I thought I'd do a spin off of graybird's post since he is pretty involved in this one as well.


I met this little lady when I started to date her mother in 2008 and she was five years old at the time. A little desperate for attention from a male role model so I've tried to do the best I could. I let her steal my rangefinder and tag along on her first pronghorn hunt when she was six.

Next I bought her a little pink rifle and started teaching her to shoot.

She spent quite a bit of time shooting that little pink rifle with Snellstrom's youngest son, and on her own when we could get to the range. Graybird bought her a nice hot pink soft case that she is pretty proud of as well.

When she was seven she had to miss out on our annual pronghorn hunting because of a broken leg. However when she was eight she made it and wasn't afraid to give me a hand holding the pronghorn while I did the field dressing. Shortly after that hunt she said she wanted to go hunting.

So I did what any good stepfather would do. I made a deal with her to make her earn a hunting trip. I told her if she kept her grades up and passed Hunters Ed, I'd find a hunt for her. Well she kept her end of the bargain straight A's and passed Hunters Ed on the first try. I had been talking with Graybird about somewhere I could take her to hunt, since Colorado says they have to be 12 to hunt big game. He offered up his Dad's place in OK to Snellstrom's boy and my daughter to hunt white tail.

So I spent most of the year leading up to this hunt getting my daughter to shoot a larger rifle than her little pink crickett. We had a few set backs as report, even with ear plugs inside of muffs seemed to bother her. So good ol' step dad loaded up "magic bullets" for his daughter and got her worked up to full power .223 loads for a Steven's 200 I had the stock cut down to fit her.

This past pronghorn season we didn't see any pronghorn worth shooting but since my wife and I allowed her to skip a day of school with "hunters flu", we shot some prairie dogs with Ted Thorn. She had been worried about making a poor shot on a deer and wounding one as we got closer to her hunting, shooting prairie dogs was a big confidence booster.



Anyway we got to Graybird's hunting site on Monday evening too late to hunt but she sure was excited to get her first Deer tag at "the Walmart". We would spend the next day sitting overlooking a canyon for deer in the morning, chasing squirrels mid day and sitting in a hunting blind that afternoon.



Unfortunately we never connected with a deer that first day, she never felt right about taking a shot. I told her I was proud of her for not shooting when she felt she didn't have the shot, and it was no big deal if she didn't shoot a deer at all. I had to leave her in the capable hands of Graybird to get her on deer, because I had been called to report back to work in TX on Wednesday.

I was getting a little worked up waiting around all day to get some news to find out if I was going to have a deer huntress on my hands. About 6pm Graybird sent me this picture.



Success a "Huntress" is born! Graybird said she made a perfect shot into the pocket of the deer's shoulder at 120 yards. Her second shot was a little far back but the deer was at 140+ yards by the time she shot again. According to the report I got the second shot wasn't needed at all as the first destroyed the lungs completely.







I owe Graybird and Snellstrom a great deal for helping my daughters journey to become a "Huntress" a success. I couldn't be more proud of my little girl, and a little sad I wasn't there to witness this milestone in person.

I am so proud of this little girl you don't understand!!!

When the doe and fawn entered the field, I asked her which deer she wanted to shoot. Naturally, she chose the big one.

So, I had her get on the gun and look at the deer for minute. I asked her if she could see both deer and how was the picture. "It's perfect, I can see her perfect."

"Ok, let's take a couple deep breathes and just look at her for a second."

"Can you still see her and are the crosshairs where they need to be?"

"Yes, I can still see her perfect."

"Ok, I'm going to take the gun off safety and take the shot when you're ready."

A perfect textbook lung shot just behind the shoulder halfway up. I had her shoot again, but it wasn't required.

I could read the happiness and satisfaction on her face that the deer didn't suffer because of her excellent shots.

I gave her a big hug, some high fives and a couple fist bumps along with talking about the excellent exicutuion.

A HAPPY Day indeed for both of us!

Congrats again, and "Show me that pretty smile!"

A couple more pictures from a cool, foggy Oklahoma morning>

Wonderful! Congrats to you all!

The kids are naturals!

I'm super proud of the entire gang!

I knew she would be a deer killer after watching her shoot p-dogs

Great stuff

Excellent!!

Great job all around for hunters and "guides".



Phil

Perfect!! Welcome aboard.

That is so awesome, Congratulations to all involved!

Thanks, I'm showing the pictures off to everyone I meet that talks to me for longer than five minutes.

Dang, that's just the best!!!!!

Congraulations!

My daughter's have never expressed an interest in big game hunting although they all really love to shoot ground squirrels.

Beautiful x 100

Excellent... congratulations!

Love to see young hunters in the field... especially the ladies. Well done!