Kids & Kentucky bucks

[ng270]

We have a tradition several years running now of making the first weekend of firearms season at our place in Kentucky a family weekend. The weather was great this year - chilly mornings, not too windy, and overcast conditions for part of the weekend. As with any other rut hunt on limited real estate, our deer sightings depend heavily upon where the "right" does happen to be during the couple of days we have to hunt. This year those does were on the neighbors; their number of buck sightings were four to five times ours. We still saw a few though, and fortunately a couple of the right ones for my kids.

My thirteen year old has taken several bucks now, but this is his largest antlered to date. Taken an hour and a half into opening morning, while the buck was checking/chasing a doe (she didn't appear to be anywhere near receptive).

 

[ng270]

The afternoon and evening were a little slow. My oldest daughter passed on a yearling buck in the morning, and she and I saw a racked buck mid-afternoon, but he was in thick cover and we didn't get a good look at him. My 16 year old daughter saw no deer, but she is a less avid hunter and sticks to the box blinds on fields, so her odds are lower.

Sunday was also slow, unless you count turkeys; they were everywhere, all day. My oldest passed a couple more yearling bucks, and we saw a couple of does. My younger daughter was again skunked. We had to be back in PA for a band banquet Monday evening, but planned to squeeze in a quick morning hunt. My older daughter offered her spot next to me in our best stand to my 16 year old, and Lydia accepted. She has killed one three year old 8 point and one doe in her career up to this point. Having seen zero deer for the weekend, she was anxious for action. She knew she had the green light for any buck she wanted to shoot. She said, "no spikes for me, but a forky might be in danger".

We had an hour and forty minutes to hunt. Turkeys were roosted all around us, and I caught a quick look at a coyote at first light, but the first hour passed without a deer sighting. With 25 minutes to go, I caught a glimpse of a buck coming through the woods. Lydia got ready and at the first good opportunity made a great shot. The buck dashed about 75 yards and crashed less than 40 from the stand.

He only has a 14 3/8" spread, but grosses 132. Not a bad buck for the last half hour of a hunt where forkys were on the 'hit list'.

 

[DocHolladay]

Awesome deer!! Congrats to both hunters and the parents.

 

[Native Hunter]

Lots to be proud of there - both the Deer and the Younguns.

 

[HB_Hunter]

Thanks for sharing! Great deer!