The apprentice - a young shooter becomes a fine hunter
- by Sol Juhas

I was overcome by nostalgic thoughts the other day as I was archiving some photos off my computer. I was making very slow work of it as I found myself reliving the journey of my nephew into the world of the hunter.

I can remember Michael poring over every hunting and shooting magazine I had from a very early age and I’m sure Australian Shooter had as much to do with his learning to read as school did. He would sit with me for hours, cleaning primer pockets and handing me the next shell for priming, always asking what this does and why does that fit there. Within minutes of arriving at my place for a weekend visit from the big smoke, he would ask if I could unlock the gun safe so he could have a look at my rifles. The look on his face was always priceless and we would spend the next hour examining each rifle, talking about the features, safe handling and just how far does the bullet go.

At first, I put it down to just the normal fascination all boys seem to have with rifles. I was certainly no different at his age, except I was already shooting an air rifle when I was eight or nine years old, but that was another time and another place. Over the next few years though, it became pretty obvious he was serious about all things outdoors, fishing and hunting related. He became a real enthusiast. He couldn’t wait to turn 12 - I think he had his junior shooter’s permit application filled out a couple of years ahead of time! In the meantime, we would often go fishing together and grabbed every chance we had for a trip to the local rifle range to familiarise him with safety procedures and the nature of the rifles.

As the lad’s 12th birthday started to draw near, I got cracking building up his first rifle - a Stirling .22WMR that I had picked up in good condition. It was a heavy rifle with a stock that was too long for a little guy, so I docked the barrel to 18" and recrowned it, then borrowed a mate’s thumbhole Fieldman .22 to use as a template for making a kid’s size hardwood stock for the Stirling. The project all came together pretty well and I finished bedding and painting the stock in time for Michael’s birthday. You couldn’t get the grin off his face for days after he showed me his junior shooter’s permit and I handed over his rifle to him.

We spent a lot of time and ammo at the range getting him used to the rifle. It was obvious from the start that he really had some potential and his temperament was all I could ask for. He was very cool and focused when handling firearms and never showed a hint of overexcitement. To be honest, he kind of made me feel embarrassed to remember how I was at his age.

As I live 600km from Sydney, the one dilemma I faced was how to keep his shooting skills up while he was back home in the big smoke. His dad doesn’t shoot, so I made a few phone calls to SSAA St Marys and explained the situation. The staff were very helpful and we got Michael signed up in the Junior Shooting Program they ran at the St Marys range on weekends. It was perfect, as coaching and club rifles were readily available. The next time I saw Michael, his improved marksmanship was obvious and we only had to check zero on his rifle and go hunting.

Over the next year or so he became a proficient field shot and took his share of rabbits. We also traded the Stirling .22WMR on a nice compact Anschutz .22. The Stirling had a lot of ignition problems that refused to respond to anything we tried and I didn’t want the lad to lose confidence in his rifle. The little ‘Annie’ was a pretty good shooter and a .22 would be much more economical to run for lots of practice and plinking. He had a lot of fun hunting rabbits in the hills with that lightweight Anschutz and could shoot it very well.

I had been aware of the fondness with which he’d been eyeing off my bigger rifles for some time, so the next challenge was to introduce Michael to centrefire rifles. My smallest rifle was a heavy-barrelled .243 Winchester, which was way too heavy for him. I did, however, did have access to a mate’s stainless Ruger 77 in .223 Remington, which I thought would be perfect. It was reasonably light, had low recoil and a stock that was useable for a smaller-framed shooter. A few range sessions followed with the .223 and the increased range and lethality were discussed on numerous occasions. Michael soaked it all in and was shooting very well; he was ready to hunt with a centrefire.

Over the next few weeks he accompanied my mate and me on a couple of afternoon sniping sessions and some spotlight work on foxes. To say my mates were impressed with his shooting and safe handling skills is an understatement. I couldn’t be prouder of the little man and though I don’t have kids of my own, if I did, I’d want one just like him.

Over the next few months, Michael shot his first fox with that Ruger, as well as many rabbits. Most importantly, he learned all the additional safety procedures involved when shooting with other people. This was important as I spend the summer months spotlighting and doing vermin control work, so the ability to operate safely around other people and in and around vehicles is something I really impressed on him. I would regularly try and trip him up by nominating targets and asking if he’d take the shot or not. I don’t think I got one over him though.

As the year rolled by, I could see where this was heading so I was not surprised when Michael sheepishly remarked “I’m not being smart or anything, and I like the .22 and all, but I think I’m ready for a centrefire of my own.” That night, over a pizza and a hunting video, we discussed what his main interest in the hunting field was going to be. Without any beating around the bush, he was fascinated by deer and that was his priority. Hmm, he would need something bigger than a .223 and legal for sambar.

My main concern was that he was fairly lightly built and would develop a flinch and undo all the good work of the last few years. Michael wasn’t fazed by my concerns and assured me he would commence to work out immediately. How could I argue with that? I told him okay and to have a good think about what he thought was a good choice of cartridge for a deer rifle.

A few weeks later, he rang me and said after reading everything about deer hunting he could get his hands on, he’d decided a .308 Winchester would make a lot of sense. I remember thinking what a smart lad he is, as I’d pretty much come to the same conclusion myself. I rang around and tracked down a pristine Remington 700 ADL with a synthetic youth stock. My only concern was the blind magazine and I intended to change that in the future when a full-sized stock would be required.

However, in the meantime, I would stress the need for extra caution during unloading and see how the lad went. I spent the next few weeks bedding the action and floating the barrel. The rifle was then topped off with a Leupold VXI 3-9x40 scope.

Finding a good deer load for the rifle proved a bit of a challenge. The usual 150-grain Ballistic Tips and AR2208 grouped poorly. I ended up settling on AR2206H and 150-grain Remington Core-Lokt bullets for deer and the 110-grain Hornady V-Max for a general-purpose vermin load.

A few months later, we were at the range putting the .308 through its paces. Michael was rapt with the rifle and the youth stock on the Remington was a great fit for him. I was quite surprised how well he handled the stiff 150-grain loads in particular. When I commented on this, he just casually said, “I’ve been working out.”

Of course, he was keen to start chasing deer right away, but I tempered his enthusiasm by encouraging more familiarity with the rifle. Several spotlighting trips and a few early morning and afternoon hunts with the rifle followed and he gained a good understanding of his new pride and joy. I was now training him in shooting from field positions with the .308 at every opportunity. His increased upper body strength was paying off and he was now knocking down steel rams at 200m from the offhand position with regular monotony. Some extra gear such as a daypack and knife were also added to his expanding hunter’s kit.

Over the next six months, we did a number of overnight stalks and concentrated on the basics of deer sign, habits and identifying potential places of ambush. He sucked up the information like a sponge. This period in Michael’s journey impressed me the most for a number of reasons. We were covering a lot of steep ground without seeing deer and every trip ended without a shot being fired. On some stalks we got close, but the opportunity to shoot did not present itself and the way he handled this aspect of hunting was a true credit to a young bloke. I’m sure I didn’t have the same patience or maturity at his age! The way he maintained interest and didn’t switch off was very impressive. It was not wasted time, of course, as he learned some basic bush skills and got to see some great country. I would always remind him that when success did come, he would have earned it.

On a foggy October morning, Michael and I were making our way into a back valley in some steep country in north-eastern Victoria. He was as keen as ever and commented that he’d be happy just seeing a deer today. Around mid-morning we spooked a couple of fallow bucks on a ridgeline and I asked Michael to take the shot. The range was around 150m, side-on and uphill, which was very much within his shooting ability. After a long pause, the deer cleared out and Michael hadn’t fired. He said he’d been unsteady due to the steep climb and did not want to risk a wounding shot. I just shut my mouth and smiled inside.

Half an hour later saw me peering under a low-hanging tree through the binos. A young buck and his girlfriend were just getting to their feet and we were caught out in the only open creek flat we’d travelled through that day. The doe took off as I motioned to Michael to shoot. Without anything to rest on, he dropped to a kneeling position and shot the spikey through the chest at a range of just more than 120m. I watched the impact through my binoculars as the young buck piled up.

We both almost ran to the deer and after congratulations and a few photos, we just sat there and took it all in by reflecting on the long journey leading to this day. The impressive thing is the young bloke gets it and understands what all the hard yards earlier on in the journey were all about. With the philosophy out of the way, knives were sharpened and the work began as we had a few more hard yards to do that day.

A few hours later, as I watched Michael battle through the blackberry bushes along the creek with a deer over his shoulders, I thought to myself, the apprentice really has graduated and to this day, it is the happiest hunt I can remember in a long while. We hung the deer in the coolroom for three days, after which, the young bloke got to practice with his new knife breaking up the deer. We lived well on tender venison for the rest of his stay.

And so we move onto the next stage of the journey. The Anschutz .22 has been replaced with a super-accurate CZ 452 American, as he was clearly being limited by the Annie and now he’s starting to talk about getting something with a bit more punch than the .308 as well. Recent trips have also seen him claim my .17HMR at every opportunity and do some very nice long-range work on the rabbits. Come to think of it, I’d better keep an eye on the keys to the Jeep too, as he’ll be keen to drive that around the farm when he’s old enough, too. It’s all good though and I would urge anyone to take an apprentice under their wing. Show them the ropes and make a new life-long hunting mate. The rewards are surprising and the future of our way of life depends on it.