My 8 year old daughter Meredith decided she wanted to hunt this year. Her self proclaimed mission was to get a fat doe for meat. Since my son Thomas got to hunt in NC 2 weeks prior and killed 2 does there, Meredith got to hunt opening morning. Thomas offered the use of his 6x45 but she opted to shoot my 6.5 Creedmoor instead.
I set my alarm for 5:15 and she woke me up at 5:00 bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to go!
After a quick breakfast we were off to our blind with snacks in the pack and thermoses full. We had a actioned packed morning and saw several deer but had no good shot opportunities as the rut was on and deer were constantly moving about quickly.



We met up with Mom and Thomas for lunch at 1:00 then it was Thomas' turn to hunt.
Thomas and I got in the blind at 2:00, got the rifle loaded and hearing protection on then started to settle in and watch. Within 10 minutes we were seeing deer. He had decided he wanted a big 10 point that was on the farm and passed a couple of smaller bucks and several does.
Then he spotted a doe coming through and he recognized immediately that she had all the signs of having a buck chasing her. A BIG 8 (140 class) stepped out about 30 yards behind the doe. I started to hand him the rifle and he waived me off! A few seconds later the 10pt came out of the cedars about 50 yards from the 8pt. He grabbed the rifle, set up his shot, flicked off the safety and made the shot in one quick smooth fluid motion. I heard the bullet hit and could see red indicator fluid in the right spot.
He opened the bolt and we walked out to find his buck. He took the lead and after a short 20 yard tracking job in the cedars he found it.



We dubbed it his "Perfect 10 Buck"
It's a 10 pt
Thomas is 10 years old
It's Thomas's 10th deer

With Thomas's tag filled, we spent the rest of the day boning out his deer and went to bed early so Meredith could try again.

Once again she woke up all smiles and ready to go! We had the first hard frost of the year and it was a pretty chilly 25* when we walked out to the blind. We got the heater cranked up, poured some hot cider for her and coffee for me, then got hearing protection on and the rifle loaded and ready.
The deer were slow to start moving and we didn't see anything for the first hour and a half. Then we saw a spike work through edge of the cedars about 150 yards out. We saw nothing else for the rest of the morning. We went to town for lunch and got back out by 1:00. We had no action until about 40 minutes before dark when she whispered to me that she saw a doe. I set the rifle up for her and coached her to flick the safety off and wait for a good shot. It was quartering sharply towards us at about 100 yards and was about to go back in to the cedars when she shot. It was a damn tough shot to pull off but the red indicator fluid looked to be in the right spot. She opened the bolt, climbed downcut of the blind and took off toward where she shot it. She found it about 25 yards in to the cedars from where she shot it.



Meredith did her happy dance and we brought the deer back to skin and process. She was insistent about being part of the process and did her fair share, as did Thomas.





Our big reward came in the form of a Tenderloin Supper!



I had more fun watching them then if I was hunting myself.

Footnote;
My kids have now taken 3 deer with my 6.5 CM using Winchester 142gr LR Accubonds.
All 3 were one shot kills.
All 3 had massive meat loss.
2 were pass throughs
Meredith's bullet was recovered under the hyde of the ham having penetrated a good 3' of deer along the way.

Thomas has now claimed possession of my Ruger Hawkeye Predator and has no trouble hitting the 10" gong at 300 yards with it on every shot.

I can't make any big claims about this ammo after just 3 deer. That said, 3 one shot kills ain't too shabby but you can pretty much write off any meat within a 6-8" radius of the path of the bullet.



We have 10 more tags for my farm and plan to shoot 9 more deer with the 6.5 Accubond LR loads. (I'll shoot one with my Savage 219 single shot 30/30, just because I haven't hunted with it in 11 years)

I'll try to get help resizing images tomorrow when my kids are awake

Nothing like closeups!
still, congrats to the kids!

George

Good job. That buck is better than any buck I've shot. Conglads to everyone. Bob

nice job.
I would get away from the long range bullets and go to the regular AB's.
your exceeding their velocity window at the close ranges.