“OK, Greg, nice and easy now. Get the gun on her, right in the pocket. Remember, when you shoot, squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it.” “OK,” was all I could get out with my heart pounding and my body shaking.
“Good. Now just wait a minute. Wait till she gets comfortable and stops. That’s when you shoot.” “Don’t worry. I got her in my sights. She’s not going anywhere.” My finger started tightening on the trigger, waiting to feel the shock and surprise of the bullet exploding out of the gun, hopefully heading towards my first deer. Before my finger could completely pull the trigger, the deer scattered. All of them, gone in an instant. I pulled the gun down after a minute or so, disappointed. I couldn’t understand what happened. What did we do wrong? My dad knew what happened. When he pointed it out to me, I understood. A buck had been at the edge of the woods and decided to move out into the field at the same time I was going to take my shot. Unfortunately, it was only a spike. My dad was just as disappointed as I was, not for himself, but for me. We were just hoping that the deer would come back. And they did. Our luck had changed. All of the deer had come back, except for the spike. I pulled up my gun and did what my dad said. I put my sights on the biggest one of the four. They started walking towards our stand. They were zigzagging back and forth across the field. My gun was trained on my doe the whole time, zigzagging with it. An original shot of 120 yards was now quickly decreasing. The deer were almost on top of us. The big doe made a split-second decision and stopped where she was, turning broadside. “Greg, when…” my dad suddenly cut off by the sound of a loud gunshot. The second doe had stopped, I had pulled the trigger, not even thinking about it. It was just instinct. She spun half-way around and dropped to the ground. The other three deer were already gone by the time my dad started talking again. “Greg that was an amazing shot! You did it! Congratulations son, you got your first deer,” my dad whispered excitedly to me. “Thanks Dad. I couldn’t have done it without you,” I whispered back. As we climbed down out of the tree stand to see my first deer, I was shaking with excitement. Looking at that deer, knowing that it was mine, and that I earned it, was so memorable. It was a feeling that I knew I wouldn’t forget, and one that I hoped to feel more in the future. I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting, eventful and successful first hunt. What truly made it special was that my dad was right there beside me the whole time. 