My disabled daughter Kenzi's axis deer hunt

Joined
Oct 11, 2017
Messages
32
Location
Oklahoma
My daughter Kenzi won an axis deer hunt in Lone Star Outdoors Show 2019 Instagram Photo of the Year contest with her mule deer hunt photo and went on the hunt at the Koons Canyon Ranch south of Rocksprings, TX in July, 2020. Josh with Rustic Reminder's Taxidermy manages the hunting at the ranch and took care of every detail for us.

We used the Tactacam FTS system for the first time in a hunting situation and it worked great for Kenzi; it was attached to a Burris Optics Eliminator III scope and it streamed wirelessly whatever I was viewing to a tablet that Kenzi could view real time. I was able to show her an axis buck the first evening (we passed at 286 yards because of our limitations judgement), raccoons, axis does, whitetail bucks - all animals that Kenzi could not see before in the wild due to being out of her focal range. What a great thing for her to experience; I see applications for her using it when we go on vacation where I can bring in long distance objects close enough for her to view. I am set up about 6 feet in front of my wife and daughter in the hunt; I bought a cable extension this spring so that we had room to be apart and maneuver versus before where we were stacked together.

The next morning an axis buck came in and we were able to make a shot on him but not before missing an opportunity on a smaller one! At attempting to make a shot, Kenzi was not able to get the vacuum trigger to work when I noticed the battery connections had come off of the 12v battery for the system; I reconnected the battery and got to decide between the 2 as the other one started walking in below us. The combination performed flawlessly as Kenzi fired (you will notice Kenzi got excited in the video and tried to blow on the vacuum tube at first)! As luck would have it, we discovered during processing the buck had been gored during fighting with another axis buck and had a puncture into his stomach lining. This buck most likely wouldn't have made it through the next year.

As Kenzi says about her hunts, she wants to #fillthefreezer, make new friends, and have a good time; mission accomplished!

 

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Tbone58

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 10, 2019
Messages
111
Location
North Dakota
That’s awesome! Congratulations on the hunt! That’s amazing what technology can do. I’m glad you are able to enjoy the outdoors with your family. Seriously awesome story.
 

feanor

WKR
Joined
Aug 15, 2018
Messages
1,041
Location
Colorado
Thats such a cool experience to have with the family and for her to be able to see those animals in real time. What a sweet time. Thanks for the post!
 

jackle1886

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
255
Absolutely love the smile on her face! That's what it's all about right there! Keep up the good work dad!

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
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