Well, after shooting a deer last season, tracking it and never finding it I felt a bit let down about hunting. I hate to injure an animal and let it go to waste (I.e not get any meat from it). This year was my year for redemption.
I woke up at 4:45 this morning (on a normal Saturday I'd have another 7-8 hours to go for sleep) and got ready. We were out in a friend's deer stand around 6ish. It was still much too dark to hunt but supposedly you have to get out there early and then stay real quiet before shooting time so they come out from their hiding spots to eat.
After waiting maybe 45 minutes I spotted what I thought was two deer eating out in a field. Then I got out my scope out and looked closer. Sure enough there were two deer out there. One bigger than the other. Dad and I spent about 5 minutes ensuring they were does (since you can't shoot bucks right now) and then I got ready to shoot. Having remembered last year I aimed a bit further in the midsection of the deer to make sure I didn't graze it. I pulled the trigger, then deer fell down and ran off. After that I saw the smaller doe run away and then what I thought was my doe full out sprinting into another field.
Dad and I headed out to the spot we saw it last and then began tracking it. I sort of enjoy tracking deer, it reminds me of a crime scene investigation where you're looking for blood droplets on the ground and following them. Unlike last year this deer was making it easier on us and after about 15 minutes of tracking we found it laying in some tall grass. Yay my first deer!.
Most people that deer hunt want a giant buck with big antlers. I on the other hand just hunt for the food. Hunting deer is a relatively cheap source of food. For a $24 license you can shoot two deer. From my one deer alone today I got 52 packs of meat which one pack is usually enough for supper for me. That means I just nabbed 52 dinners for 50 cents! If I shoot another deer that goes down to 25 cents a meal. That's the price of Ramen Noodles, lol. I'm also having some of it made into hamburger which will raise the price a bit but regardless it's a cheap dinner.
Having just had $600 in car repairs I'm only a medium life problem away from being broke so cheap food is right up my alley.
Overall it was an exciting day and some good quality time with my Dad. I'm happy to have a Dad who will take me out and teach me about these kind of things since I'm pretty much a city slicker. I'll probably go out again during opening weekend up north since that's always a fun time.
Neal 1, Doe 0
