Tejon youth hunt

I had heard about the Tejon Ranch youth hunt sponsored by the California Deer Association. I entered my daughters name, and got a call back from Jerry Springer, President of CDA. He said that Sydney had won a deer hunt at the Ranch. 275 junior hunters applied, 5 were picked for Deer, and 10 for Hog. We were asked to practice at the rifle range, be prepared for any kind of weather, bring a big cooler, do not bring ammo( it would be provided) bring one parent, and a camera. We headed out of San Diego Monday the 17th, and stayed in Santa Clarita. The next morning we drove through the heavy fog and rain to the offices of Tejon Ranch Lebec California. We were met with open arms by the staff of Tejon Ranch, Jerry from CDA, and the other JR. hunters and Dads. Jerry Passed out gift bags to the kids filled with goodies: Alpen Optics binoculars, Barnes ammo ( 2 box's), z-blades knives, scent away shower kit, Hunters specialties Deer call and rattle,.Binocular harness, and 3 hats. along with a few other items that were in the bag. We were very excited about these give-aways, from the sponsors, and plan on writing them thank you letters. Our guides showed up, and we followed them through the main gate, and we headed to the cabin, where we would set our gear.

We waited to see if the weather would clear so we could practice shooting. The fog and sleet showed no sign of clearing, so we started shooting at short range:

Once we were sighted in, we jumped in the truck of our Guide "Cody", he drove us around the Western end of the Ranch, and we started seeing deer right away:

Cody found a nice Bobcat to get pictures of.

Since we were there to help balance the herd, we were only allowed to shoot Does. Here is a shot of a young buck we saw early.

We saw close to 70 deer in 3 hours, but it wasn't as easy as spot and shoot. I was the goal of the guide to not shoot does with yearlings, and if we couldn't tell which doe the yearlings belonged to, we moved on:

Finally we found 3-4 bachelorettes, Sydney and the guide got out of the truck with the rifle, and tri-pod, and started hiking out to the base of the mountain the deer were spotted on. I tried to hang back so I could capture it all on film. She set up, and took a shot that just went under the lead doe. We kept an eye on that deer, to make sure she was not hit. She did not leave, nor did the other 3 deer. Sydney put the cross-hairs on her again, and let another round fly. You could see the impact on the deers ribcage, it instantly lurched, and took off to the top of the hill and disappeared in the brush. Our guide asked us to stay put and keep an eye out for her around the base of the hill. Sydney and I walked around the hill, and found our doe expired. We quickly took a few pictures as the sun disappeared on the horizon. She was all smiles. I kept an eye on her to see if she was truly enjoying this, or doing it for Dad. She never stopped smiling, and loved it all. I had told My daughter that I wanted her to gut the deer, ( against her mothers wishes). She flipped the deer over and used Dads knife and followed the guides instructions well. she was allowed to turn the knife over at any time, she made it all the way to cutting the esophagus. That was fine with me. I have learned over the years of coaching my daughters that sometimes it is best to let someone else coach her. She listened to the guide intently, and he was a very good instructor, and a very patient man. I think he appreciated me not butting in, too.

Sydney and her guide Cody:

I can't thank the folks at Tejon enough for giving my daughter the experience of a lifetime. Jerry hooking her up with the hunt, and all the goodies. And mostly Cody( our guide) for making it a very pleasurable experience. Sydney was a fine young lady throughout the whole thing, and I couldn't be prouder of her. She was involved, a good shot, patient, polite, sociable, and grateful.

4 out of 5 of the kids were able to harvest a deer. The 4 were very conscious of the feelings of the young man who did not get his deer. That night we all sat around the cabin as one of the old timers told a story or two, and we all shared some laughs. I highly recommend you try to get your youngster in this hunt, but if you don't I hope you have a great experience in the outdoors as we did. Eric Here is the video:
 WARNING GRAPHIC