Youth Section

Man what a great hunt I experienced with my daughter these past two weekends, and what a hunt it was. When your four foot tall and hunting in the sand dunes covered with tall prickly mesquite, what a challenge it was to get a broadside shot on these skittish animals.

Kacee did a great job, not only because she was my daughter, but because of the perseverance and great attitude this hunter had on this tough hunt; she never gave up, always wanting to continue on all stalks no matter how hot or long the distance was, hoping to get an opportunity.

The hunt started two weeks ago on the south side of the small missile range, here in New Mexico 30 miles East of Las Cruces. We were joined by Doug Berkett and Chase Kemp, Youth Hunting Club President. This great team did a super job as we drove over 300 miles in two days of hunting, stopping glassing for hours, trying to stalk on single and small groups of oryx off in the dunes, but no luck to harvest an animal during the our first weekend of efforts. Days were long and the oryx did not want to cooperate, they were extremely skittish as they are hunted year round in this badge hunt unit.

After the first weekend of getting challenged, we knew what we were up against as far as terrain and animal behavior. Kacee could not hunt the next Saturday morning, because of her soccer game, instead of hunting, right after her game we went out to the shooting range to make sure her gun was still sighted in for the next day hunt. She was ready, I was pumped up for some intensive glassing.

Sunday morning came early as we met Joe Sellers a good friend and Matt Starhough WSMR biologist for the continuation of this high intense oryx hunt. As the legal shooting minutes began, the glasses from on top of my truck began to locate quick movement of white faces moving in the brush. The thousand yard spot of two oryx feeding was our target. Soon we closed in as they started to trot, of course the orange required vests we had to wear made it hard to close the gap without being detected. But luck had to change as we pursued with the stalk, when all of a sudden the oryx stopped and were looking back at us at a close 80 yards. I set up Kacee with the tripod for the standing shot, but no cigar, the double lung shot we had been practicing for was again covered with brush. We shifted to the right and the mesquite only got thicker, so we backed up back to our original sight; shoulder and head was all we could see.

I know that taking a head / neck shot is not the most teachable / ethical shot for any hunter, much less a kid. Taking full responsibility, knowing how well Kacee had been practicing shooting tight groups at a hundred yards with the same tripod set up; I gave her the red light to shoot the oryx behind the ear, hoping to put the animal down, quickly and humanely. With no hesitation she settled the crosshairs of her 7mm08 and squeezed the trigger on its mark. As soon as the gun went off the 140 grain Remington Core Lokt bullet did its job, the oryx dropped in its tracks and was hunkered down for the kill. Her first oryx hunt ended with hard work, lots of practice shooting, dry firing at varied oryx photos at home, and physical perseverance in the field paid off.

Kacee was so happy and thankful for all the great people she met and had the opportunity to learn from on this badge hunt. The wealth of information gained from the biologists, game warden, and friends we interacted with on this learned experience was awesome.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all! I hope everyone had a great holiday, as we are all blessed just to live in such a great country we live in, the USA! Thanksgiving was a great time for me to spend quality time with my family, as my wife is well ahead of the road to recovery after her accident just one year ago. Thank you all for your prayers and blessings.

Well as you guessed it, I could not stand to be away from the outdoors during this holiday season in New Mexico. The day after Thanksgiving, my twelve year old daughter Kacee and I had a great time hunting her first mule deer in the Burro Mountains, near Silver City. We were joined by CJ Simmons and Justin Britton on this awesome youth hunt.

The early morning hunt started as we climbed the tallest mountain in the unit before first day light. I was not sure exactly what CJ and Justin had in mind, as they had been scouting the unit for a trophy couse deer and found a dandy buck which they had filmed. We were positioned in a great vantage point early on glassing this awesome open country. As Mother Nature is so unpredictable, the full moon and high winds kept the deer from moving that morning; finding only two fork horned bucks bedded and jumping out two couse doe as we walked covering the big country.

Midday, we cruised around to another spot and walked some thicker country, where we glassed up four bucks and jumped out three bedded doe. I could tell Kacee was having a good time as she was getting into the glassing and giving us a hard time about the size of deer we were finding. The wind continued to blow and clouds were beginning to roll in as moisture was in the evening forecast.

Starting to plan for the evening hunt, we drove to a new area on the south end of the unit, where we glassed up six doe and four small fork horned bucks within the first thirty minutes. When all of a sudden the last hour of the day was upon us, where did the day go?

Suddenly, as we were glassing things began to change; Justin spotted a nice eight point buck about 1000 yards away. Kacee was excited and wanted to move in for a closer look. Closing the distance, running and gunning toward the buck, she decided quickly she wanted to go ahead and try to take a shot at three hundred yards. As she got steady for the shot using her outdoorsman tripod stand, the rain started to come down, wetting her scope. Luckily, CJ quickly yanked his silky dry glove off and wiped the scope down as she steadied for the shot. Bang, the first shot went off missing the buck as the hit was low. Quickly, Kacee reloaded as the buck stood there broadside not kno wing where the shot came from. When all of a sudden the buck ran towards us and we repositioned Kacee for another shot. The buck stopped behind a tall cedar tree, and the short moments waiting for the buck to come out for a shot was eternity. As the moments progressed, the buck showed himself and stopped broadside at 200 yards. Kacee settled the crosshairs of her 7mm08 on the bucks shoulders and squeezed the trigger. Bang, the buck dropped on video, the screaming of excitement from her voice was what I remember most. High fives were in the air as rain came down; Kacee harvested her first mule deer buck.

Thanksgiving was great, as Kacee experienced her first mule deer hunt with dad. Her first comments as we videoed the recovery was, “This was one of the best hunts I have been on,” I believe she enjoyed the running in the rain, closing in for the shot the most. As any proud father would put it, this was my highlight and great experience with my daughter. She has really taken interest in this privileged sport we enjoy so much, hunting.