This morning was a special one for my 11 year old Daughter, Abigail and me. Abigail started hunting last year. She took the hunter safety course and I bought her a New England Firearms, Handi- Rifle in .357 magnum caliber and some Cor-Bon 180 grain cartridges. We went to the firing range and she became pretty proficient with it. Last year we hunted in Macon, County and although we saw a few deer she never got a shot. This year we’re hunting in Dooly County and on opening day of rifle season we had five deer in close proximity but no clear shots except one and it was a spike so it wasn’t legal in Dooly.
This morning Abigail said she had a good feeling about today and I did too. We went to a double seater ladder stand on a finger of a field that borders a creek. We had been sitting awhile and I blew my grunt call from time to time and we heard a deer approaching from behind us. I caught a glimpse of antlers and saw that although it was a buck, he was not legal either. He waded through the creek and stood to our left under the stand in some thick brush and then moved on, away from us.
We had a sandwich and she shared my coffee with me. I told her to put her rifle up on the rest so she would be ready if an opportunity arose. We were just passing time commenting on the fog rolling in when I saw two deer trotting across the field in front of us from our right to left. The one in front was clearly bigger and I told Abigail, “Get on her!” By the time she was ready that deer had stepped into the brush so I told her to get on the other one. She asked, “Shoot?” I said “Shoot!” At the crack of the shot the deer bucked and crashed off into the woods and I thought I heard it go down. We waited a little while before getting down and she told me she never had time to get nervous before the shot but was shaking now. We got down and walked over to where they were standing and I told her to wait at the edge of the field while I entered the brush and looked for blood. I walked about 15 yards and saw a speck of blood and called for Abigail to come and help me track the deer. We started looking and saw more blood and then a bunch of blood. I looked a few more yards in front of us and there lay her deer. A button buck. She was smiling from ear to ear and jumping for joy! She held his legs while I field dressed him but didn’t want to look until I was done and then I pointed out all the different innards to her. She had made a 109 yard shot and hit the deer right in the heart! I couldn’t be more proud!
