Our first stop was Walmart to pick up our licenses. This will be her first full year as a licensed CA hunter. As we go through the process, the counter person asks how old Alyssa is. I say 11 1/2 and hand her Alyssa's 2011-2012 license and her HS card. As she's processing, she states that Alyssa can't get an upland game stamp because she's too young. I seemed to remember youth hunters don't need the stamp, so I just let it go. After we got our licenses, we head out. As we're leaving, I glance over and notice that Alyssa is crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said that she thought the upland stamp was the license, and without it she couldn't hunt coyotes or rabbits. I set her straight and told her she is a legal CA hunter.
We headed out for the bunny opener and got to one of my spots at sun up. Unfortunately the wind was howling. We glassed and walked around, but nothing was moving because of the wind. We found a protected area and set up some targets. Alyssa had a great time plinking a metal, self setting target. We made sure both the .22 and .17 hmr were on and decided to do some exploring.
We found a spot that looked like a good coyote stand. I put her on the .204 and I started calling. About five minutes in, I spot a coyote coming hard from our left side, Alyssa's side. I whisper to Alyssa, but she already has him spotted. As the coyote weaves through the brush, Alyssa grabs the sticks and rifle to line him up. As she moves, he spots her at about 120 yards. I see his head whip around and in a flash, he's gone. She looks over and says, he spotted me. Yep.
Here's a photo of Alyssa on her first 2012-2013 coyote stand. That smile says it all!
Me and my hunting buddy. That is one confident looking young hunter!
I have a feeling this is going to be one memorable season...and I don't care if I ever squeeze the trigger this year!
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