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Got this from Tony W. the other day, great story:

Mike: My daughter turned 10 this fall and that meant she was old enough to hunt.  She has been wanting to bowhunt ever since seeing the animated movie “Brave” a few years ago.  I bought her a crossbow for her birthday last year, and that gave us a year for her to practice.  She was consistently hitting a 6-inch target at 30 yards so I was confident in her shooting out to that distance.

The practice paid off on Nov 13th, the day before opening day of rifle season in Nebraska.  We had sat out that morning and didn’t see a thing.  We were driving back and I spotted a couple of young bucks on the edge of our neighbor’s shelter belt.  I pulled in and got permission to go after them. I grabbed my antlers and we took off across the pasture.  The entire time I’m thinking, “There is no way this will work.”

We snuck along the trees and got within about 100 yards when one of the bucks stepped out and looked our way.  We stopped and positioned ourselves next to a tree.  There was a cross fence 30 yards in front of us and I told her that was where we needed them to come to.

I did a short rattle sequence and one of the bucks started our way.  Then a much larger buck came out of the trees and pushed both of the little bucks out into the pasture.  He was clearly in there with a doe.  The two little bucks fought for a bit and then I rattled again; they both came our way!  One of them came through the gate opening and presented a perfect broadside shot. She took it when I stopped him with a grunt.

The shot was just a little low but it did clip the lower part of both lungs.  It was a long tracking job that covered over a quarter-mile.  Luckily we had help as many of our family members were there for the start of rifle season.  We managed to find him and the smile says it all. I believe we have another deer hunter for life.

The picture of us dragging the buck out is now officially my favorite picture of all time.—Thanks, Tony

Great job guys, father-daughter team effort!

NE girl 2