Wayne in BC
New member
My youngest daughter had been not so subtly hinting that it was time for her to bag her first Deer. Dad had recently bought a "Featherweight Winchester" in 270 caliber and it seemed to fit her lanky little frame just fine 
Now she would have been 12 coming 13 coming 17 etc at the time. Both of my girls could shoot, and i mean SHOOT, by the time they were about 8 or 9 i guess.
Her name is Gaye aka "Sunny Gaye" and from what i gather about you Sunny, you two are peas in a pod, same hair color too
I allowed as how maybe we could arrange a day or so off school to get the deed done and she began living at 200 mph, rather than the measly 120 she was normally at!
The same young guide "Tom" was still wanting that trophy Muledeer and we headed out for a couple days at camp. That little gulley i mentioned was always home to at least one "Mossyhorn" and sometimes two. It was the kind of place a mountain loving "Mulie" liked most. Cover, food, and a high view. The first night in camp was frosty, the woodstove in the tent kept our spirits and gear warm. Gaye made a couple trips outside to pamper "her" horse Brandy, yes the famous "Brandy" of the "horse eating stump" and he truly was, he liked that little girl a whole bunch. She claimed it was true love and i claimed it was treats and oats, with a liberal dose of 'smart horse"
In the morning our spotting scopes showed a dandy big buck, Tom was drooling! We left the horses at camp and hiked up to the rimrock. Tom wanted that buck and since he had originally spotted him weeks previous, he got the first choice. I knew there were other bucks up there and little Gaye would likely get her chance too.
Arriving on the rimrock we stopped to blow and look into the little grassy valley in the gulley. There was a buck! Standing unconcernadly right in the center, 80 yards away........but it was not Mr Big! We watched for some time and nothing else showed. Tom finally whispered, heck, Gaye may as well take that buck, we can look for the big guy tomorrow. Gaye was already excited and just waiting for the word!
I rolled up my hunting coat and set it on a rock, she tucked into the Winchester as i coached her......shoot right behind the shoulder sweetie, squeeze that trigger, don't pull it! etc! Just doing proud worried Dad things ya know? Before i was ready the rifle blasted,the Buck leapt and piled up in a heap and one excited little girl was saying ......i got him! i got him! as the blood trickled down her cheek from the scope cut above her eye i could not even get a good look at the scopecut as she was rarin to go to her prize, but at that moment the larger Buck jumped from where he had been hidden and Tom's 30-06 boomed the end of him! Now i had two very excited hunters, one young but fairly experienced and one very young, now experienced, as we made our way down to the prizes.
Gaye's Buck was a good, average to large Mulie, she was just thrilled and proud of herself, as i was of her. I had asked, why did you shoot so soon, she had replied, the crosshairs were in just the right place Dad! As if it was a silly question......i guess it was! Toms Buck was a truly fine trophy, a massive animal with high wide antlers, the best he had ever seen!
We decided to field dress the animals and cape the heads, taking them down on our backpacks, then coming back with the horses for the meat. No way we could carry all that meat down the mountain and no way that Gaye or Tom would leave those antlers, they carried them to camp. We took our time at camp putting some finishing touches on the caping and had a meal so it was well into the afternoon before we were heading up the mountain with the horses.
We ascended the steep trail, leading the horses and following the tracks in the snow we had made coming down. I was in the lead and probably about 100 yards short of our game i saw tracks, BIG tracks! overtop of ours, a Grizzly, two Grizzlies! Likely a big sow and two year cub. Stopping short i held up my hand and whispered to Tom, look here! He said uh oh, are we in trouble? Yup i said, we are outta here! Gaye was having no part of this and began saying.......no way that bear can have MY deer! I said listen sweetie, we do not want a confrontation, it could be tragic as she will defend what she thinks is HER meat, she found it, believes it is hers, and the meat is not worth the life of us or the bears.
My girl kept protesting, mad at the bear as we quickly headed back down the trail with the horses snorting and nearly trampling us with the smell of their greatest terror in their nostrils!
The bears never showed but i knew that old gal was laying up on those carcasses listening to the commotion below her and ready to rumble if we had come further. We would have been stupid to do it, a mad stampede of panicked horses and po-ed Grizzlies on a steep icy trail would sure get someone killed. My daughter had a heck of a story to tell, her trophy antlers to prove it, and a fine quality scopecut/battlescar!
That old sow bear was around there year after year and caused us no trouble, although we saw her and her cubs come past our camp several times. Even when the season was open we never hunted her or any other Grizzly in there...........they were "special", not like those damn thieving Black bears that continually sneaked in while we were gone and ripped up our camps, we shot them bandits!
I told my daughter on the phone tonight about this forum and that i would tell this story after she mentioned that she wished i would start writing again. We may even see her here. You see i used to do some freelance outdoor writing 30 years and so back and am seriously out of practice. The truth? I am afraid that i would have to get her to edit for me as her abilities far exceed mine!
Thanks all.....
Wayne
Now she would have been 12 coming 13 coming 17 etc at the time. Both of my girls could shoot, and i mean SHOOT, by the time they were about 8 or 9 i guess.Her name is Gaye aka "Sunny Gaye" and from what i gather about you Sunny, you two are peas in a pod, same hair color too
I allowed as how maybe we could arrange a day or so off school to get the deed done and she began living at 200 mph, rather than the measly 120 she was normally at!
The same young guide "Tom" was still wanting that trophy Muledeer and we headed out for a couple days at camp. That little gulley i mentioned was always home to at least one "Mossyhorn" and sometimes two. It was the kind of place a mountain loving "Mulie" liked most. Cover, food, and a high view. The first night in camp was frosty, the woodstove in the tent kept our spirits and gear warm. Gaye made a couple trips outside to pamper "her" horse Brandy, yes the famous "Brandy" of the "horse eating stump" and he truly was, he liked that little girl a whole bunch. She claimed it was true love and i claimed it was treats and oats, with a liberal dose of 'smart horse"
In the morning our spotting scopes showed a dandy big buck, Tom was drooling! We left the horses at camp and hiked up to the rimrock. Tom wanted that buck and since he had originally spotted him weeks previous, he got the first choice. I knew there were other bucks up there and little Gaye would likely get her chance too.
Arriving on the rimrock we stopped to blow and look into the little grassy valley in the gulley. There was a buck! Standing unconcernadly right in the center, 80 yards away........but it was not Mr Big! We watched for some time and nothing else showed. Tom finally whispered, heck, Gaye may as well take that buck, we can look for the big guy tomorrow. Gaye was already excited and just waiting for the word!
I rolled up my hunting coat and set it on a rock, she tucked into the Winchester as i coached her......shoot right behind the shoulder sweetie, squeeze that trigger, don't pull it! etc! Just doing proud worried Dad things ya know? Before i was ready the rifle blasted,the Buck leapt and piled up in a heap and one excited little girl was saying ......i got him! i got him! as the blood trickled down her cheek from the scope cut above her eye
i could not even get a good look at the scopecut as she was rarin to go to her prize, but at that moment the larger Buck jumped from where he had been hidden and Tom's 30-06 boomed the end of him! Now i had two very excited hunters, one young but fairly experienced and one very young, now experienced, as we made our way down to the prizes.Gaye's Buck was a good, average to large Mulie, she was just thrilled and proud of herself, as i was of her. I had asked, why did you shoot so soon, she had replied, the crosshairs were in just the right place Dad! As if it was a silly question......i guess it was! Toms Buck was a truly fine trophy, a massive animal with high wide antlers, the best he had ever seen!
We decided to field dress the animals and cape the heads, taking them down on our backpacks, then coming back with the horses for the meat. No way we could carry all that meat down the mountain and no way that Gaye or Tom would leave those antlers, they carried them to camp. We took our time at camp putting some finishing touches on the caping and had a meal so it was well into the afternoon before we were heading up the mountain with the horses.
We ascended the steep trail, leading the horses and following the tracks in the snow we had made coming down. I was in the lead and probably about 100 yards short of our game i saw tracks, BIG tracks! overtop of ours, a Grizzly, two Grizzlies! Likely a big sow and two year cub. Stopping short i held up my hand and whispered to Tom, look here! He said uh oh, are we in trouble? Yup i said, we are outta here! Gaye was having no part of this and began saying.......no way that bear can have MY deer! I said listen sweetie, we do not want a confrontation, it could be tragic as she will defend what she thinks is HER meat, she found it, believes it is hers, and the meat is not worth the life of us or the bears.
My girl kept protesting, mad at the bear as we quickly headed back down the trail with the horses snorting and nearly trampling us with the smell of their greatest terror in their nostrils!
The bears never showed but i knew that old gal was laying up on those carcasses listening to the commotion below her and ready to rumble if we had come further. We would have been stupid to do it, a mad stampede of panicked horses and po-ed Grizzlies on a steep icy trail would sure get someone killed. My daughter had a heck of a story to tell, her trophy antlers to prove it, and a fine quality scopecut/battlescar!
That old sow bear was around there year after year and caused us no trouble, although we saw her and her cubs come past our camp several times. Even when the season was open we never hunted her or any other Grizzly in there...........they were "special", not like those damn thieving Black bears that continually sneaked in while we were gone and ripped up our camps, we shot them bandits!
I told my daughter on the phone tonight about this forum and that i would tell this story after she mentioned that she wished i would start writing again. We may even see her here. You see i used to do some freelance outdoor writing 30 years and so back and am seriously out of practice. The truth? I am afraid that i would have to get her to edit for me as her abilities far exceed mine!
Thanks all.....
Wayne
