2015 Michigan Youth Deer Hunt

Dr. Vette · Sep 20, 2015

I had a nice story all written, but it somehow went "poof" into cyberspace and disappeared.

Short version -

14 yo daughter got a nice doe with her pink camo Savage Axis in .223 using Barnes Vor-TX ammo.

16 yo daughter got a nice doe using her Wby Vanguard with a Hogue youth stock chambered in .243 Win.

For those who wonder, the one shot with the 223 ran less than the one shot with the 243, even though the 243 had slightly better placement and was a closer shot. I never would have considered a 223 if I didn't have a daughter who was very recoil sensitive, but it worked out well.

The deer are closer in size in real life than it looks in the photos. On my hitch hauler they were virtual twins.

Pics below.

DrMike · Sep 20, 2015

Congratulations to your daughters.

That is great to see the young ladies tagging out. The deer will provide some fine victuals for the family!

cloverleaf · Sep 21, 2015

Nice to see young ladies hunting and obviously enjoying themselves. Well done. CL

Dr. Vette · Sep 21, 2015

Thanks guys. We were blessed to be able to hunt on private land owned by some friends, and the elderly owner is very much in favor of having young people hunt. He was calling his son during the day (son has a cabin on the land next door) for updates.

The younger one was chaperoned by her older brother, and was sitting in an Ameristep blind I placed a month or so ago. Using my Ultrec shooting sticks she made a nice shot at about 30 yards. It was fun hearing her tell the story and my son fill in the blanks. We got a good laugh out of how much she was shaking as she got ready to shoot. For years she has said that she was not going to shoot a deer because they look too much like a horse, and she's an equestrian. Gentle persuasion over the last many months plus time with the rifles won her over.

The older one was picky about which one to shoot. Last year she didn't get one because she never found the "right " one. This year the first evening was like that, and I had to encourage her to go ahead and take the one she did on the second morning. She wants to get one bigger than her brother and now her sister, so she didn't want to settle for an "average" doe.

They both have doe permits for the regular season which starts Nov 15th. If the land is still available I suspect that one or both of them will be up hunting with us again.

Thebear_78 · Sep 21, 2015

Sounds like a great hunt

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DrMike · Sep 21, 2015

Those are great opportunities for your children. So good to see.

Anonymous · Sep 22, 2015

Very nice!

A friend of mine started using the .223 for deer using Barnes TTSX.... kills them dead.

A lot of folks give him guff about it, but at high impact speeds they look like they were hit with a .270....

Dr. Vette · Sep 22, 2015

hodgeman":1tonqlgx said:
Very nice!

A friend of mine started using the .223 for deer using Barnes TTSX.... kills them dead.

A lot of folks give him guff about it, but at high impact speeds they look like they were hit with a .270....

I think that the internal damage to the lungs with the 223 TSX was worse than the 243 with a conventional bullet. Both were good lung shots, with the 243 scraping the pericardial sac and just missing the heart.