, and she spent a lot of her time glassing and whispering questions to me. She wanted to carry her Red Ryder and shoot it a couple of times. I considered unloading it, but decided that I'd have her carry it barrel down and the rattling of BBs would let me know if she brought the muzzle up for any reason- just in case I didn't see it.
She did great (as always when we've hunted together). At last light a fork horn deer walked out and she was disappointed I couldn't shoot it since we've got antler restrictions, but I'm glad she got a good look at it through the binoculars. Just a couple of minutes later the deer bolted and a group of pigs walked out about 40 yards in front of us. I unplugged her audio cable, made sure she got a good look, then shot one with my Contender carbine in 44 mag (16 inch MGM barrel, Zeiss Diavari 6x scope) using a 240 grain XTP over H110. The pig dropped for a few seconds then got up and ran back into the woods.
The best part is this: when I told my daughter that we'd need to go look for the pig she picked up her BB gun, cocked it, and said "I'll bring my gun in case it needs a finishing shot"
We looked for blood together but found none and she agreed it was safer for me to check the woods myself. She shot her Red Ryder to unload it and settled back in the blind, now well after dark.
I found the pig about 30 yards behind the tree line, in a tangle of cedars, still kicking it's legs a bit. I finished it off with a FA97 44. In the dark and the mass of pigs, I mistook the head for it's rump and shot it through a femur, across the pelvis, and out the other leg. My daughter watched as dad and I dragged it out, strung it up, gutted it, skinned it, and dumped the guts.
She's asking to hunt the tree stand this week and is very particular that we either shoot a coyote, big doe, or a bigger pig than this one since it was too young (her words).
