Cousin Wallace: First Deer for Nephew.

Was visitin' with a friend of mine last nite & he was telling of his nephew's first deer kill.

This young man, Josh, is in his early 30's and a good kinda guy, he has hunted dove before but never had any exposure to hunting deer.

A friend of his invited him to go deer hunting & since he already had his hunting license, Josh jumped at the chance.

Josh owns an old 20ga Stevens pump shotgun, a Ruger .22 Mark I target pistol and a .45 SA Range Officer but, no suitable hunting rifle.

Well, it's Uncle Richard to the rescue!

Richard loaned him a Rem 700 chambered to the classic .257 Roberts and some 120gr handloads.

Off we go to the happy huntin' grounds!

Josh's buddy sets him up watching a feeder about 100 yards away.

A young & dumb 6-point arrives to partake of the free groceries.

Josh has a rest but is shaking so bad he misses said buck....

The little buck scampers away but soon returns, intent on scarfin' up on the handout from the feeder.

Josh gets a second chance.

Josh still has a bad case of the "shakes" but manages to hit the deer very high toward the hind quarters, breaking him down but not killing him.

Josh approaches and manages to finish him off but told Richard he felt really bad cause "he was looking at me when I had to finish him off."

Josh & his buddy get him gutted and a tag applied.

Off to the processor.

Once @ the processor, TPW Game Warden drops by on a routine visit.

Josh thought he was good, since he HAD TAGGED the animal....

However, he didn't know he had to cut the date out of the tag and fill in the info on hunting license.  Oooops!

Josh also learned he didn't have a Hunter Safety Course certification ( I thought you had to have this before you could be issued a license???)

Anyhow, the Game Warden probably was so amused that Josh flat didn't honestly know all this was required, he just wrote him warning tickets on the offenses...Lucky Josh!

After the Warden left, the processor guy, thinking poor ole Josh had just received a couple of hefty fines, felt sorry for Josh and told him he would process his deer for free....

Now that's a first time deer hunter's story to remember!

 

Wallace