Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Maclain's first

muddy

Well-Known Member
I somehow got roped into helping out a youth hunter this past weekend. Not that it was a big deal other than 2 of my 3 kids had the flu, the first day of swimming lessons were Saturday, and my wife is still recovering from a shoulder surgery. Anywhoo, after some scouting with my buddies we decided that we needed a Plan C to come into affect as Plans A & B looked sorta bleak.

Long story short Plan C miraculously happened. I got partnered with Maclain and his Dad at the house and off our grand caravan went. I followed in a separate vehicle in case I needed to jet for some reason. The spot looked great in the dark and even better on an aerial from within the blind, but as dawn came and went my hopes sank. Not one gobble. After a text reporting heavy activity and eventually a miss at location #1 I got antsy and started looking at an aerial. I talked to the Dad and said if nothing happens before too much longer we're making tracks. At 0700 I was really antsy, still hadn't heard so much as a cluck and started to rearrange stuff for quick pick up. Suddenly something I heard on Iowawhitetail rang in my head, "Patience has killed more birds than shotguns". I put my pack down and said, "15 more minutes". After the 15 minutes I got even antiser, but still told myself, "15 more minutes" and told Dad the plan. He said, "whatever you think". About 0723 I get a text from my buddy asking "How you all holding up over there?" I quickly replied "Bored" and looked out the back of the blind. Holy good gosh almighty there was a fan and a white baseball like head charging to the field. The next few minutes felt like an eternity as we got the gun loaded and Maclain situated for the shot.

Earlier we had chatted about range and I was assured that Macclain had practiced quite a bit out to 30 yards. I'll be honest, that's a pretty good poke for a 20 gauge with 2 3/4 inch shot manned by a 7 year old but I said, "if you feel comfortable with where he's at, drop him"

It wasn't 2 seconds later that little kid poked that gun out the blind and touched it off, a perfect shot at 28 steps! I blinked once or twice and bailed outta the blind and was on that bird fast. What I at first thought was a jake turned out to be a hammer of a bird, but with beard rot.

I eventually learned that Maclain had shot over a box of shells in practice, his dad focusing on concentration and squeezing that trigger. It really paid off.

Cool thing is, check out those light tips on the feathers, pretty odd for here in Iowa. It was a pleasure to take the kid out, I hope he realized that. Hopefully next year will bring about another hunt.

2013-04-06074301_zpscdff22a2.jpg

2013-04-06074426_zpsc2b17661.jpg

2013-04-06073455_zps6c1aa481.jpg
 
Nicely done! Thanks again for helping out Mudd! Congrats again to Mcclain!
I'll get the story of the miss you mentioned up soon.
 
Top Bottom