Sunday, October 9, 2011

Saturday, October 8 PM

 A shot and a miss!

I was hoping my first ever post would be of a picture of my kill. It was an adventurous night though. I was in the Watch Tower and shortly after I got settled in I had a fawn come walking through. I knew that where there was a fawn a doe wouldn't be that far behind. Since this is my first season ever hunting in my life I have had it in my mind that I wanted a doe to come in for me to shoot at first so I could have practice for when the big bucks come by. Well, this was perfect practice! The fawn came back with his sister and the doe. I watched them down in the recently dried up creek bed for about 20 minutes as they teased me by coming close and then walking back. Finally, they made their move and headed right underneath me into the food plot. The doe was staring me down, she knew something was different but I didn't move a muscle as I didn't want to spoke any of the deer. Let me tell you, having three sets of eyes on you is pretty nerve racking! Not to mention that this is the closest a shootable deer has ever gotten to me. All I could hear was my heart racing and I was shaking uncontrollably. As the doe entered the food plot she came not even 10 yards from me and gave me the most story book perfect opportunity to shoot. I pulled back, had major deer fever, forgot what to do, quickly came to and remembered my checklist, eyed it up, and released. I MISSED! It landed in the ground right underneath her! I apparently was shaking more than I realized. She jumped from being spooked and then all three deer surrounded me in a circle and blew and stomped. I was able to nok another arrow, hoping she'd give me another opportunity. She continued to tease me for another 15 minutes. If she would have come 5 yards closer I would have taken another shot at her, but she just didn't get close enough.

It was quite the learning experience for me. I am glad I finally got to feel the nerves of having a deer come in to you and to feel what it feels like to pull back and shoot from a stand. I am now ready for the big bucks to come at me!

Taylor was also out on Saturday night in a new stand we are calling Rock Creek. He hung that stand earlier in the morning and was anxious to try it out. With about 20 minutes left of shooting light he thought he saw one come in but it never came out. When he got out of the stand it popped out and ran away. Totals: Mindi: 2 fawns- 1 doe- 1 shot- 1 miss; Taylor- 1 ???

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