Proud Father & Hunter
Ed Van Otteren
This story was 4 years in the making. I started taking my daughter Josie deer hunting when she was 4 years old. That year on our third time out we killed a one and a half year old 4-pointer. The next day she asked if I could get her a gun to hunt with. I told her I would some day. Then because of her age, 4 years old, I did not really pursue getting her a gun. The next fall a friend of mine, who also has a young daughter, bought his daughter a 357 rifle and asked me to load down some rounds for her to shoot. Well, that got me thinking; I had an old Contender frame with a .357 barrel that I hadn't used in years. I started thinking how I might build a small gun for my daughter. After a couple of months of research, I finally talked with both Fred and September at Bullberry. They finally gave me the answers that I needed and assured me that what I wanted in a barrel they could produce. So I ordered a 6.5mm TCU barrel 17 inches long in stainless steel as well as 2 butt stocks. One of the stocks I cut off short (10.5-inch pull) for my daughter, the other I left full length.
By the time the barrel came I had thoroughly researched the Internet on information regarding reloading for the 6.5mm TCU. I had settled on shooting a 100gr Nosler Ballistic Tip using H4895 and loading to the highest velocity that my daughter could shoot well. That load ended up being 18 gr. with the bullet seated .001" off the lands; at 100 yards it shot less than 1/4". WOW, is it accurate?!
When I first set up the gun I put a Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40mm scope on it. This setup was extremely accurate. But when my daughter's first opportunity came to shoot a deer the scope turned into the weakest point. With all the excitement she couldn't get the deer in the scope and the crosshairs on the deer. After several failed attempts at deer I realized I needed a better sighting system for her. Back to the Internet for research!
After a little research and talking with the USA representatives for Aim Point I settled on putting a 1x2-minute dot scope on the gun. Because the sighting system was not as precise, some accuracy was lost, but the shoot-ability went way up.
Fall was now upon us, my daughter was now 8, and after some practice I had full confidence she could shoot and kill what she shot at. We were lucky enough that she was drawn to participate in the Ossabaw Island Adult/Child Hunt. This would be her best opportunity to kill both deer and hogs. On the first evening of the hunt we stalked for hogs. After about 45 minutes we encountered the first group. We were on the path they were moving down, so we set up and waited for them to come to us. When the pig got to about 20 yards away my daughter made her first kill shot - a perfect lung shot. The pig ran about 30 yards and died.
After some pictures and pulling the hog to where I could find it later, we continued our hunt, not needing to go far. Just around a bend of some palmettos we encountered another group of pigs. These pigs were moving across our direction so we set up for the shot quickly. The pigs were about 60 year away when one walked out into an opening and I told Josie she was clear to shoot. A second later the shot rand and the pig fell in its tracks. Two pigs with two shots in about ten minutes! That was enough for one night.
The next morning we decided to hunt for deer. We started by still-hunting down an old woods road. After about 30 minutes we saw some deer run about 100 yards in front of us so we eased up to where we saw the deer and sat down to wait for a few minutes. Well, we didn't have long to wait. About 5 minutes after we sat down to watch the trail we saw the deer on, we saw another deer walking on the trail. We were set up about 70 yards off the trail and I could see that the deer on the trail was a buck. When he stepped out into an opening I gave Josie the green light to shoot. She was sitting down with her gun on shooting sticks and made a perfect "high shoulder shot". The deer didn't move from where it had been standing. He ended up being a nice little 8-pointer.
I dragged the deer back to the pick-up point and we continued with our hunt. About 45 minutes after shooting the buck Josie then connected again with a nice doe that we recovered after it ran off about 50 yards. Josie had a very successful hunt and we decided to play and fish for the rest of the hunt.
Side notes:
1) My brother-in-law was so impressed with "Josie's gun" he copied it and made a similar gun for himself using a 7mm-08 barrel from Bullberry on an Encore frame.
2) To date I have killed over 400 pigs with "Josie's gun". I love it; it's light and shoots great.
Thank you for the great product.
Ed Van Otteren, Georgia |
