Well, my oldest boy, David, done gone an done it now! He got his first deer this last Saturday! WE WERE PUUUUUMPED! Lemme rewind a 'lil....
This all started last year. That was the first year that he really showed an interest in deer hunting. I have always made hunting available to him, and he has hunted some over the years, but last year he got "the bug" to kill a deer. He had killed some squirrels and hunted a little, but I was kinda concerned about deer huntin, because he can be a tender hearted little fella. Well, last year we killed a buck together and it fired him up so I knew he was ready to go.
Now I hunt in a deer rich camp, but we haven't planted food plots in the last two years due to extenuating circumstances, so it was old school hunting...acorns, trails, etc. We were also limited on two man stands and with our camp being pretty thick, ground hunting opportunities are limited. So, we hunted all last year with the culminating hunt being a miss on a FINE 8 point on the last weekend (due to a dropped rifle and scope bumpage) on the way to the blind. Fast forward to this year. I had purchased a couple extra two man stands and done more preparation. I had spied several nice bucks during bow season and had seen a real nice deer two weekends ago that I had hoped David or his younger brother would have a chance to get. I also had four other nice bucks on camera, so needless to say, the stage was set.
We arrived at camp last Friday after a half day of school, quickly dressed and headed out to set up a ground blind and hunt the small, overgrown pasture that I had seen several of the good bucks in during bow season and had let one walk the week before. This little field is a magical place. It is bordered by a very steep banked, cane lined creek on one side, and a 5 acre privet, briar thicket on the other side with a mix of oaks around the edges....and a bean tree for good measure. Well, as most always happens, the best laid plans went awry. We jumped two deer going in, and the wind swirled on us all afternoon. Deer 116- Us-0...
That night, as you all know, you could run wind sprints through the woods cause the 150 million candlepower moon was up all night. Needless to say, I didn't have the highest hopes for the next morning. We awoke to a light frost as the moon set, and soon founds ourselves perched 16' off the ground overlooking one of my favorite cutovers. My thinking was, at least we may catch'em moving around the edges. As the sun crept higher, we spotted a buck and several does on the far side of the cutover at about 250 yards heading our way. So we waited. Now, the only problem with this particular stand is that as the sun clears the far tree line, it's in your face, BAD! So there is about a 10-15 minute window where optics are useless until the sun gets a little higher. We were about five minutes into this window when deer started filing up onto the finger ridge in front of us at about 125 yards. As they filter up, I can see that two of them are bucks, I have no idea of their size, just that they have racks. By now, David is getting excited because the deer are working their way along the face of the ridge and only need to clear some sweetgum brush to present a shot. About that time, one of the bucks breaks formation and comes to the edge of the timber. David is now down on his gun, but he his having trouble locating the buck in his scope due to the bright sun. After a tense but quick conversation with him, he tells me that he can see the deer in his crosshairs. I reach over to his .243 and flip off his safety and slid down beside him, coaching him to breath easy, settle the crosshairs and squeBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM! The deer hunches up, HARD, and kinda tip toes about ten yards and stops. The other deer bail for cover leaving their mortally wounded compadre as a sacrifice. I grab the gun as David exclaims I GOT A DEER!!!! I quickly shuck another round and say "Shoot him again!". He bares down, and BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM! The buck pile drives into the pine straw, only to lift his head one more time before giving up the fight. David had his first deer! I hear his voice quivering behind me and turn to find him with tears streaming down his face. UH OH! Then, as if to reassure me, he exclaims "TEARS OF JOY DAD! TEARS OF JOY! I LOVE YOU!" Man, all I can say is....well, it was freaking AWESOME! We climbed down and called momma as we skirted the edge of the cutover, to tell her the good news. We then called pawpaw (who I owe a deep debt for helping us with little brother's hunting adventures....thats a whole 'nuther story) to tell him the good news. As we slipped up on the deer, I was trying to tell him that we needed to make sure he was down before we approached...THERE HE IS! MY DEER! Yes, there he was, his first deer! A dang fine seven point. Hugging, high fiving, celebrating life, death, and thanking God for His creation.
What a hunt!
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