TonyTebbe
New member
I had the privilege to help guide a group of underprivileged youth hunters on the ranch, for an antelope hunt this weekend. We had 5 young hunters out of Oklahoma. All filled their buck tags within the first 4 hours of the opening morning.
My young hunter was Marcus, who was accompanied by his father Keith. A great young guy, 14 yrs old, that had a passion for hunting and harbored some serious hunting, ethical, and woodsmanship skills. I was very impressed by this young man. They were chomping at the bit at the sight of all the coyotes we spotted while looking for the right antelope. We spotted 6 good bucks in the first 3 hours and the number of coyotes we spotted had outnumbered them.
I finally decided to let Marcus shoot his first coyote (after he had knocked out a few prairie dogs). A young coyote that was standing 150 yards watching us. He made a good shot on him and little did we know how lucky this pup coyote was to us....
You see, we walked out to pick up Marcus's very first coyote. As we approached the coyote, we could see antelope does starting to stand up at our approach, about 300 yards away. While we were passing out the high-fives on his first coyote, I started glassing the antelope. What originally was 6 does, turned into 13 does.....and a decent buck!
I walked back to the truck and grabbed my shooting sticks/tripod and the rangefinder, so that he can attempt a good shot on them. They were at 350 yards...just too far for his comfort level. We decided to stalk the antelope to close the distance. I called it a "stalk", but it was more of just a walk, as it was flat and the grass was about 1" tall.
When we got to within 220 yards, the antelope were getting restless and started to take off. I let out a coyote howl and froze them. Marcus knelt down to take his shot.
The smile on this young hunter's face says it all! His first antelope, first coyote, and first prairie dog. Shot on a hunt with his dad...and I was fortunate enough to be a part of this memory.
We finished with a cookout that night, swapping stories with/of these young hunters. None let their disabilities get in their way of doing what they love.....Hunting!
Thought I'd share....Tony
My young hunter was Marcus, who was accompanied by his father Keith. A great young guy, 14 yrs old, that had a passion for hunting and harbored some serious hunting, ethical, and woodsmanship skills. I was very impressed by this young man. They were chomping at the bit at the sight of all the coyotes we spotted while looking for the right antelope. We spotted 6 good bucks in the first 3 hours and the number of coyotes we spotted had outnumbered them.
I finally decided to let Marcus shoot his first coyote (after he had knocked out a few prairie dogs). A young coyote that was standing 150 yards watching us. He made a good shot on him and little did we know how lucky this pup coyote was to us....
You see, we walked out to pick up Marcus's very first coyote. As we approached the coyote, we could see antelope does starting to stand up at our approach, about 300 yards away. While we were passing out the high-fives on his first coyote, I started glassing the antelope. What originally was 6 does, turned into 13 does.....and a decent buck!
I walked back to the truck and grabbed my shooting sticks/tripod and the rangefinder, so that he can attempt a good shot on them. They were at 350 yards...just too far for his comfort level. We decided to stalk the antelope to close the distance. I called it a "stalk", but it was more of just a walk, as it was flat and the grass was about 1" tall.
The smile on this young hunter's face says it all! His first antelope, first coyote, and first prairie dog. Shot on a hunt with his dad...and I was fortunate enough to be a part of this memory.
We finished with a cookout that night, swapping stories with/of these young hunters. None let their disabilities get in their way of doing what they love.....Hunting!
Thought I'd share....Tony
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