11 yr old daughter gets her 1st (story and pics)

[eorlando]

I have dreamt of this day for a long time and today it became a reality!!!!  4 years ago I built a Remington 870 youth 20ga for the kids to shoot. Paisley, 7 at the time, was still too small to shoot it. The following year she shot it and had no issues with it. A few weeks prior to the youth hunt we went to shoot and she wouldn't shoot. Something had her scared out of her mind and she just wouldn't pull the trigger so we cancelled the hunt. She never shot it again...... Until.....
Fast forward to this year and her little brother who is now 7 was getting ready for his youth hunt. Keep in mind, she hasn't shot it in 3 years now and has had no interest in shooting it. All of a sudden she says she wants to shoot again. She overcomes her fears and pulls the trigger and realizes there is nothing to be scared of. Now she is pumped to shoot her first bird.
We head to a spot I had scouted for the youth hunt and had taken pictures at before season. I knew the general area the birds were using and knew exactly where I wanted to setup at. Like ninjas, we slipped in complete darkness to the spot. She kept up with me during the mile plus walk and didn't complain at all.  We whispered about how the hunt would go and how she was going to smoke that big gobbler when he came in. Neither one of us could wait for the sun to come up. As we neared the spot I whispered to her the importance of watching our step so we didn't step on branches and make noise as the gobblers could be roosted anywhere in the area.
Finally, we made it to the spot. I set up the gobbler lounger, put up the camo netting, and put out the DSD jake and lay down hen. I slipped back to the chair and got settled in. She snuggled up on my lap and we whispered some more about what to expect and what she should do. As the sun started to creep out, the woods started to wake up. Sandhill cranes started to call, song birds chirping, and a lone barred owl hooted in the distance. Any time now the turkeys should wake and hopefully that gobbler will make his presence known.
I pull out the owl call, hoo, hoo, - hoo, cooks, for you...... BAM 2 gobblers fire off to our right not 100 yards away. I tell Paisley to stay still. I reach for my binos and scan the tall pines across the way. There he is. I tell Paisley where he is and she sees him too. The excitement is growing with the anticipation of fly down. I pull out my Cox trumpet and let out a few soft yelps. Both gobblers hammer back and cut me off. A few minutes go by and I call again.....once again they hammer back. Both gobblers are starting to fidget in the tree and I tell Paisley they are getting ready to fly down. I grab the gun and rest it on my knee. She shoulders it and gets situated aiming towards the decoys. The first bird flys down between the roost and the decoys 50 yards out...... then the 2nd one joins.
They spot the decoys and start making their way to the decoys.  One struts, then the other. They are getting closer with each step. My breathing is getting heavier with every step they take. Paisley is shaking with excitement. She whispers to me, "I don't think I can do it." I tell her, "I know you can." They are 10 yards from the decoys and getting ready to throw down with their plastic enemy. The lead gobbler, which was the bigger of the 2, periscopes and looks right at us. Paisley was already on the other bird. He was walking with his head down oblivious to what was coming. I whispered "kill him," and without hesitation the silence of the woods was broken. Her shot rang out and he fell where he stood. The other bird ran 10 yards and stood there. He had no clue what had happened. Lucky for him we were only allowed one bird.
I squeezed her and we both laughed like little kids. Tears filled her eyes as she was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. I felt feeling that I have never felt before. We ran out to her bird and I flipped him over to look at his beard. Strange, I thought his beard was better than that. I started looking through the pile of feathers and there it was.....bits and pieces of his beard all over the ground. Oh well..... we weren't mounting him anyway as she said she wanted to wait for one with bigger spurs. Lol.
On our walk back to the truck she told me she now wants to shoot a buck, ducks, and anything else that we can hunt. She is HOOKED!!!!  We got back to the truck and I snapped off some photos of her and her trophy with the D850 and 70-200 f2.8 vrii lens. I called my good buddy David McCleaf and he took the epic pics of the 2 of us together!!!!  Definitely a day we will never forget!!!
DSC_1280 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_1379 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_1332 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_1342 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_1325 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_8543 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_8490-2 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_8480 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


DSC_8582 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr


20210310_064205 by Eric Orlando, on Flickr





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[Howie g]

Congrats to her ! Great pics !  Awesome memories

[bammerslammer 50]

Congratulations to you sir and you too young lady. Awesome story. Im ready for my 6 year old to start going. Might want to think about a side business in wildlife photography. Those pictures are incredible.

[boomer]

Congrats and great pics!!

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[hoythunter]

That's awesome. Big congrats!

[lunghit]

That is awesome! Something you both will remember forever. Congrats to her.

[JeffC]

Congrats Paisley, way to go Dad, awesome pictures , love the smile. 2 more Eric, your son and you tag out, a family grand slam. Good luck.

[blake_08]

Congratulations to y'all. I have 3 young boys, but for some reason i feel like experiencing that with a daughter would be different. Great story!

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[Muzzy61]

Congrats to you and your daughter. Great story and pictures, Her smiles says it all.

[Mathews.1]

Awesome congratulations to you both

[Swamp]

Congrats this is what it's all about! Incredible photos as well!

[Goblen]

Congratulations too you both. Thanks for sharing.

[tazmaniac]

Great job dad!  You made her job easy! Congrats to both of you, she really looks proud!

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[ChesterCopperpot]

That's a great picture! Congrats to her.


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[Jstocks]

Awesome hunt and thank you for sharing.

When my daughter killed her first bird we had some pictures taken like you did there. Then I got with Richard Hudson and had a commemorative hen box made for her and sent it to a lady in Pa that put our pictures on the box call. Send me your number in a pm if you want pictures of it and contacts.