Gage, You're Up!!

First let me apologize to Gage for mis-spelling his name on the last post. Sorry buddy.

So yeah, Johny's deer never moved after a perfect shot from almost 200 yards. The celebration only lasted a couple seconds though because as his buck tipped over, another one stood up and with his dad holding his shooting sticks, Gage was already in position looking for the buck through his scope.

"Just wait," his dad said, "Let him turn broadside."

As the deer turned John told him he could shoot and again it seemed like such a long time before the rifle cracked. Fully expecting the deer to hunch up and fall over, it was a little disappointing when it didn't; not because we didn't get the deer but because I know how cool it would have been for the little guy to connect. The deer took off but then stopped and Gage shot again. Dirt flew just behind the deer and it took off again--this time gone for good.

"That's alright," John said to Gage. "At least you got to shoot right? Now you know what it's like and maybe the next time you'll get 'em."

Even little Johny was giving his twin brother props for shooting, which was pretty cool. Gage wasn't bummed or discouraged at all and as we got up to Johny's deer. He was genuinely happy for his brother's accomplishment and we actually gave both boys props for being able to sneak up to these deer without spooking them.

We took pictures of the boys and the deer and then John suggested he could show Johny how to dress the deer out and I could take Gage down the coulee to see if any deer were left hanging around. We had seen a couple bucks a little lower but after the shooting, about 15 deer took off from where we had spotted them. There was a chance however, so Gage and I started hiking down.

We came up over a little rise to look down into some brush but it was pretty obvious everything had been spooked out. We were already walking toward the truck and had to drive it back up to get Johny's deer so we decided to keep heading out to where we parked. We had spotted some whitetail does further down the coulee and since it was on the way, we were going to check them out.

We soon were about even with where we had seen the does earlier in the morning so we walked to the edge of the coulee to look down into the brushy bottom. We were looking down into the coulee when something caught my eye from the direction we had just come from. I turned my head to see a nice buck come over the top of the ridge heading down into the coulee just 50 yards away.

"Get down!" I whispered to Gage in that half whisper half shouting kind of way. "Sit down and get ready Gage. Do you see him?" I put the shooting sticks into position and set the gun up and Gage was already kneeling down ready to put the deer in his sights. "You're gonna have to shoot quick Gage."

In all the excitement there was one thing we forgot to do; chamber a shell. As Gage pulled the trigger, nothing happened. "Shit."

Gage put a shell in the chamber and the buck stood there still trying to figure us out and figure out his next move. Gage put the cross hairs on him and squeezed and the buck hunched up and then kick out his back legs.

"You drilled him, Gage!" I whooped and with a big smile, Gage gave me a hug and a high-five.

"I got 'em," he said. "I got 'em!"

We had to track the deer for a little while but when we found it, Gage was pretty stoked. John and Johny had finished with the first deer, dressing it out and were watching us track from above. We had to finish the deer off when we got up to it so after Gage put the final bullet in him, we waved back to his brother and dad and they came running to what Gage shot. It was a pretty good size deer. Everyone was thrilled.

I've shot a lot of deer and some elk and they're all cool and special in their own way but this hunt was probably the coolest of them all. Just being a part of both of these boys' first deer and to see their dad proud of them definitely puts this hunt on the top of the list. Thanks guys.

Keep 'em where they live...