When our alarm went off Saturday morning, I reluctantly got out of bed. It was raining, and I wasn't really in the mood to sit out in the cold and the rain. Luckily, Eric told me I could sit in one of our blinds. At least I'd only be cold and not wet.
As I suited up into my camo, I remember thinking, Do the deer even come out when it's raining? I must have said it out loud because I hear Justin respond that he got his biggest deer in the rain. I still wasn't feeling very optimistic. After all, I'd been hunting quite a bit this season and have only seen one deer while I've been out. Our trail cameras say there's deer out there, but I've been starting to doubt them.
I got settled into my blind and loaded my gun. After I put the gun in the corner of the blind, I got on my phone to try to help pass the time until I could finally get out of there. Every few minutes I would look up, and at 6:30 I was actually surprised to see two deer dashing from the fence line into the woods to the west of my blind. They were too far away to shoot, even with a gun. But, it was reassuring that the deer were moving. I was pretty alert for the next twenty minutes or so, but slowly drifted back to my phone to help pass time.
Shortly after 7, when I looked up I saw a doe heading straight for my blind. My heart began to quicken and I quickly grabbed my gun, waiting for the deer to look away so I could put it through the window. The doe was in the perfect position- turned away so I would have a clear shot. I pulled the trigger but nothing happened. Then I remembered that I have to pull the hammer down first (I hadn't shot this gun in over a year so I had forgotten about the hammer).
So I regained my composure and pulled the hammer down. The doe walked closer. It seemed as if she was heading straight for my blind. I was sure that she had seen me, I mean, she was looking right at me. But then she turned to the side again and put her head down to graze.
Heart racing, I tried to calm my breathing. As I let out my breath, I pulled down on the trigger and watched as she fell to the ground. The excitement I felt was unreal. I just killed my first deer. I immediately texted Eric that I got a doe. Apparently, he had texted Justin and asked if it was him that fired the shot. Ye of little faith! Eric instantly called me, and I could hear the smile beaming on his face. He told me that he thinks he was more excited than I was!
As I waited for Eric to tell me that they were on the way to come help me with the deer, I couldn't stop shaking. I don't know if you've seen this video, but if you haven't you should watch it!
I felt exactly like that little girl. I literally couldn't stop shaking (maybe not as much as that little girl, but I was definitely shaking). Even forty minutes later when Eric and Justin arrived to drag my deer out, I was still shaking. That experience was one of the coolest things I've ever done, and I can't wait until I can do it again!
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