(no subject)
So, opening weekend has come to a close. What a weekend. I have been recovering ever since and am slowly feeling some life come back into me.
Saturday was kind of a crappy day, it rained a lot, but in my tree stand I was pretty dry and not cold at all so I can't really complain. I saw three deer on opening day, and took two shots at them, and I missed.
So Sunday was like a blizzard out there. It was terrible. I went out for sunrise and only lasted a little over an hour. Went back, got some more sleep, went back out a little before noon. I was only planning on being out there for a couple hours but the conditions were okay and I did some walking around which kept me warm.
Around 2:30 a really good stand was offered over the radio, I jumped on that and headed over. Said stand is called "The meat stand", and for a reason.
About five minutes into me sitting up there, up waltzes a deer. It looked like a decent size, and being my first year I was allowed to shoot a young one, as long as it wasn't tiny. I actually thought it was a doe, turns out it was a button buck, but it was definitely a decent size.
I took aim and fired. I got a really good shot off. I thought it would be over then but apparently not. I was in for a long day yet.
I waited in the stand for about 10 minutes. I watched the deer go over and lay down, but I didn't see any blood so I wasn't sure I had gotten it at all. Then I did see a little bit of blood in the snow. My dad met up with me and told me to take another shot at it and he'd be ready to back me up. I did. Unfortunately, and this is the part that changed everything, I shot a tiny bit high and his gun got stuck on safe.
Off it went, and off we went after it. We had no idea where it was wounded, but by the amount of blood we knew it wasn't enough to kill it anytime soon. So we decided we would follow the blood trail even though it would keep pushing it away, because we knew eventually it would die, and suffer even more, and end up being coyote food.
We followed the blood trail for two hours. We caught up to that deer three times. It would go for a bit and then lay down and lick its wounds. One of the times we caught up to it it was like RIGHT in front of us. You'd think it would have just ended there. It was laying down, and I told my dad I had a decent shot at it from where I was. We really needed to take this deer down. All ethical hunters want an animal to suffer as minimally as possible. I had a pretty good shot, but my Dad had to creep up a little bit to get ready for a follow up shot, because he was behind me. This alerted the deer and as I shot he stood up. So this threw the shot off and we're pretty sure he basically got shot in the jaw at this point. My dad shot as he was running away and we think he knicked him in the hoof.
Off we went again, into the thickest shit possible. We caught up to it again, saw it laying down. My Dad was ready to just take a head shot and put this very wounded deer out of its misery, but he got up and went. We continued to follow the blood trail, and shortly after heard "boom". On the radio our neighbor (who owns "the meat stand), said "alright, he's down".
At this point there was a little disappointment, because of course you want to be the one who takes the kill shot, but at this point we also just wanted this deer to end its ordeal and not suffer. When we got to where it was, he congratulated me. I was VERY thankful for his assistance. The deer was ACTUALLY still alive, if that gives you any indication of what a tough guy he was. They handed me a rifle and told me to shoot him in the back of the head, and I did, and it was over. I think it was really important that I did this. Firstly, because if you're going to hunt and take life, I think you should have to have the constitution to be able to look right at it and do what needs to be done. Secondly, because technically whoever shoots it last is who claims it, and this made me feel better about Tippy taking it down for us.
So that's my story about my first deer hunt. I'm pretty sure there are many first time hunters with similar stories, because though you should do the best you can to take down the animal in a quick manner to minimize suffering, it's also important to understand that suffering is going to be a part of it. It also teaches a good lesson that it's your responsibility as a hunter to bring your abilities to the best they can be, so as to minimize the suffering of these animals.
We butchered the deer ourselves, bought a meat grinder and everything so we have some ground venison too, and our freezer has tonnns of meat in it that will help us get through the winter (and save me lots of $$$!!). Hopefully Christopher will get something too, and we'll be all set!!
