My daughter, Alyx (14), has been showing quite a bit of proficiency with learning about firearms lately so I asked her a couple months ago if she wanted to go hunting with me and Grandad this year in Abilene (we make the trip every year to see my folks and do a little hunting).
She excitedly said yes, which thrilled me to death!
We drove up this past Thursday and Friday morning my Dad set about teaching Alyx about rifles and shooting with a scoped rifle.
As always, Alyx proved to be an outstanding student and she followed Grandad’s instructions with each and every shot. He started her off on a .22 (the center target), then moved her up to a .223 (the left) and finally, after she handled the recoil just fine with the .223, she moved up to a .243 (the right!). Then she put 3 shots through a life size deer target with the .243. Not to bad!!!
Saturday morning, we saw a decent sized buck and she took him with a beautiful shot at about 55 yards. This buck had obviously been in a few tangles; he had a couple good scars on his body and the right side of his antlers had been broken off a while ago.
Here is a video of the actual shot (it’s not zoomed in very far because the Flip camera doesn’t zoom in much).
I gotta tell ya, I’ve hunted with a lot of people and Alyx proved to be one of the most patient hunters I’ve ever been around. I couldn’t be prouder!
That was great. What a shot. Can’t wait to take my son hunting with me this year. Thanks for sharing.
very cool Matt. Just spent a week in Ohio bowhunting with nothing to show for the effort. I’m bringing my kids this weekend to johnson city to get even with the deer. Congrats to Alyx! I remember the first deer i took with my dad like it was yesterday. Like me, I’m sure she’ll never forget it!
I remember my first deer (a doe) it was actually with a boyfriend at the times Dad – he was great, I have never been that close with my father, but to share that emotion, excitement, tracking it together was something I will never forget, he treated me like a daughter!!! It was with that ‘lil varment guy Alyx practiced with .223 at 250 yards!! Hope she cleaned her own!!!