This was my first year deer hunting.   I was fortunate enough to harvest this nice doe.  I had plenty of missed opportunities before this one, from being uneducated all the way to being just plain, not mentally ready. There is something to be said of taking another living beings life.  I've been fortunate enough to have a family member help me along this journey as I don't come from a family with a background in hunting. For the last few years, I've taken every opportunity to help field  dress or process anything he's been able to take.  It's been an amazing learning experience, to say the least.  The morning I was able to take this doe was the first morning that everything finally felt perfect, and it was about 5 minutes after shooting light, too!!!  It was what I would consider a perfect shot.  She ran about 15 yards and fell!!!  The last thing I'd want was for something to suffer because I wasn't on my game.  I'm sure that day will come at one point, and we'll deal with that when that day comes, but for now, I will take this win.  The next picture is from the next morning of my daughter and I.  I purchased another over the counter antlerless only tag (all that was available) the same day I shot the doe.  Needless to say, i'm hooked.  My daughter came out with me, and we went to the same spot I was the  previous morning.  I didn't care about anything at that point but spending time with her.  She really wanted to blow on the grunt call she'd been playing with previously throughout the fall.  So she gave it her best, and it sounded more like a sick duck lol.  We got things dialed back a bit, and she let out a nice grunt. I was skeptical, to say the least, but about 10 minutes had passed, and sure enough, through the fog, there was a little spike buck staring at us. I went to hand her the binoculars, and he took off.  One more little grunt, and he came back yet again.  As for now, "curious carl" is doing his own thing, and with a bit of luck, my daughter and I can watch this little guy grow together as we grow together.

My Deer Hunting Journey

My Deer Hunting Journey

Joe M

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Whitetail Doe

Gear tagged in this post

Gear tagged in this post

Arne H

Tyler C