It took twelve years, but one of my daughters harvested her first deer last week. What’s more — she showed Dad up by dropping it in its tracks!
We all know how long and boring sitting in a deer stand can be, and this hunt was no different. We arrived in the woods before dawn and trained our eyes on the fields and woods for three straight hours. We saw zero deer.
Undaunted, my daughter and I returned to stand around 4:00 in the afternoon.
Time seems to pass so slowly while we wait for deer to show up. But after they show up, we find ourselves wishing for time to slow down! We waited in the stand until 6:00 PM before we saw our first deer. A doe walked from a hedgerow about 300 yards away across the field. Then two more showed up.
The hunt was heating up.
The three does were slowly making their way down the hedgerow toward our stand, but I saw them pause. They were looking intently back into the hedgerow. After a minute, I saw what they were looking at – five more deer. All does. The five new does wanted to head the opposite direction of the first three, so I was afraid our hunt would end without a shot. However, the three does held their course toward us. And they moved slowly. Really slowly.
My daughter whispered with utmost sincerity, “Dad, do you think I can shoot more than one?” I responded with an authoritative “Let’s just worry about getting one down first.”
It took them about 30 minutes to cover about 200 yards, but at 100 yards they were still out of range for my daughter with her 20-gauge with open sights. With shooting time running out, I used a doe bleat call to get their attention. The bleat worked like a charm. The deer began closing the distance.
Within five minutes, the deer were within range, but I lost sight of them. I heard footsteps coming from behind the stand, but I couldn’t see through the leaves. I said, “I can hear them, but I can’t see them,” and my daughter (as daughters do) whispered, “Dad, are you blind? There’s one right there.” “It will be in front of me in second,” she continued.
Not realizing she was facing the opposite direction, I had no clue what she was talking about. She whispered again, “OK. I’m getting ready to shoot.” Dumbfounded, I faced the field and saw a doe stepping directly into her perfect shooting lane at about 12 yards. She held steady, took the safety off, and squeezed the trigger. The doe dropped in its tracks!
I don’t think I have ever dropped a deer in its tracks like that, so I was impressed. We waited a few minutes and came down from the stand. I walked over to the deer and saw no wound in the vitals. Confused, I flipped the deer over and then found the wound. Actually the blood from the wound found me. The blood spilled out of its back and onto my boots. Upon dressing the deer, I saw that the slug hit the deer in the back, broke the spine, and took out both lungs. No wonder it dropped!
She was so happy and proud, and so was I. It was a moment I won’t forget.
She can’t wait to go again.
Stay tuned.