WY Hunting Trip

LOL!

Thanks. We're hoping we can make this a yearly trip. I'm really considering putting in for elk tags for the boys for the next trip. That would be so awesome!

Yup, the other side, for sure. I wish they were in Wheatland area...would be a shorter drive. ;-)

It was a cool trip and we'll do it again. It was so much more rewarding that we got to do it together and my in-laws got to be around for the boys experience.

Thanks all.

What a great hunting and shooting trip. The boys will remember that forever...and you will too.
Great shooting boys! First deer at 300 yards. Very impressive shot.
Love teaching the young ones proper gun safety, shooting and respect for firearms.
And what you did to deserve this. Setting a great example as a Dad and spending time with your sons

Awesome pictures and story... I'm headed to the ranch right after trick or treating with the boy tomorrow night. Breakfast in my blind saturday morning :)

looks like beautiful country. amazing to me the difference in terrain and hunting styles in comparison to northern newengland woods

Very cool pictures of Wyoming, and your sons getting in some hunting. I am sure they will never forget that trip and their experience with dad.

So, now it was time for my youngest son to get his deer. We went out and did some hunting Tuesday morning and evening, with no luck. We went out in the morning on some of the public land in the foothills. We saw some doe, but that's about it.





We went out with my FIL's buddy in the evening and saw a few deer, but still didn't get a great shot. He decided it as time for my little man to get a buck, so he set us up on his step dad's private property for the next morning, which was a good field area down in the valley near town. He told us to post up near the hay roll stacks, which we did. We got there just before sunup and posted up. We were seeing doe all over the place and waiting for something good. After a little while, my son whispered to me " Dad, there's a buck". I said "Where?". He says, "Right behind you." I turned around and there was a buck walking along the fence line near the hay area we were in...probably 20 yards away. I told him to stay still and wait until it passed by and got close to the filed to the east and we could move and get him set. The deer walked by as if we weren't there...once it was about 20 yard in the field we moved. Of course, we spooked him a couple times as we moved and got set. I had him sitting on a hay roll with the gun up on a bipod and ready to go. The deer had gone a good distance across the field and then turned broadside. I told my son, "Get those crosshairs on him and take a shot". Not a second or two later...BOOM! He hit him in the front side and he went down. He got back up and lunged forward, and I lost him in the binoculars. I thought he ran off. We called my FIL and older son over and told them what happened...they decided to take the truck over the that part of the field ad we walked over to see if we could find the deer. Expecting to find the deer off the field or chase him down, we were surprised to find him about 10 yards from the initial shot. After we got ready to take care of him, my FIL ranged the shot from his truck to the hay rolls and he was in shock. After he showed me the distance, I ranged it from the deer itself. His range was 320 yards...from the deer it was 302 yards. So, my boy basically made a ~300 yard shot. He hit the deer in the front quarter about 3" forward of the perfect kill shot. Like my oldest, it was down in one shot.

His deer...



With papa and proud bro...

So, Sunday night we went out for the first hunt. My FIL's buddy took us out to several spots that had potential. A lot of what we went through was sage brush areas of the foothills where we were driving access roads and we would stop and spot for a while. As we got close to the end of the evening we went in an area that was near some sugar beet fields and spotted several doe and a couple bucks. We decided my FIL and I would post up on a couple bluffs across from the fields with my youngest. The oldest went with my FIL's buddy to a different spot looking near those same fields.

We had a deer walk right below the bluff, cross the creek and go into the field. It was a nice 6 point mule deer and was definitely a shooter. I could see the youngest getting ready to shoot as soon as it was across the creek and in the field. It seemed there was a struggle and I later found out the gun was having problems. My FIL gave him his gun to use, but it was too big. My son got a couple shots off, but missed. I managed to get a picture of the deer standing on the other side of the field.



My oldest saw several nice white tail bucks, but didn't have a great shot and wasn't 100% sure our tags covered white tail, so he didn't shoot.

Monday morning, we went back to the same general area, but went down on the fields. We saw a few small doe and that was about it.