By DARRIN RADER
The 2009 rifle season kicked off with my two daughters and me heading to Woods County to hunt. I love to hunt with my girls, and since we like to hunt together, it's usually up to the two of them to decide who is hunting mornings, and who is hunting the evening hunt.
Opening morning, my youngest daughter Raegan Rader, who is 15 and a sophomore at Tuttle High School, and I were in a tree stand on the Winn Ranch. Although we saw a few bucks and several does, none of the bucks were big enough for Raegan to take. We opted not to take her does on opening morning, just in case a bruiser was waiting in the tree line.
We had a great morning together, watching deer and talking about everything that was going on in our lives, but we didn't see a shooter.
Saturday night, my oldest daughter Riley Rader, 16, a junior at Tuttle High School and I were sitting in the same tree stand. Shortly after arriving, we had a doe run in, mouth agape, and gasping for air. I told Riley that she must be getting pushed by a buck. We waited and waited but Mr. Buck failed to show up for our planned meeting. When we were confident a shooter wasn't on the does heels, Riley lowered the boom on the doe, from her .270 Remington rifle. She made an excellent shot.
With it being so early, and since we had plans to go out for dinner that night, I jumped down, located the doe and field dressed her so I wouldn't have to do it after dark. I was back in the stand with Riley in less than 15 minutes.
We waited and waited, and had a few younger bucks come in and offer a great shot, but like her sister, Riley just isn't satisfied with taking a young buck. Both of my girls would rather shoot a doe than a young buck, just to let the bucks grow up and see their potential.
As the evening was coming to a close, a beautiful doe came in with a few other deer. Since Oklahoma has a liberal doe harvest, Riley decided to take her second doe, leaving her the entire season to hunt hard for a shooter buck. She popped this doe just as she does most of her other deer, right through the pump station, as Uncle Ted Nugent would say, and now we were well on our way to filling our freezer.
Sunday morning found Raegan and me in a tree stand on the Rader Ranch, also in Woods County. The last time, and only time Raegan has hunted this stand, was in 2004 when she shot a nice 11 point for her first buck ever.To say we had high hopes and loads of enthusiasm for the morning hunt, would be a huge understatement.
We sat for an hour or so before I decided to try a rattling sequence to see if we could make something happen. Fewer than three minutes had passed since I put the rattle bag and grunt call up, when I looked up and saw a nice buck coming over the hill, straight for us. I told Raegan to get her gun ready, and before we knew it, he was in our lap. I told Raegan I was going to stop him, when she told me to wait. She wasn't on him yet, as she was having to lean across me, partially standing up, in this two-person tree stand. (This particular stand is only four feet off the ground, but is serves it's purpose).
When Raegan gave me the OK, I grunted at the buck and he stopped instantly. All of a sudden, I heard her .270 bark, heard the bullet find it's mark, and saw the buck slam into the ground only to recover and make it another 20 yards before piling up for good.
As we field dressed the three deer that my girls had taken, we found that all three of them were heart shots. My girls have continued to impress me over the years with their shooting abilities and also taking into consideration the position of the deer, whether quartering to or away.
None of these three shots were particularly long, or hard shots to make, but it amazes me how they can subdue their buck fever long enough to make such good shots, year after year, deer after deer.
I certainly couldn't do that when I was their age, and to be honest, I don't think I can now, even at 42 years of age.
As with most of our does, we don't take pictures of them, but I wanted to stress how many does each of my girls take each year.
They consistantly take three to four doee each year, and most years only take one buck, if even that.
Local News
Related Photos
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Raegan Rader, 15, a sophomore at Tuttle High School, poses with the 10-point buck she bagged while hunting with her father.
November 25, 2009
Tuttle girl, 15, bags 10-pt. deer in Woods County
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