My daughter (9) said she wanted to shoot a deer earlier this year. I said 'ok' but you have to eat it. She said 'I will, if you cook it." I also said "you need to help clean it." She said that she would. I said "ok, we'll get you ready this year then."
She had already been shooting the 10/22 with pretty good accuracy and respect. We upgraded her to the AR-15 this summer. It fits her really well, and has just enough "umph" to take down a deer. She did really well at the range. No issues with recoil or staying near the bulls eye.
So, we went out to our family place in South Texas during Thanksgiving. First day we saw a few. She took a shot, but was low and missed. She felt what buck fever was. She was very disapointed. Second day, she made sure not to miss. Heart shot. It may have taken 5 steps.
I know it's not a trophy, but it might as well scored a 220 bc. She was very happy, helped clean it (held legs), and munched on quite a bit of meat that evening. Lesson learned (for us both). I thought she wouldn't want to go anymore, but that kinda went out the window. She's already asking when we'll go again. Now we'll start looking at working up towards a big buck.
