During
the recent muzzleloader hunt in Dec. I had the privilege to hunt once again with
my daughter Leanna. I had already gotten my deer. Now we were trying to get her
on one. Hunting in the desert is no easy thing and Leanna was not able to get
out as much as she wanted.
Over the last 4 years she has been hunting with a smoke pole and she has
had her chances at some little bucks. But she would get the fever and well…
anyone who has hunted deer knows when your knees start to shake, and your eyes
go cross-eyed it’s pretty hard to hit one of those critters.
Over the course of the hunt, Leanna showed great patients for someone who
has not taken a deer. She passed up buck after buck, waiting for that one buck
that would beat Daddy’s buck. (And I was really rooting for her).
We had several friends go out with help her get a big buck. On one
occasion, John Hardee took her out to our secret spot. (I kept my promise,
John!) Right off, I
spotted deer. After showing them to John and he says it’s the herd that we
were looking for. There was a real “toad” with them. John and Leanna started
to put a stalk on while I stayed at the Jeep and watched. After about 30 minutes
John and Leanna headed back to the Jeep. When they get back John tells me that
Mr. Big and a doe were missing from the herd. We figured that maybe they wanted
a little privacy. We continued to hunt and on the way out I spotted Mr. Big on a
ridge at about 150 yards. But before Leanna could get out of the jeep and into
shooting position he was gone.
On Saturday Morning we were joined by Dave Eklund so that I could show
him some javelina for his upcoming archery hunt. We parked the Jeep and walked
about a mile up an old jeep trail before we arrived at a dry water hole. I had
been using the damn of the tank to glass from. We spotted a broken horn two
point. Leanna got into a good shooting position but passed him up because of the
broken horn. I told Leanna that I had seen that buck four other times this year
and that we would save him for the last day. We took Dave back to town and
picked up my wife for the afternoon hunt.
Once again we were immediately on deer. There was a herd with four doe
and a huge two point buck. Leanna was able to get into shooting position but the
does would not cooperate. They stayed in front of the buck the whole time. When
they finally moved she shot too high and missed. When I ask her what happened
she said she was afraid of hitting a doe so she held high on his back.
Sunday morning Leanna had to go to church and we did not get out till
that afternoon. So we decided to try and find that 2x2 from sat. When we got to
the area we ran into a couple of other hunters who informed us that someone else
had taken the buck that morning. We hunted until dark seeing plenty of does and
fawns but no bucks.
Monday the 31st of Dec was the last day. Leanna and I headed
out to see if we could find Broken Horn. We parked the Jeep and headed to the
water hole to see if we could glass him up. We were about ¾ of the way there
when I spotted some pigs. I pointed them out to Leanna who wasn’t the least
bit interested. She just said, “Forget the pigs I am looking for a deer.”
Much to my surprise there stood Broken Horn about 60 yards away. Then he took
off up the side of the hill. He ran some 400 yards before he stopped. I pulled
out the grunt call From Modern Call Products. Every time I would grunt the buck
would come back about 30 yards and stop. I would grunt again and he would move
another 30 yards and stop. I did this until he was only 40 yards from Leanna. At
the shot of the muzzleloader he hit the ground. It was not the buck she wanted
but it was still a good one to start with.
She said, ”Next year I am gonna whoop your pants off Dad.” And you
know what? I believe her too.
Equipment
Used
Rifle:
CVA Hunterbolt
Load:
2-50 grain pyrodex pellets, 240-grain xtp with a sabot.
Scope:
Simmons 3 to 9
Harris
Bipod
Calls:
in-ex grunt call by Modern
Call Products
Binoculars:
16x50 Bushells and 10x50 with zoom Vangaurds
Camo by RealTree.
R
L Gray
Team
AZOD