My First Deer

Taken- 11/18/03

The opening day of the 2003 hunt was as terrible as last year. It had rained all weekend and the started to warm up by Monday morning which was opening day. I walked in the woods Monday morning at about 6:20 am as it started to get light out but he fog was incredible. You couldn see 10 feet in front of you. I sat in the double tree stand for most of the morning with my Dad watching the field and the woods behind us but saw nothing all day. I’ll bet there was only a total of about 5 shots the entire day. About 3 pm the fog started to lift and we heard a lot more shots at that point. We heard a couple shots real close but nothing came into sight so we called it a day about 4:55pm. I woke up the next morning and Dad dropped me off at Uncle George house and I walked down to the double stand about 6:15 am. At about 7:30 am I could see the silhouette of about 3 deer across the field about 500 yards.

I didn have a scope or binoculars so I couldn tell if they were Buck or Doe. Later that morning about 9:15 am my Uncles neighbor Bud came up behind my stand and asked me if I had seen anything. I told him no and he said lets go back to the house and have coffee. So we went to the house till about 10am and had coffee then Bud said lets walk across the field and see if we can scare anything up. We walked across the field till we got to the hard woods on his property and he told me to walk down a logging path that he made last year and find a comfortable spot about 40 yards in. He said that he was going to go sit down in the pines below me and we would meet to walk back up later. I was in my spot I picked about 30 min when I heard a noise to my left. I looked over there and saw 2 Doe walking thru the scag about 20 yards from me. I took a shot but since I hadn’t practiced with my shot gun for almost a year I pulled up as I shot and missed high. I actually thought that I missed my only chance of the day and that the deer were long gone.Not 4 Minutes later I couldn't believe my eyes there was that same Doe about 30 yards in front of me facing broadside. I pulled up my gun again quietly took good aim and fired at her and hit her. She took off running for about 60 feet then dropped for good . When I got up to her I poked her to see if she was still alive and she wasn’t . I heard Bud yell did you get her but I was shaking and happy and so nervous I didn’t answer right away . I walked down to where I thought Bud was, still shaking and I told him I got one. I then walked back to the house and had my uncle bring the tractor down and get her. We got her back to the house and I had my first gutting lesson. I hung her on the tree and then got hugs from both my uncles as they were so happy for me. My Dad came back up a short time later with tears in his eyes and he said he was so proud of me. I learned a lot from this experience such as field dressing a deer and how deer actually react after shots are fired. I was totally amazed also because I went back down to that spot the next day and watched another one walk right up the man made logging path instead of thru the woods. I would have had a shot at that one too but she got spooked by another hunter walking along the tree line in the field. I saw at least 25 deer this year during the week I was able to hunt, which is more deer than I have ever seen and now I can't wait to hunt next Year. I want to Thank My 2 favorite uncles George and Wally and My Dad Bob SR for everything they have taught me and continue to teach me and for making this years hunt the most enjoyable yet. I so look foward to many more hunts together with my Dad & Uncles in the years ahead.

                 Bobby Jr.