My First Deer

On a very stormy morning on opening day in November 1986, my first deer, a 6 point, was harvested. Bob and I arrived at the camp 5:00 in the morning. It was thundering and lightning, and all the hunters stayed in their trucks to wait out the storm. After about 2 hours, everyone left. After the storm let up, Bob and I decided to go in on the 3-wheeler. He dropped me off close to my stand (Marion’s Hunting Territory), and I walked in about 150 yards. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I got up on my deer stand, put a round in, and was holding my gun in my lap. I turned around and saw a deer step out to my right looking at me. (Two-weeks prior, I had taken a Government course on Stress. One of the things they said to do when under stress is to take a deep breath.) I took a deep breath, slowly raised my gun, and aimed for a shoulder shot with my stepson’s .243. The deer bolted and ran. Bob had just gotten to a tree not far from me where he had just sat down to light up a cigarette and he heard me shoot. He sat there for a while and thought I must have hit the trigger and it went off. It got the best of him, and he came to check on me. I was already looking for my deer. I saw a froth of blood and thought that looked good and bent over and initiated myself with the blood. I could not resist since this was my first deer, and I knew the other hunters had left and went home. I saw Bob coming towards me, and I told him that I shot a deer and could not find it. He said it looked like it had shot me because of the blood all over my face. After a while, we found my deer, and I must say that it was one of the most exciting days of my life. I had it mounted. When we moved into a smaller home, I gave it to my daughter, Kathleen, who out of four daughters is my hunter.