Proud papa moment

[BB1776]

So, I’m taking my 13 year old boy on his first hunt this winter— we will be going for wild boar. He has always been a dead eye with a .22 and has shot a. 38 lever gun a couple times. He tried a mini-14 once and didn’t like it one bit. He did like shooting a AR-15, though. Go figure.

Anyway, this last weekend was the time when he would finally get to try a “big gun”- a Model 70 .308. Our first practice before the big hunt. For months I’ve wondered how he would handle it. He is pretty small (under 100 lbs) but the gun does have a nice buttpad and a muzzle brake. We woke up before dawn and headed out to the range. I set up the target at 50 yards and he loaded three rounds into the magazine— just like we had practiced dozens of times at home with dummy rounds. His first shot was right on the money. Score! His second two shots? Not so much. He was anticipating the recoil.

He settled in after another 20 rounds or so, though. I had to remind him to slow down— hunting barrels don’t like getting overheated. He was loving it! Finally, my son said he wanted to qualify for the “big boy” 300 yard range. At our range, one must get 3-5 rounds inside of 3 MOA at 100 yards to qualify. I sent him into the office to get the target. He was all nerves. Honestly, my only goal this weekend was to get him comfortable with the gun. The mission had already been accomplished but he wanted to go for it.

His first qualifying shot was way off of bulls. Like 5 inches down and left. He was heartbroken until I explained he just had to get a 3 MOA group. So, he aimed for his errant hole and shot a sub-MOA group for all three shots. He was literally jumping his way down range to retrieve his target he was so happy to qualify. He pinned his target on the wall by his bed.

I gotta say I’m pretty pleased with how things went. He loves the gun almost as much as he loves wild boar maple breakfast sausage. Our next mission is to practice on the 300 yard range. After that, we will dial things in with the hunting ammo and then we are off to fill the freezer!

[sealocan]

Congratulations! Sounds like you've been doing a great job raising him. He stepped up to a new challenge and kept giving it his best.

If you don't get a boar on the first hunt explain to him and that's why it's called hunting and not guaranteed wild boar maple breakfast sausage shooting.

Stay safe and good luck to the both of you.

[Henry Shooter]

That’s Cool.
You’re a Good Father.
Keep pressin on.
He’s a Good Boy.

[BajaJames83]

Very nice work!

[EsotericEpsilon]

Great job dad! Keep it up!

[BB-Stacker]

Great job Dad! You've given your son a lifetime memory that he'll draw on when he becomes a parent. Just think of all the times he'll reminisce about what you taught him, what HE learned and the accomplishments you both achieved. Our world would be a better place if more fathers mentored as you have. Good Luck on the hunt.

[Munny$hot]

Proud moment indeed. Teaching your son to hunt, shoot, and be self sufficient is priceless.

[Garand Hunter]

Great job Dad ! My dad couldn't care about dealing with me and my brothers being taught to shoot seriously, just here and there maybe 3-4 times and that's all. We learned by ourselves. My daughter #4 wanted to learned and was directly involved, as well my cousin's son and two grandsons.

Psalm 1

[golfish]

Originally Posted by BB1776

So, I’m taking my 13 year old boy on his first hunt this winter— we will be going for wild boar. He has always been a dead eye with a .22 and has shot a. 38 lever gun a couple times. He tried a mini-14 once and didn’t like it one bit. He did like shooting a AR-15, though. Go figure.

My son (21) was the same way when I introduced him to the larger caliber semi autos 8 years ago (as you found out) he just wanted to shoot the ARs. He likes the SKS too.

I'm so jelly, I wish I could get my son in to hunting. It took me months of badgering to get my son to take the online class to get his hunting license ( when covid hit the offerd the complete class online) he like to shoot but he's more interested in getting his buddies out to shoot. He's just not interested in hunting yet but you can bet once one of his buddies starts hunting he will too (I haven't hunted in 45 years)

Your son sounds like he's going to be one hec of a hunter. You sure are a proud papa.

[BB1776]

Originally Posted by golfish

My son (21) was the same way when I introduced him to the larger caliber semi autos 8 years ago (as you found out) he just wanted to shoot the ARs. He likes the SKS too.

I'm so jelly, I wish I could get my son in to hunting. It took me months of badgering to get my son to take the online class to get his hunting license ( when covid hit the offerd the complete class online) he like to shoot but he's more interested in getting his buddies out to shoot. He's just not interested in hunting yet but you can bet once one of his buddies starts hunting he will too (I haven't hunted in 45 years)

Your son sounds like he's going to be one hec of a hunter. You sure are a proud papa.

We will see how he does with a living being in his scope. Shooting paper is one thing but shooting an animal is something else. I wasn’t sure if he would ever want to go but he gave me a hard time about not taking him the last two times I went. He took the online hunter safety course during COVID as well. It was actually a great experience for both of us as I took it for fun alongside him. We have had many, many conversations about the circle of life. Provided we get an opportunity to take a hog, it will be a big step towards adulthood for him.

[deckhandmike]

6.8spc is a great hog cartridge if he likes AR’s, and it has low recoil. Just throwing that out there. Good luck.

[Oceanbob]

EXCELLENT. ‼️‼️‼️

We as parents OWE our children a comprehensive Gun education.

Good job Sir….

[BB1776]

Originally Posted by deckhandmike

6.8spc is a great hog cartridge if he likes AR’s, and it has low recoil. Just throwing that out there. Good luck.

Haha! That would be awesome. However, Santa and one of his elves are already bringing him a new 20 gauge 870 Fieldmaster and a case of target loads for Christmas. It’s either the Model 70 .308 or a .357 lever for his first hunt at this point. We will bring both. If the shot is under 100 yards he can use whichever gun he wants, if it’s over 100 yards we are committed to the .308 this time around.

[golfish]

Originally Posted by BB1776

Haha! That would be awesome. However, Santa and one of his elves are already bringing him a new 20 gauge 870 Fieldmaster and a case of target loads for Christmas. It’s either the Model 70 .308 or a .357 lever for his first hunt at this point. We will bring both. If the shot is under 100 yards he can use whichever gun he wants, if it’s over 100 yards we are committed to the .308 this time around.

Oh man! Those are some good guns...what make and model lever gun?

A happy Christmas for sure

[BB1776]

Marlin 1894 CSBL

[gsparesa]

This thread is just awesome. The OP is very blessed!

[ACfixer]

I love reading this stuff, it makes me think there's still hope.

[wayno21]

Awesome, where do you plan on hunting boar. If more young kids spent more time outdoors with dad, mom, brother or uncle what ever they have available doing outdoor stuff it would be a better place. I built my grandson, who just turned 10 at the time, a MKII bolt .22 Savage mounted in a boyd stalk with a vortex 3x9x40. We started on paper 25 and then 50 yards, we ended up at 75 yards, he went 63 rounds at 75 yards before he pulled shot and heard no gong. I paired that with a Browning 1911-22. He prefers the bolt.

[BB1776]

Hey all,

Well, our hunt is complete, here’s the rest of the story:

Rain kept us from going to the range as much as we had planned to but we did get out one more time before the hunt. Since my boy qualified for the 300 yard range on our last visit (see OP) we went straight for the 300 yard range this time out. We had the place to ourselves, which was a good thing since I forgot the damn spotting scope! This meant we could go down range as much as we wanted without having to wait for others to stop shooting. We certainly got our steps in marching up and down that range, which was riddled with clay mud bogs throughout due the the recent rain. (2-3 pounds of clay caked onto your boots means you can add extra steps on the counter, right?)

Anyway, my boy didn’t mind the marching as he had as much fun collecting rocks and mushroomed bullets as he did shooting. We started at 200 yards and he kept everything inside of 4”. We then stretched it to 300 and things became inconsistent. Sometimes he put holes right on top of each other and other times there were flyers outside of the kill zone. I taught him what I could but I’m no expert. All in all it was a good day on the range and both of us came out of it very comfortable out to 200 yards.

Part III forthcoming…

[Cowboy T]

Good news, OP!

[NaClAddict]

Remember to allot range time to sight in for all copper. Give the barrel a good clean and get a few monolithic rounds through before expecting it to settle in.

[BB1776]

Part III

Finally school was out and we headed down to the Paso Robles area for our hunt. We stopped at Harris Ranch for some steak on the way down and then checked in with our outfitter for sight-in. My boy outdid me at that, putting two holes right on top of each other at 50 yards whereas my three shots were, um, not touching each other. Close enough, though, dangit! Due to the prevalence of early morning fog, our guide thought it might be a good idea to hunt that evening so, after a quick change into our hunting garb, off we went into the southern portion of the Coast mountain range.

This was not the hunt I was expecting. Granted the scenery was BEAUTIFUL but it was clear early on that this was not spot and stalk hunting. We were all on a big ATV and this was spot and RUN THEM DOWN hunting. Pure adrenaline. Hoowee it was the intense. As it turned out, this was just to my kid’s liking.

We spotting three sounders of swine and maneuvered ourselves ahead of the last sounder. They were running down a valley parallel to our path full bore (pun intended) when the guide skidded to stop and ordered my boy out and got him on the sticks. My son had just seconds to jump out, load a round, shoulder, and aim but he nailed his piggy right in the lungs as it went full steam by him at 50 yards. It was pure video game reflexes. It was amazing.

We shall not say how many shots it took me to get my piggy but, we shall say that mine bigger. Suffice it to say, the picture of the both us with our hogs on the green hills with the California sun setting behind us is priceless.

[BB1776]

Originally Posted by NaClAddict

Remember to allot range time to sight in for all copper. Give the barrel a good clean and get a few monolithic rounds through before expecting it to settle in.

I did, I left that part out of the story but I went by myself afterwards and sighted in with copper rounds.

[BOBGBA]

Sounds like a great experience. Good job!

If you want to post a picture and need some help, let me know by PM.
I might be able to walk you through the process over the phone, if you're doing it on a PC.

[splithoof]

I’ve taken both my kids on hog hunts, among other types of game hunts. The joy of watching them be successful, after raising them up in the gun culture since early childhood is something else indeed. I’m happy to read about your outings with your son; you have done well. Now it’s time to plan another hunt.

[RandyD]

Congrats. Your son is going to remember all that you did to make a successful hunt.

[deckhandmike]

Congratulations! Where did you hunt in Paso?

[theduracellbigd]

Awesome. If he is not already shooting using the sling via a loop or hasty method, give it a try, it helps accuracy and recoil even more. Not sure if you were bench shooting, as he grows and can handle gun better, you can start working on field shooting positions. He will be well on his way to skilled marksman hunter in no time.

[BB1776]

Originally Posted by deckhandmike

Congratulations! Where did you hunt in Paso?

Thank you! Just a few miles northeast of town.

[BB1776]

Originally Posted by theduracellbigd

Awesome. If he is not already shooting using the sling via a loop or hasty method, give it a try, it helps accuracy and recoil even more. Not sure if you were bench shooting, as he grows and can handle gun better, you can start working on field shooting positions. He will be well on his way to skilled marksman hunter in no time.

That’s definitely what we need to work on next. Well, that and eating through a whole bunch of maple breakfast sausage. So far we’ve just practiced from a bench, sticks, and sitting with a tall bipod. Hasty Sling is next.