Ranchers Network - Junior Outfitters

Junior Outfitters

If you are 18 and under and have a story you would like to share please email to admin@RanchersNetwork.com. Please note that all submissions must be 250 words or less and we encourage you to send a photo.

Max Nichols 10 years, Bryan Nichols 12 years. Arizona.

January 2009

My cousin Bryan and I had javelina archery tags for the hunting unit by our family ranch. We headed up there with my dad, my Uncle Branden and Papa, our grandpa. We also have a bunch of people in our family and they were up at the ranch too. Bryan and I practiced shooting our bows to make sure we had our sites correct. Papa had made us supper using the dutch oven. It was good as always.

The next day we were up and running around 5am. We ended up about 8 miles or so from the ranch when my dad spotted a nice herd of 13 pigs. My called my cousin on the radio and they came to where we were. Bryan and I hiked in to where the pigs were. We decided to split up and move in. Bryan shot first and got his pig the first time! I was so ready to get one. I shot the first time and missed. Then another pig came into good range so I took another shot and got him. We were both so excited that we did this on our own without our dads right there. We took tons of picture. Above is just one of them.

Here are a few more of my hunting pictures. This is my first bear from August 2008, my Deer from October 2008, and my Antelope from September 2009.

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Brooke Nichols 17years. Arizona.

October 2008

After several years of applying for the any antler deer youth hunt in Arizona, I finally drew a tag! Sure enough, prior to my hunt starting, my dad received a call from a family member stating that he located a few big bucks in my hunting unit. I was really excited and it seemed like it took forever for the week of my hunt to come.

When we finally arrived at my unit, other members of my family were there to help track down those bucks. I was informed by my uncle that the same bucks were still in my unit. That night I was so excited I could hardly sleep.

The first two days we saw a few bucks but not the ones that were spotted by my uncle. On the third day we woke up to frost. Everything had frozen over night and it made it tough to stay warm while riding in the Rhino. After finding a good spot to hunt we hike up to a good spot to glass. After spotting a buck another appeared...then another, and soon I had 12 bucks within shooting distance. But none were the size of the buck my uncle had glassed days before. We chose to sit and wait. A few hours later we found him! That big buck was with four other bucks. It was amazing how much larger he was compared to the other four. I missed my first shot at 200 yards. Luckily the deer hadn't moved. I reloaded and shot again and got him!

My buck scored 127 7/8".