So on Monday November 9, 2009 I “got” my first buck. Evan begged me to go out hunting with him (he has been going out as many mornings and evenings as he can) I reluctantly gave in and then scrounged around to find my “camo” type attire.
We climbed up into the stand after walking for what seemed like forever. The whole time we were walking to the stand I was listening to my own labored breathing and thinking to myself “Wow, I really need to start exercising!” The minutes in the stand were excruciating, both of us sitting in a four foot area was not the most comfortable to say the least. I had a harder time than I thought I would sitting still! Evan had allowed me to bring a book (which I had to camouflage) so that kept me occupied for a while. I kept looking up from my book at every sound hoping I would see something; pretty soon I was looking up so often I gave up on reading.
Evan had told me that there was a squirrel that lived in a tree near where the stand is located and that every time he has gone out there he had thought he heard a deer in the trees when in fact he would realize it was just the stupid squirrel making all the ruckus. So every noise I was hearing I was writing off as being the squirrel, of course only after I got excited thinking it was a deer. Once again I looked up after I heard something in the trees moving around, but this time I thought I saw something moving as well as hearing it. I leaned over to Evan and whispered very quietly “Is that the squirrel?” He told me it was and went back to looking at craigslist on his iphone. I looked back over into the woods and I saw a head!!! It was not a squirrel but a deer! I proceeded to smack Evan’s leg ever so quietly like any wife would do…
We saw the buck rubbing its antlers on the tree branches. Evan was trying to make me stand up and turn so I could grab the gun, I tried to tell him that he could just do it, I did not need to ---but he would not give into that. The buck was probably 60 yards away and I slowly took the gun ( an AR-15) and was aiming through the scope. Everyone said I would be shaking because I would be so nervous, my arm did start shaking but not from nervousness rather because the gun was SO heavy in my scrawny little arms. I could not keep it steady enough to take a shot and I was whining about how heavy it was. Evan told me to steady it up against the tree we were in. I did so and then I was able to steady the gun and stop the aching in my arm. At this point Evan made some call and the buck turned and looked towards us (I thought he was looking straight at me). I took the shot “free hand” with the tree holding some of the weight J
I looked up afterwards and then looked back at Evan and said, “Where did it go?” I thought it had run off before I had shot (I must have closed my eyes after I took the shot). Evan laughed and pointed down on the ground, I had “dropped him” my first shot and had hit him where I had aimed too (apparently I am a good shot J).
I don’t think I have seen Evan so giddy. He had a smile a mile wide. I was super-hero wife for a night.
We stayed in the stand for a while to see if any more deer would show up, we ended up seeing six more deer that night. While we were in the stand a doe and her two “yearlings from last year” walked all around the tree and we just watched them for a long time (I could not get a picture because it was too dark by then). We finally got down from the stand and walked back to get the truck and on the way Evan again was singing my praises and I said to him “You had better be this excited when I graduate from college!”
I will say I did not cry when I killed a living animal (I did tear up). And after I shot I was shaking like crazy. The adrenaline was surely flowing. Although the time sitting in the stand was not the most exciting it was worth the sitting and shooting to see Evan’s face afterwards!
A few facts for those of you who know what it all means:
-Spread 17 inches
-7 point
-And I did try and help with the skinning. (unfortunately I was too slow
and Evan and his friend David took over)
* ( ) – is my commentary
“ “ -- is hunting lingo I have learned in the process
Here are the pictures (I kept the others out for those of you with weak stomachs!):
