Mule Deer, Elk and Western Big Game Hunting - MonsterMuleys.com
 
Previous Photo | Next Photo  
Home Page Photo Categories 2016 Big Buck, Big Bull & Other Big Game Contests

"What hunting is all about......."
Photo provided by: Tyson Brackett

Tyson Brackett, aka T_Ball here at MonsterMuleys.com, shared in the forum the following.........

"What hunting is all about - My 15 year old daughter, Tayler, had never hunted anything before this hunt. In January 2015 she decided she finally wanted to take hunter's safety. Last year I put her in for hunts but she didn't draw a tag. So when I saw that one of my two daughters had drawn a tag I thought it might be my older daughter who had more points. To my surprise it was my younger one with "0" points.

I thought to myself, "what a great hunt to get her started hunting". She was a little excited to say the least. We went out scouting a few times. The first time we went she kept asking me why I called them speed goats. She soon found out and said, "How am I supposed to shoot one running that fast?" I just laughed and said your not supposed to shoot them when they running.

Friday afternoon came and we finally were able to head up to camp. It was a great night scouting and just sitting around the campfire with her grandpa and me. The next morning came and she was ready to go. We had made a plan the night before where to be opening morning. Well, wouldn't you know, as we were hiking to our spot we notice right away two antelope. Couldn't tell what they were, so we tried to get a closer look, abandoning our original plan. After thirty minutes of trying to get a closer look without them seeing us, it was two does. We decided to go back to our original plan. As we headed down, my dad said that the antelope were already where we were supposed to be. We tried to get down to where they were, but they were spooked and they all took off.

About an hour later we decided to walk out and see where one buck went. As we were walking, we saw him over 500 yards away on a ridge. It wasn't a good shot for my daughter, so we waited to see if he would get closer or if we could move closer. As we were waiting, we heard some shots ring out and the buck took off.

In the afternoon, we decided to go to a different canyon. We got into some smaller bucks and I let her decide if she wanted to shoot them or not. She said no and we kept on looking. Then later we found a herd and waited. There were three bucks in the herd with one being awesome. We waited as the larger buck sent out doe after doe and smaller buck after smaller buck from behind a knoll. She passed on some of these smaller, but nice bucks, wanting to get the bigger one. When he didn't come out she decided to take one of the ones that already had. I waited for her to get set up and then she shot and missed. She turned and said she couldn't get her eye to stop twitching. She was devastated. She didn't talk on the ride back to camp. I knew the feeling of missing a buck. No words help. She went to bed early that night. I couldn't blame her.

The next morning we got up and she was ready to go again. We chased a few bucks around the mountains trying to get her a good shot, but never could. Then we found a doe and a buck standing on a hill. We waited for them to drop down and when they did I told her we needed to hurry to get in position. As we were, they came up right in front of us at 75 yards. I knew she would get one now. As I waited as patient as I could. She finally let a bullet fly. And yep she missed again. After another bullet was in the chamber she asked, "can I take another shot". The buck had went out to 300 yards and stopped. I said, "sure, go ahead". She then asked, "Do I have to use these shooting sticks?" I said shoot however you want. So she let the shooting sticks drop and she let a bullet fly standing up and dropped the buck. After some high fives and some woohoo's, she says, "dad, I hate using those shooting sticks". How could I argue that? What a great time to be with my daughter."




All Galleries | Gallery Main | Previous Photo | Next Photo




Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos



Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos

Home | Hunting Forums | Photo Gallery | Hunting Articles | Videos |
Hunts & Tags | Hunt Draw Odds | About Mule Deer | About Elk
Store | Classified Ads | Photo Tours | About this Site | Advertising |
Older Content | Email Us | Privacy Policy | Links | Podcasts