My boys and I headed out for a few days of hunting. We hit several spots including property in Texas brush country, hill country and west desert prairie. We saw lots of deer, antelope and exotics but didn't have the right circumstances for Justin - aka Tornado, to make it happen. At this point, Justin is not the sharpshooter in the family. He shot some 221 Fireball and some 38 Special from rifles but his accuracy was inconsistent. The only real consistency was with the short, light .22 rimfire rifles. Well, one thing I like about the opportunity to hunt exotics is the ability to adapt to circumstances without having to comply with a lot of rules. This works great for kids, first time hunters, handicapped people and anyone that wants to do something different. Tornado was hitting one pound coffe can at 20 yards with every shot using the Cricket rifle with Remington Lightning ammo. When I tried to switch to CCI Stinger to hunt with I found out they don't fit in the chamber - the bolt won't close. I gave the rifle back to Tornado to hold while I made a call to check on this situation. He decided to fix it himself and "pushed a button". Well, he locked the darn safety lock and now the gun don't work. Not until I get a key for the cylindrical lock. This rifle is a loaner and did not come with the key. On to plan B. We pull out the 75 year old Springfield single shot that I cut down (stock and barrel) for the kids. This one shoot CCI Stingers with no problem. Tornado actually shoots the open sighted rifle a little better than the peep sighted Cricket. The rancher heads to a recently cut hay field and pours some corn in a long, narrow strip just in front of the round bales that are lined up there. We sit on top of a round bale about half way down the strip. After about 10 minutes, deer and antelope start coming out. Slowly but surely the animals follow the corn. We can hear the crunching as they chew the kernnels and come closer. When a mature female is straight in front and below us about 12 yards out I whisper to Torndado to pull back the bolt and aim. He does and suddenly he gets very serious, more serious than I have ever seen this 4 years and 2 months old boy. I whisper, "whenever you're ready shoot it right behind the leg". Tornado makes a perfect low heart shot. At the shot the antelope does a 180 and stands there with her head sagging. I can see the lump of the bullet under her skin, proving it has gone nearly through the animal. Tornado is now real excited and he proceeds to miss the next 4 shots in a row. I tell him to calm down and make a good shot right behind the leg again. He does it and I can see the bullet hit just an inch or so from the first shot although now on the other side of the animal. The antelope lurches forward and starts to sway. I help Tornado put another bullet in. This time, without me saying anything he takes a Texas heart shot on his own. The antelope goes down, kicks and few times and dies. I asked Tornado why he shot without me saying it was okay and he said "I wanted to make sure I killed her quickly, Daddy". I changed my tone to a pleasant and brief talk about waiting until I give the go ahead. Tornado was very proud of himself. This was his first big game animals and the second animal he ever killed. He once shot a rabbit, well sort of. He hit the ground in front of it and the bullet bounced up and struck the rabbit. So this was a very big deal to him. He patted the antelope and said "Thank you for letting me shoot you and eat you and now you can eat all the grass you want while you live in Heaven". I am very proud of him!
Brandon still says he's a bow hunter and doesn't want to shoot rifles at the moment. Him and Justin went off down a trail looking for deer and other animals while armed with Brandon's bow. I was sure the deer were completely safe. Well, the deer were but sure enough the boys came back with a rabbit!
