Youths First Buck Hunting Experiment

Jan. 29, 2005, is the day I brought down my first buck. It was another 25-yard shot. I took my shot at 7:20 a.m. at Bee Hill. This is the second deer I have taken with my crossbow.

We got up early and showered with scent-free soap as usual. We were in our ground blind before daybreak. It was 31 degrees, and light freezing rain/snow fell. Ten to 15 minutes after we got settled, I tapped my dad on the side and said, "I see a deer."

It just popped out of nowhere and was standing in the shooting lane out my window. Dad looked and, sure enough, there it was standing about 25 yards away, quartering toward us. It was still pretty dark, but the snow on the ground helped us to see better.

First Buck Hunting Experiment

Silently, Dad helped me move my stool into a better shooting position. He handed me the crossbow and whispered, "I turned off the safety; it's ready to shoot." Dad moved the bipod to my shooting window. I shouldered the crossbow, put my eye to the scope a better sight, aimed and let the arrow fly. We both heard the arrow hit the deer, but we couldn't see the shot placement, and the deer ran off into the woods.

It was still barely light enough to see. I settled my bow and said, "Dad, it was a buck. I saw an antler." Then I gave my dad a really big hug and said, "I love you."

Waiting part

The next thing I said to my dad was, "Let's go get my deer." He told me that a principle of bow-hunting is to wait at least 30 minutes after shooting a deer. What's more, he said that because we didn't see the site of impact, we would be better off waiting even longer before moving from our location and disturbing the woods. I agreed, but didn't like having to wait.

Here are few tips

• Relying on the Weather is a Must
• Less is Always MORE in hunting
• You need Proper Gears
• Subtle is Best
• Get Inside with Proper Scope His Head

Sleet and snow continued to fall, but we were dry in the blind. We didn't have any more deer activity for the next hour. It was hard to wait. I asked Dad for the binoculars. I told him I could see blood in the snow in the direction that the deer ran. It took a while for Dad to see it, but then he said, "It's a good hit. That's a great blood trail."

Our excitement could no longer keep us in the blind, and Dad agreed that we could look for my deer.

We both carried our bows as we walked to where the deer had been standing when I shot. We found my arrow lying 15 yards from where the deer had been standing. "A perfect pass-through shot," Dad said.

Trail Part

We started up the trail, noticing some hair and small spots of blood. Now I was getting really excited. Then, a heavy trail of blood appeared in the snow. A little further down the trail we could see my first buck lying on the ground. Dad says he didn't even run 100 yards. It's another good, clean kill.

The Celebration

We celebrated... it was a nice buck hunting! Dad took a lot of pictures of me and my first buck

It was a 6-point buck who had already dropped its right antler, so now it was a 3-point unicorn. Dad talked to Mr. Brewer, our taxidermist, who says he can put the dropped antler back on with the mount if we find it. We are going to do some serious shed-antler hunting, I hope we find it.