My First Deer

Through-out our lives we have many experiences that may touch us, scar us, bind us to our values, and shape who we are as people. The experiences can be good or bad it is all about how we interpret them. There is one day in particular that I will never forget, the day I shot my first deer.

I remember the day vividly. It was the first day of hunting season and we had been sitting in this one spot all day, from 4:30am to about 5:00pm, with one break for lunch. Right around 5:00pm I started to grow impatient, it was going to be dark soon and I hadn’t even seen a deer. It was at that point when we noticed in the far corner of the field, two brown specs. Sure enough, two does had just walked out on the field.

So I was shaking, literally, I could barley hold my gun straight. Chris, the man I was sitting with, said “Take your time; you have all the time in the world. Breathe in, then out and gently squeeze the trigger.” I watched the two does played with one and other from the scope on my gun. One started walking real slow at an angle that completely exposed his left side to me. This was my turn; I had my king in check. It was time to turn my words into actions. So I aimed right for the heart and squeezed the trigger.

It one of my fondest memories, the deer stood still as if it was amazed it had just been shot. The deer fell to the ground in no more then a second or two. His partner watched as I watched him die. The other doe stood there next to its fallen comrade for a few seconds. As if he was waiting for his buddy to get up. We proceeded to haul the deer off to the truck, I looked back and I saw the other doe standing in the corner of the field, mourning.