What an amazing year my oldest son had this year. He earned his first rifle as an incentive to earn his Eagle Scout award. He chose a rifle in 7mm-08 Rem and I surprised him with a nice little Browning Abolt II and installed the timney trigger spring. We developed a couple really accurate loads together. 140 ballistic tips and 140 Accubonds loaded atop Varget consistently yielded sub moa groups. He practiced a lot this summer (with a different rifle as he still didn't have the rifle yet) and this fall with his new rifle. He reached a point where he was consistently hitting rocks at 500 yards.
The fall began with his antlerless antelope hunt which yielded his first big game animal. Upon reaching the unit we were hunting, we quickly spotted a group of antelope and went to work. Mark and his twin sister and younger brother and I all made quick work to get a small rise between us and the lopes. We bee lined for the rise in hopes that topping out would put us in range for a clean shot. We removed packs and army crawled the last twenty yards to close the distance to 260 yards. One shot and the 140 ballistic tip found its mark and the lope went down. Hunt over!
The next weekend we were greeted with Utah's youth only waterfowl hunt which went pretty well. His little brother typically enjoys this hunt too, but he was on a scout camp out instead. We walked into the marsh with my brother and nephew. Upon the opening time arriving, Mark proceeded to cleanly drop two hen mallards out of the sky which required little work to find as they dropped right on the dike in the marsh we were hunting. Then he hit another one a little later that took some digging around in the Phragmites to roust out, but we got it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and we had the opener of the Utah General Season deer hunt. About 10:30 opening morning, after much frustration from the large crowds, we found ourselves across the canyon from a nice 22" 4x3 muley buck. He was bedded and hidden well from many hunters including some that passed within 75 yards of him without seeing him there. He wasn't moving for nothing, but we happened to sit down to have a snack and drink some water and decide what to do. I found the buck with my binos and we knew he was a shooter immediately. He was a long way off, but there was no way to get any closer and still see him bedded in the scrub oak. After firing a couple "warning shots" the buck refused to get up from his bed. Mark calmed down and proceeded to drill him vitally with a 140 grain AccuBond he had loaded only two days prior. First deer down and way bigger than his dad's first several deer. Nice work young man.
This past weekend we braved the nasty cold and snow to try and fill his anterless elk tag. We had only been hiking about 30 minutes when I glassed up a bedded cow elk. After a stalk which was delayed multiple times due to a lot of deer along the way, we were finally as close as we were going to get. With snow falling and intermittent wind gusts, his hands were getting quite cold. I kept telling him if he wasn't comfortable with the shot, that we could do it a different day. No worries at all. He calmly told me that he felt he could make the shot count. My buddy was to my right lined up on a large cow which was bedded, while Mark lined up on the calf feed only a few yards away. Upon the calf turning broadside, he let the bullet fly. To our surprise, we didn't hear a hit. My buddy immediately sent a bullet on its way and we thought we heard him connect, but the elk didn't act hit.
The cow and calf and one more set grouped together and headed towards us as they did not know where the sound came from. My buddies cow started to act funny and turned mostly broadside. One more shot and his cow began the death slide through the scrub. Meanwhile I was doing my best to keep an eye on the elk my son had shot at. His elk and the two others decided they better make haste and get out of there. As they cleared through the scrub into an opening, only two were there. My thoughts were, maybe Mark had connected and that was why the other was lagging behind. Soon the third elk slowly walked into the opening and looked back towards its mama. Mark made this shot count and drilled it cleanly through the vitals. The 140 AccuBond entered directly behind the on shoulder, crossed through the body and exited through the meaty part of the opposite should just forward of the bone. It left a clean hole about 1.25" in diameter leaving a small piece of rib on its exit.
Elk took a couple of steps and turned down to walk into the trees, or so it appeared. Watching intently, I soon saw the tale tale sign with hooves and legs kicking wildly in the air. All done. He had cleanly harvested his first elk at 350 yards with a 7mm-08 he had earned that year, with loads he had built himself. :mrgreen:
I keep telling him that this was not a normal year and not to expect such results every year, but he kind of shrugs that off and says "We'll see, won't we?!"
Wow what an amazing year! Next year his twin sister and younger brother want in on the action. I think I am going to be really busy again next fall.
Thanks for reading. I hope that you enjoyed it!
The fall began with his antlerless antelope hunt which yielded his first big game animal. Upon reaching the unit we were hunting, we quickly spotted a group of antelope and went to work. Mark and his twin sister and younger brother and I all made quick work to get a small rise between us and the lopes. We bee lined for the rise in hopes that topping out would put us in range for a clean shot. We removed packs and army crawled the last twenty yards to close the distance to 260 yards. One shot and the 140 ballistic tip found its mark and the lope went down. Hunt over!
The next weekend we were greeted with Utah's youth only waterfowl hunt which went pretty well. His little brother typically enjoys this hunt too, but he was on a scout camp out instead. We walked into the marsh with my brother and nephew. Upon the opening time arriving, Mark proceeded to cleanly drop two hen mallards out of the sky which required little work to find as they dropped right on the dike in the marsh we were hunting. Then he hit another one a little later that took some digging around in the Phragmites to roust out, but we got it.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and we had the opener of the Utah General Season deer hunt. About 10:30 opening morning, after much frustration from the large crowds, we found ourselves across the canyon from a nice 22" 4x3 muley buck. He was bedded and hidden well from many hunters including some that passed within 75 yards of him without seeing him there. He wasn't moving for nothing, but we happened to sit down to have a snack and drink some water and decide what to do. I found the buck with my binos and we knew he was a shooter immediately. He was a long way off, but there was no way to get any closer and still see him bedded in the scrub oak. After firing a couple "warning shots" the buck refused to get up from his bed. Mark calmed down and proceeded to drill him vitally with a 140 grain AccuBond he had loaded only two days prior. First deer down and way bigger than his dad's first several deer. Nice work young man.
This past weekend we braved the nasty cold and snow to try and fill his anterless elk tag. We had only been hiking about 30 minutes when I glassed up a bedded cow elk. After a stalk which was delayed multiple times due to a lot of deer along the way, we were finally as close as we were going to get. With snow falling and intermittent wind gusts, his hands were getting quite cold. I kept telling him if he wasn't comfortable with the shot, that we could do it a different day. No worries at all. He calmly told me that he felt he could make the shot count. My buddy was to my right lined up on a large cow which was bedded, while Mark lined up on the calf feed only a few yards away. Upon the calf turning broadside, he let the bullet fly. To our surprise, we didn't hear a hit. My buddy immediately sent a bullet on its way and we thought we heard him connect, but the elk didn't act hit.
The cow and calf and one more set grouped together and headed towards us as they did not know where the sound came from. My buddies cow started to act funny and turned mostly broadside. One more shot and his cow began the death slide through the scrub. Meanwhile I was doing my best to keep an eye on the elk my son had shot at. His elk and the two others decided they better make haste and get out of there. As they cleared through the scrub into an opening, only two were there. My thoughts were, maybe Mark had connected and that was why the other was lagging behind. Soon the third elk slowly walked into the opening and looked back towards its mama. Mark made this shot count and drilled it cleanly through the vitals. The 140 AccuBond entered directly behind the on shoulder, crossed through the body and exited through the meaty part of the opposite should just forward of the bone. It left a clean hole about 1.25" in diameter leaving a small piece of rib on its exit.
Elk took a couple of steps and turned down to walk into the trees, or so it appeared. Watching intently, I soon saw the tale tale sign with hooves and legs kicking wildly in the air. All done. He had cleanly harvested his first elk at 350 yards with a 7mm-08 he had earned that year, with loads he had built himself. :mrgreen:
I keep telling him that this was not a normal year and not to expect such results every year, but he kind of shrugs that off and says "We'll see, won't we?!"
Wow what an amazing year! Next year his twin sister and younger brother want in on the action. I think I am going to be really busy again next fall.
Thanks for reading. I hope that you enjoyed it!
