My youngest daughter Katie expressed an interest to me about perhaps trying to shoot a deer this year. It was somewhat of a surprise, but not too much. She has always been the one to express more of an interest in the outdoors and hunting and fishing. She's been the one to go to the lease with me, took it upon herself to take Outdoor Trails classes at school, got her hunter's education, etc, etc. She didn't want to use a rifle. But she was only pulling 30# on a bow and wasn't as proficient with it as we'd like. So Devin stepped up and let her use Blaine's crossbow that we've seen him use to put down SO many animals. He said Blaine would be honored for Katie to take her first deer with his bow.
We tried several times to get to the lease starting around Thanksgiving. However, something always seemed to come up for one of us preventing us from getting out there. Finally, this past Friday, we had time to go!
We headed out early Friday for a weekend of trying to get her a deer. We got to the lease early enough to unload, set up camp a little, and get in a little more practice. After losing an arrow (bolt) by blowing through the same little hole in the target time after time, we decided she was more than ready.
We settled into the stand around 3:40 or so. I say "we" settled. More like she settled. I had forgotten an extra chair so I was relegated to kneeling, squatting, hunching, hunkering down, whatever you want to call it, constantly shifting positions to keep my legs from falling asleep! It was anything but comfortable. We had pushed a couple of deer away as we came in, so I was fairly confident that the deer were moving. At about 5:10 I caught some movement in the woods in front of us. Deer! I pointed them out to Katie as they made their way toward us. She was getting excited as we prepared for the possibility of a shot. I had bought her one of the Primos adjustable shooting sticks to aid in holding steady (these are handy little things!) so she slowly and quietly settled onto it and adjusted the height with a squeeze on the adjustment handle. She was locked and loaded!
The deer came in and began to graze around. She followed them intently as they moved about, waiting for them to stop. Then something startled them and they bolted away. I could see a little disappointment on her face as they scattered. But I noticed they only went right inside some other trees and stopped. I told her to just hold her position, I think they'll be right back. Sure enough, it was only a squirrel that startled them. They came back in and went back to eating. Again, Katie tried to get settled on one but they would never be still long enough, or be at the right angle, or they would be lined up behind one another. Again, they bolted away when a squirrel started barking at them. So we waited.
Once again, they made their way back in. This time more slowly and cautiously. As they made their way in, I watched Katie following intently through the scope. Finally, she asked "can I take a shot?". I asked her which one she was looking at. She said "the one in the back" (the bigger of the two, that's my girl!). I asked if she had a clear shot, "yes!". I asked are you steady on it, "yes!". I said "if you're confident, then you can shoot when you...". THWACK! The arrow was on the way! After the very distinctive sound of an arrow contacting an animal, the deer bolted. Katie asked excitedly "did I get it?!?" "Yep", I told her as she started saying "YES! YES!". This was at 5:20 and I knew sundown was less than 20 minutes away. I explained to Katie that we normally wait about 30 minutes before we go look for the arrow and see what kind of blood trail we have, but in light of the quickly fading sunlight, we were gonna check the sign after about 10 minutes just to see what we were up against.
We climbed out and went to where the deer was standing. There was blood, and plenty of it! We found the arrow and it had good blood on it (no guts). The blood trail that led away was very distinct and heavy. I had no doubt that the deer was down. Sure enough, we followed the trail for about 20 yards through the briars when I started seeing signs that the deer had started stumbling, tearing up the ground. Sure enough, about 10 yards ahead lay Katie's first deer!
After high fives and hugs, we went and checked out her deer. The shot was perfect, entering the right ribcage and exiting the left shoulder. Double lung all the way!
"Now", I explained, "the work begins." She just smiled as we went to get the cart to get her deer out....
I can't stress enough how great this was, seeing and hearing the excitement of getting her first deer! It will stay with me forever.
And I can't thank Devin enough for lending us Blaine's bow for Katie to use.
And thank you, Blaine. I know you're grinning and giving a great big thumbs up!
We tried several times to get to the lease starting around Thanksgiving. However, something always seemed to come up for one of us preventing us from getting out there. Finally, this past Friday, we had time to go!
We headed out early Friday for a weekend of trying to get her a deer. We got to the lease early enough to unload, set up camp a little, and get in a little more practice. After losing an arrow (bolt) by blowing through the same little hole in the target time after time, we decided she was more than ready.
We settled into the stand around 3:40 or so. I say "we" settled. More like she settled. I had forgotten an extra chair so I was relegated to kneeling, squatting, hunching, hunkering down, whatever you want to call it, constantly shifting positions to keep my legs from falling asleep! It was anything but comfortable. We had pushed a couple of deer away as we came in, so I was fairly confident that the deer were moving. At about 5:10 I caught some movement in the woods in front of us. Deer! I pointed them out to Katie as they made their way toward us. She was getting excited as we prepared for the possibility of a shot. I had bought her one of the Primos adjustable shooting sticks to aid in holding steady (these are handy little things!) so she slowly and quietly settled onto it and adjusted the height with a squeeze on the adjustment handle. She was locked and loaded!
The deer came in and began to graze around. She followed them intently as they moved about, waiting for them to stop. Then something startled them and they bolted away. I could see a little disappointment on her face as they scattered. But I noticed they only went right inside some other trees and stopped. I told her to just hold her position, I think they'll be right back. Sure enough, it was only a squirrel that startled them. They came back in and went back to eating. Again, Katie tried to get settled on one but they would never be still long enough, or be at the right angle, or they would be lined up behind one another. Again, they bolted away when a squirrel started barking at them. So we waited.
Once again, they made their way back in. This time more slowly and cautiously. As they made their way in, I watched Katie following intently through the scope. Finally, she asked "can I take a shot?". I asked her which one she was looking at. She said "the one in the back" (the bigger of the two, that's my girl!). I asked if she had a clear shot, "yes!". I asked are you steady on it, "yes!". I said "if you're confident, then you can shoot when you...". THWACK! The arrow was on the way! After the very distinctive sound of an arrow contacting an animal, the deer bolted. Katie asked excitedly "did I get it?!?" "Yep", I told her as she started saying "YES! YES!". This was at 5:20 and I knew sundown was less than 20 minutes away. I explained to Katie that we normally wait about 30 minutes before we go look for the arrow and see what kind of blood trail we have, but in light of the quickly fading sunlight, we were gonna check the sign after about 10 minutes just to see what we were up against.
We climbed out and went to where the deer was standing. There was blood, and plenty of it! We found the arrow and it had good blood on it (no guts). The blood trail that led away was very distinct and heavy. I had no doubt that the deer was down. Sure enough, we followed the trail for about 20 yards through the briars when I started seeing signs that the deer had started stumbling, tearing up the ground. Sure enough, about 10 yards ahead lay Katie's first deer!
After high fives and hugs, we went and checked out her deer. The shot was perfect, entering the right ribcage and exiting the left shoulder. Double lung all the way!
"Now", I explained, "the work begins." She just smiled as we went to get the cart to get her deer out....
I can't stress enough how great this was, seeing and hearing the excitement of getting her first deer! It will stay with me forever.
And I can't thank Devin enough for lending us Blaine's bow for Katie to use.
And thank you, Blaine. I know you're grinning and giving a great big thumbs up!
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