1st Coues ever, surely not the last!!!!

[Shooter McGavin]

Back on 10/11/13 I posted my boys 1st javi and told him that he should set a goal for getting all AZ BIG 10 Game in AZ before the age of 20, well today he is at 8 just like he said. Due to a school field trip yesterday and me having to work all day we couldn't be out there on opening day. We also couldn't get him a JR deer hunt tag because he hadn't passed the AZGF Field Day prior to the first draw, I was fine with that but I knew it wasn't going to be easy so we had to settle for a leftover general deer tag. I was really bummed knowing that in 36B with 800 tags there was going to be a lot of activity and being the 2nd hunt made it even tougher. We got up at 2:30 packed some grub and rifles and headed out. The whole drive down there all I am thinking about is getting to our glassing point and looking for deer. We finally park the truck and start walking in the dark, I tell Jake right now our only enemy is the sun, we need to beat the sun. We finally get to our spot at 6:15. I told him to start glassing the big hill to our north and I was going to glass the deep canyon to our south. He is still getting use to the whole glassing thing, so I told him to pick apart the mountain as if it were a giant grid. Inspect the whole mountain up and down and then go from side to side, do it twice. I told him for every doe he spots he gets a $1.00 and for every buck $5.00. A little incentive. Well at 7:00 AM I spot a small buck (spike), which was bedded down. I tell Jake I got antlers, ranged him at 272 yds. You want em, I asked. He said no I am still looking for deer. I smiled and said good job. I turned and focused on the large hill to help him out and from time to time just peeked over at the spike just to see if he had moved at all. We sat there for another 55 minutes glassing, nothing turned up on the big hill. I asked him if he wanted to climb the big hill to look for more deer on the other side, I had told him that I had seen and actually took some shots at some during my hunt. I then asked him, size doesn't matter with these deer. Just actually finding a buck and getting a shot off is half the battle. Each deer is unique in its on way, just like every hunt will have lasting memories. He looked at me and said, I want to see if I can put a tag on this deer. At that distance I said go ahead and use my gun. I took it to the range and had it dialed in at 300, so I knew it wasn't going to be an issue. He extended the bipod, got in a sitting position and said I got it in the scope. I told him to take some deep breaths and practice squeezing the trigger. Safety on of course. He said he was ready, so he flipped the safety off. I told him to just squeeze the trigger and once the shot goes off put another shell in the chamber, I'll watch the deer for him. It seemed like 5 minutes had gone by so I looked over at him and he was shaking and breathing very hard. He stated that his heart was racing and the scope was all over the place, I told him to put the safety on and take some deep breaths (combat breathing). He did and said he was ready, he got back on target and squeezed the trigger. The buck rolled over and slid down the hill about 10'. I said nice shot, high fives and knuckle punches all around. Well the canyon was very steep and nasty, it took us roughly an hour to get to the other side. Took some pics and told him now the fun begins. We both took turns cleaning it. I drug it down into the ravine and about 1/2 way through the nasty crap. He took over and got it back to the truck. While driving home he said what can I get from the butcher, I just happened to have a receipt/order form from WGP and I said make your list. Can't wait for those tasty snack sticks. Got home,unloaded everything and just prior to putting everything away he said, "dad I want to shoot a really big mule deer", I said that makes two of us. To be continued.........next year.

[az-6.5-284]

nice little buck ,congrats boy

[firstcoueswas80]

Very Friggin Cool! Going To Be A Long Wait For Me Until My Boy Is Old Enough!

[bbd1234]

Nice buck

[Pine Donkey]

That is so cool! Congratulations.

[trophyhnter]

Great story! For those of us waiting for our turn to take our child/children on their first hunt.....I hope my story read something like yours! Huge congrats to the both of you!

[bonecollector]

That is awesome, congrats to the both of you.

[CouesWhitetail]

Excellent!! Nice shooting!

[bigorange]

Awesome! Congrats...well on the way to that goal!

[azffhunter]

What a great experience....congratulations on your first buck!!!!

[ElkyG]

Congrats to the two of you

[Chef]

Man! The kids were nailing them this season!

Congratulations on your first Coues and making some sweet memories.