First deer

[sdw]

Sorry in advance for such a long read.

Most people can’t say their daughter killed her first deer before they ever killed their first. Well, I’m that guy. I hunted a lot with my grandfather when I was kid. We hunted squirrels, rabbit, quail, dove, and when I got a little older I hunted deer with him. I had the pleasure of enjoying a few years of deer hunting with my grandfather before he passed away. But I never had the opportunity to close the deal on my first deer. When my grandfather passed away, I quit deer hunting for 20 years. When my daughter got old enough to hunt, she said she would go with me. So, I started deer hunting again 3 years ago. Only it was different this time because I never carry a gun when I’m hunting with my daughter. She does all the shooting and has had what I feel like is good success for a 15 year old girl. She’s killed a doe and two bucks. This weekend she was gone with the church youth group so I decided I would take a rare hunting trip without my baby girl.

I had a great weekend planned out. I had planned a quick hunt Saturday morning in Greene County and then I was going to load up and head south to meet up David Leonard since he was kind enough to invite me to hunt with him. I was up early Saturday morning but it was because of a stomach virus. I spent half the day sick and the other half the day trying to repair busted water lines in the bathroom. To my disappointment, I had to text my DL and tell him that I just didn't think I could make it. I decided to go to bed early to be ready for Sunday. Sunday morning rolled around and I just couldn't get up. I was wore out from Saturday. I finally forced myself out of bed at sunrise, which is about 30 minutes late for when I like to be in the woods. After having to waste more time visiting the bathroom, I slipped a travel pack of Kleenex in my pocket for any unexpected emergencies in the woods and headed off for a desolate thick spot that is rarely, if ever, hunted. I finally got settled on the ground against a tree about 7:30. I was really frustrated with the way the weekend had gone and the way the day had started. I sat fidgeting with my phone and staring at my rifle and thinking about my grandfather giving me that rifle years ago when I was a kid. I finally decided my weekend was done. I was just going to sit a little while and enjoy God's creation all around me before I went back to camp and headed home. After about an hour of sitting, my nose started to run. I was sniffing nonstop and it was driving me crazy. I thought to myself I’d be lucky to even see a squirrel with all the noise I was making. So, I stood up and fished out my travel pack of Kleenex and blew my nose as hard as I could. I immediately heard some movement across the hollow from where I was sitting. I froze and studied the hillside opposite of me, scouring every inch trying to find any movement. Seeing nothing, I wrote it off as a squirrel and then I gave my nose one more really good blow into the Kleenex to make sure the sniffling was not going to be an issue again before I left. That’s when all hell broke loose on the opposite hillside. I looked up to see what the commotion was just as a big buck came barreling out of the thick brush on the opposite hillside and came straight at me. He was down the hill and jumping across the creek in the bottom before I realized I had a major problem. I was holding a snot filled Kleenex instead of my rifle. For some reason, at that moment, my brain decided it would make my body function in slow motion. I stuck the Kleenex in my pocket (not really sure why I didn’t just drop it) and slowly reached for my rifle. By the time I had my hand on my rifle, the buck had turned and started trotting slowly away to my left. He had already moved into a thick area where I couldn’t see him good enough to get a clean shot. He stopped at about 80 yards from me and I picked a spot between two saplings and made my shot. He looked around trying to find where the sound came from and then started slowly slipping off. That’s when panic mode set in. I knew I must have missed and he was walking away into thick cover. He was just steps away from being too far for me to shoot with open sights and having too much thick cover between us for me to have any hope at a shot. I racked the lever action and slammed another 158 grain jacketed hollow point .357 in the chamber. The sound made him bolt a few steps and turn where I didn’t have a good shot. I could see him, I just couldn’t make an ethical shot. He was looking hard in every direction trying to figure out where the danger was located. He finally turned to trot away and I had a split second to make my shot. I squeezed the trigger and he flagged his tail up and bounded away. I watched his tail bouncing up and down through the thick brush as he ran out of sight and I began to get a really sick feeling in my stomach. I just couldn’t understand how I could have missed twice. After he rounded the knob of the hill to my left I heard him start crashing around and then all went quiet. My sick feeling turned right back to excitement. Maybe he was down and I could stalk up on him and get another shot at him. I sat and waited (for what seemed like 3 days but it was only 30 minutes) before I got up to look. I slowly made my way down off the steep hill down to the bottom where I had first shot at the deer. I looked everywhere and there was no sign of blood. I moved on to where he was the second time I shot. Again, no blood and absolutely no sign of disturbance except a few tracks in the mud where he had kicked the leaves up as he left. The sick feeling had returned as quickly as it left. I decide to head off in the direction I saw him go and see if I could find where I heard him crashing around and maybe find some blood there. As I rounded the knob of the hill that was to my left, I saw him laying half way up the hill. The sick feeling again left, immediately replaced by excitement. What a roller coaster of emotion! After checking the deer, I discovered that I completely missed with the first shot but got a clean pass through on both lungs with the second. I am truly blessed to have had this opportunity to shoot this deer. I sure wish my granddad and my baby girl had been with me!

[WGTaxidermist]

Awesome story buddy! Theres nothing like the feeling of killing your first deer. Congrats again buddy!

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[bobwhite]

Heck of a story bud.....congrats again on a fine buck!!

[Rutabaga]

Congrats, nothing like the first one.

[David Leonard]

Great story!...I'm glad it all worked out for your first deer!...Great buck too!

[Reaper]

Congrats!

[Hayman]

Congrats on your first deer!

[sdw]

Thanks fellers!

[Travis]

The old Kleenex trick, huh! Works every time!

Congrats man!


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[Talltines]

Congrats buddy

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[skidboot77]

Let's call it the bucksnot buck[emoji106]


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[Tru-Talker]

Let's call it the bucksnot buck[emoji106]


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Good call....