This morning I happily payed my a debt to my 9 yrd old daughter for winning the Jr. Worlds in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu....I took her on her 1st bow hunt as promissed.After some practice the last few days at Performance Archery and Bass Pro Shops, we headed over to the big horn canyon ranch bright and early. As soon as we arrived we threw on our ghillie suits and prepared our bows.
After glassing the canyon for about an hour from different vantage points we found Rambouillet Ram she really liked hanging out 2 cliffs over.At that time she made up her mind and the stalk began.After about an hour we made it to the cliff where the ram was earlier. We heard some movement and I told her to go ahead.She quietly creeped up and nocked an arrow on her bow. She drew back and froze. After a few seconds she eased up the tension on the bow. Then the heard slowly trotted off into the distance. When I asked my daughter why she didn't take the shot, she responded: "Daddy, the one I wanted had some other rams around it that I didnt want. I dont want to shoot and risk hurting an animal that I wont be happy with! I want to wait till I have the RIGHT shot".Man let me tell you I was a proud papa! Its rare that a kid her age shows restraint, disciple, and patience while hunting.Most kids would have taken a shot at the 1st animal to present itself as a target.So we proceeded with the hunt. 3 hours later we were able to flank the same Ram, but the wind changed and he ran off before we could get into range.A couple of hours later we found the ram again feeding in the middle of a canyon. This time my daughter took the long way around by climbing the opposite side of the canyon so that she could have the wind on her side. I stayed on the adjaced cliff and watched the hunt unfold. She ended up flaking the Ram and taking a 25yd shot from the top that ended up missing his spine by about 1/2 inch. The arrow did manage to hit him in the liver severely injuring the ram.She then quickly nocked up a second arrow and took a 30 yd shot as the Ram began to take off. This arrow went straight into his vitals leaving an awesome blood trail.As I caught up with her, I found her carefully following the blood trail. At the bottom of the canyon was her prize.
