Annual Hunting Trip With Pops!

January 2-3 2017

This was a very big year for Carter. It was the first time he took a shot a deer.  I honestly had no expectations for him to shoot at a deer, but he hunted with Pops the entire first day and Pops was very excited for him to have a try. 

Addie hunted with me the first day with the goal to shoot the .22 magnum, at a hog.  Previously, we had seen hogs nearly every time we were in a stand but unfortunately we did not see any this entire trip. It was an abnormally warm - 75 degrees, which the hogs probably were eating and moving when it was cooler at night.

   

Pops brought his 223 for Carter to shoot a deer with and he first evening he tried to shoot "something really big... at least an 8 point," according to Pops and Carter but missed a little high. We had a blast spotlighting that night and killed a couple of rabbits, one of which was Carter's first official kill. He also shot a possum and now they both understand how ugly possums are. The next morning I hunted with Carter in "Mike's Blind".  At first light we saw 3 very large bucks.  Carter took his time and finally had a good shot at a nice 10 pointer yet once again he was a little high with the shot. We went back to the stand, but didn't get a another shot at the big one.  Interestingly, we went back and did some more target practice from the 125 yard mark, which was the distance he shot at the deer and Carter was almost perfect every single shot, with both the 223 and the 22. Although Carter didn't seem nervous with his shots, it must have been the adrenaline pumping through his body.

Addie had a blast shooting both the vintage 22 that Yaya given to her this Christmas. The gun had been given to Yaya, from her father "Charles" when she was 10 years old, in 1959. Addison also practiced as with a different 22 which had a scope for target practice.  It was amazing how much better she did with just one day's target practice.  She was really hoping to see some hogs or turkeys in the stand, but all we really saw were some small bucks and doe.  She really enjoyed the entire trip, especially feeding the cows, and riding around on the lease looking at all the wildlife.  Next year, I predict we may have a first deer from Carter and first hog for Addie.

(Written by Blake)