NEIL

My First Deer, Finally

I have been deer hunting off and on since age sixteen. I am now

thirtythree.

I have never had a decent opportunity for a shoot at any deer, until

Saturday, Decemeber

18, 2004. Here's my story.

I had talked with Josh Bright, a few months back - perhaps August or

so - about the possibility of doing some deer hunting around Thanksgiving or

Christmas (or both). He said, "Yeah, just call me and we can set something

up." As things turned out, the weather around Thanksgiving was quite

windy and wet, so I decided to wait. I called Josh the week following

Thanksgiving and we planned a hunt for the morning of Sat., Dec. 18, 2004.

I kept going through my stuff to see what I was going to use. The rifle was

my Browning A-bolt in .338 Winchester Magnum with 225-grain Winchester

factory loads.

I was to arrive at Josh's parent's house just before or about

daylight so that we could walk into the woods without needing flashlights.

I got there about 6:00 AM. I was ready to go hunting. Josh said that they

are trying to manage the deer heard so that a good buck (antlers spread

passed the ears) and does were fair game. He asked that I let small-racked

bucks pass (antlers less than ear spread). He mentioned does because that

they saw several does and not many bucks all season. I was hoping for a

doe. I really wanted some deer meat for the freezer. I did not want to be

tempted to pay to have a deer head mounted. I just wanted some deer meat !

I was on stand about one hour and a half when I saw some movement

through the woods about 80 yards straight in front of me. It was almost like

a strobe light - now you see the deer; now you don't. I watched the deer

for several long seconds as it walked quickly through the cover. I did not

see any antlers, a doe ! Great ! This could be my first deer ! It took

several tries to get the deer lined up in the scope (the deer is still

moving rather briskly). At this point, I thought that my pounding heartbeat

would scare away the deer. I brought the rifle up and started to squeeze

the trigger. I never heard the shot. I only knew the rifle went off because

I lost sight of the deer through the scope.

Josh helped me find it several minutes later as I was looking about

5 yards too much to the left. He spotted some blood and the about maybe 10

yards away we found the deer in the creek bed in about two inches of water.

I could barely believe it ! There was my first deer ! When we started to

field drees it, we saw that it had button-spikes. They were no longer than

my pinky. My best guess is the this deer weighed about 110 -pounds dressed.

Nonetheless, I am quite happy about my first deer ! I will remember this

hunt for a long time.

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