(Mod permitting) Alrighty.....since the youth weekend is upon us, let's reward the little ones (not that a big ol smile is not enough) with some plinking ammo. Post up a picture, a story and the significance of the hunt and I'll send out 150 rounds of 22lr to the kiddo. I'll decide on Monday after all of the posts have been made. This is not about the biggest deer or the youngest hunter, just a little something to pay forward.

Please post pictures here even if you have to double post so I can make my pick easier

Nice thing you're doing, good luck to all the kiddos

X2

First one we are missing in 3 years due to baseball.

Bump for a good cause.

Great thing your doing!!! Should make for a great thread too

Awesome thing you are doing here. I will start, but don't have any intentions of winning:



After being frustrated by cows spooking of a group of doe coming in last night for archery time, my son picked our other feeder to sit over this am. We walked in and the cows actually helped us, we were moving in with three deer in the food plot but the deer thought we were cows moving and didn't mind us. We got to the blind and stood there watching the deer when all of a sudden some close coyotes start howling. Well, we watched the deer trot off to the trees and later I caught them walking away over a hill way out of range. Sat in the blind until about 10 minutes after sunrise, when my son said "I bet there are deer at the other feeder". I said you wanna find out, he said how? I said we can walk over, there's no wind so they won't smell us, we just have to be slow and quiet. He was all game. We made the half mile+ walk over and wouldn't you know it, he was right. We saw them move away and we knelt down, and they came back a little and a doe stopped broadside with a clear shot, about 80 yards out. My son was carrying my new 25-06 the whole way, and I wasn't confident in him making the shot, but he had the clear, so he shot. I saw the doe jump behind some trees, not sure if he connected. We walked up and had a conversation about which mound she was standing on to see if there was any blood, all the while he was saying that was his hardest shot he had taken and he didn't feel confident in the shot and this and that, when he looks in the creek bottom and said "I guess I did hit her, there she is".

He made a perfect heart shot, with no rest and on one knee. The 117gr hornaday SST made mince-meat of the atria and tore the aorta clean off, the heart was free floating in the chest cavity when we dressed her out. Was also our first stalk/still hunting deer, so that was kind of cool.

awesome experience for you and your son to share!

My nephew James has always seemed to enjoy spending time with me. His dad died when he was very young and he grew up without any male influence. My brother married his mother two years ago and since then I have tried to include him in all the things that us sportsmen enjoy. This year was to be his year. I have been coaching him and getting him riled up for youth season. He has tried to insert himself in all of the lease chores on top of starting for the football team and keeping up with his studies. He has helped build a skinning rack,filled and moved feeders and helped make sure his stand was cleaned up and ready to go.I taught him gun safety and watched as he turned into safe and careful gun handler. While practicing with the rifle he proved to be a natural.If he pointed a gun at something he hit it. He came to my house Friday night and we prepared to make it all happen. We hunted hard Saturday morning to no avail. Although his sinuses were bothering him and he had a terrible cough he has been hunting hard. We have seen many young bucks and several I would have loved to let him take but due to antler restrictions we had to let them walk. We hoped for a nice spike but they are never around when you need one. Saturday night's hunt started slow and very hot. James remained very optimistic and quizzed me about animal behavior between his many glassing sessions. Unfortunatley we didnt see anything shootable again.Finally at about twenty minutes before dark a group of hogs squirted out of the brush and headed to the feeder. I explained to him how tough hogs could be and told him that he had to shoot the pig right through the shoulders to anchor him. He got into position and I heard his breathing speed up. He asked if I was ready. I heard him pull back the hammer on the .243 and then heard him take a breath and then hold it......boom. I heard the report of the shot and knew he made a solid hit. The pigs scattered and one broke off from the rest. We lost sight of him in the tall grass. We left the stand and began looking. We found a ninety pound sow shot perfect through the shoulders.The pig was 123 yards from the stand. James was thrilled!Bunches of high fives and a solid tackle were at hand. I wiped blood under his eyes and told him he was now a hunter. I offered to wipe it off before we took pictures but he told me he wanted it there.We were greeted in the field by his step grandpa and of course we made the lucky hunter drag his hog to the truck. We took a ton of pictures and called mom and step dad.Everyone was pumped for our boy. James insisted we eat pig for dinner so we were up late cooking pig tenderloins.And as of now we are sitting in a stand hoping something will walk out. I can't wait to see him get his first deer. I have so enjoyed watching this young man grow up and am very proud of him. As we sit in the stand right now we are talking about getting him on a hunt for something he can mount.ww will have to see. I hope that I can make it happen for him. He is a great young man and I am blessed to be able to spend this time and share these experiences with him.

I was unable to upload the photos of his pig but if anyone wants to see them or can figure it out; pm your number or email and I will send it to you.Thanks for giving me this chance to share this story.

My nephew James has always seemed to enjoy spending time with me. His dad died when he was very young and he grew up without any male influence. My brother married his mother two years ago and since then I have tried to include him in all the things that us sportsmen enjoy. This year was to be his year. I have been coaching him and getting him riled up for youth season. He has tried to insert himself in all of the lease chores on top of starting for the football team and keeping up with his studies. He has helped build a skinning rack,filled and moved feeders and helped make sure his stand was cleaned up and ready to go.I taught him gun safety and watched as he turned into safe and careful gun handler. While practicing with the rifle he proved to be a natural.If he pointed a gun at something he hit it. He came to my house Friday night and we prepared to make it all happen. We hunted hard Saturday morning to no avail. Although his sinuses were bothering him and he had a terrible cough he has been hunting hard. We have seen many young bucks and several I would have loved to let him take but due to antler restrictions we had to let them walk. We hoped for a nice spike but they are never around when you need one. Saturday night's hunt started slow and very hot. James remained very optimistic and quizzed me about animal behavior between his many glassing sessions. Unfortunatley we didnt see anything shootable again.Finally at about twenty minutes before dark a group of hogs squirted out of the brush and headed to the feeder. I explained to him how tough hogs could be and told him that he had to shoot the pig right through the shoulders to anchor him. He got into position and I heard his breathing speed up. He asked if I was ready. I heard him pull back the hammer on the .243 and then heard him take a breath and then hold it......boom. I heard the report of the shot and knew he made a solid hit. The pigs scattered and one broke off from the rest. We lost sight of him in the tall grass. We left the stand and began looking. We found a ninety pound sow shot perfect through the shoulders.The pig was 123 yards from the stand. James was thrilled!Bunches of high fives and a solid tackle were at hand. I wiped blood under his eyes and told him he was now a hunter. I offered to wipe it off before we took pictures but he told me he wanted it there.We were greeted in the field by his step grandpa and of course we made the lucky hunter drag his hog to the truck. We took a ton of pictures and called mom and step dad.Everyone was pumped for our boy. James insisted we eat pig for dinner so we were up late cooking pig tenderloins.And as of now we are sitting in a stand hoping something will walk out. I can't wait to see him get his first deer. I have so enjoyed watching this young man grow up and am very proud of him. As we sit in the stand right now we are talking about getting him on a hunt for something he can mount.ww will have to see. I hope that I can make it happen for him. He is a great young man and I am blessed to be able to spend this time and share these experiences with him.

I was unable to upload the photos of his pig but if anyone wants to see them or can figure it out; pm your number or email and I will send it to you.Thanks for giving me this chance to share this story.

John B's nephew, James' pig

Awesome story. Love hearing about first kills as much as hearing about the hunt itself.

Congrats to you and your nephew!!

You are an awesome inspiration to anyone with kids in their life. We are proud of you and the boy . All of us had someone in our lives that left an indelible impression and you are just that. Congratulations to you both! Great job! Here's to many more memories just like the one above!

James' Hunt Continued:
Well the light is fading and it looks like we didn't get it done. I am very blessed to have this young man in my life. We hunted hard and at 6:30 we had a beautiful young basket racked ten point come in. We are in an Antler Restriction county so all we could do is watch. After several minutes of me trying to get a picture of the buck through my binoculars James grabbed me and said a doe and fawn are coming in. I looked and sure enough an old long nosed girl was working her way in. She went towards the the feeder without ever giving us a shot. The little buck got behind her and ran her into the woods and out of sight. They shot out of the woods moments later and she stood for several minutes in a thick stand of yaupon and never offered a shot. After several tense minutes she walked out of the yaupon and straight away. She stopped at 175 yards and looked back our way. She was standing in light grass that covered the bottom part of her vitals. I told James if he was comfortable with the shot the grass wouldn't matter. James looked at me and said: I'm not taking the shot. I don't want to risk it. Wow.I was floored. I didn't know what to say. His level of maturity ethics had eclipsed my own. The deer walked straight away and never presented him a shot. I could sense his level of disappointment. I said well that's hunting in an attempt to lighten the mood. James responded like a real man and said. Well you win some and you lose some. I told him he made the right choice and that I was extremely pleased with him.I told him that he would be paid back for the great choice he made. I just haven't figured out how I intend to do it.

Before we left the stand James got to see the little ten up close and personal. He walked by our stand at like 15 feet. Since we were loosing light I didn't figure anything would be lost so I snapped a picture with my phone. Hopefully I can get it posted for you guys. Thanks for all the kind replies and responses.

Congrats to all...can't make memories any better than this.

John B's 10 that came in too close but a little too late...

James' Hunt Continued:
Well the light is fading and it looks like we didn't get it done. I am very blessed to have this young man in my life. We hunted hard and at 6:30 we had a beautiful young basket racked ten point come in. We are in an Antler Restriction county so all we could do is watch. After several minutes of me trying to get a picture of the buck through my binoculars James grabbed me and said a doe and fawn are coming in. I looked and sure enough an old long nosed girl was working her way in. She went towards the the feeder without ever giving us a shot. The little buck got behind her and ran her into the woods and out of sight. They shot out of the woods moments later and she stood for several minutes in a thick stand of yaupon and never offered a shot. After several tense minutes she walked out of the yaupon and straight away. She stopped at 175 yards and looked back our way. She was standing in light grass that covered the bottom part of her vitals. I told James if he was comfortable with the shot the grass wouldn't matter. James looked at me and said: I'm not taking the shot. I don't want to risk it. Wow.I was floored. I didn't know what to say. His level of maturity ethics had eclipsed my own. The deer walked straight away and never presented him a shot. I could sense his level of disappointment. I said well that's hunting in an attempt to lighten the mood. James responded like a real man and said. Well you win some and you lose some. I told him he made the right choice and that I was extremely pleased with him.I told him that he would be paid back for the great choice he made. I just haven't figured out how I intend to do it.

Before we left the stand James got to see the little ten up close and personal. He walked by our stand at like 15 feet. Since we were loosing light I didn't figure anything would be lost so I snapped a picture with my phone. Hopefully I can get it posted for you guys. Thanks for all the kind replies and responses.

I didn't have the interest here I thought I would, but two good stories, nevertheless. It takes some guts to move stands just after the sun comes up.....and connect. Then to take a young man under his wing and teach him the outdoors and have him earn his first "pig's blood". Let's give 'em both 150 rounds of 22lr (parents permission, of course). PM your address and I'll get them sent out.

guys