I had written off the last weekend of deer season. I had come to the conclusion that Erin and I would have tag soup this year, but I was glad Erin had seen a couple of shooters and managed to get a pig. I asked her if she wanted to go to the neighbors on Saturday evening or Sunday and she declined.
I worked Saturday , picked up a pig from the meat locker, and watched some college football. Sunday I had signed up for a 5k footrace with my middle daughter, so I ran that in the morning instead of going hunting. I finished 22nd overall and 2nd in my age group. I though I’d earned a nap and did some errands around home that afternoon.
Then late that afternoon, my cousin calls on the phone, and says he saw a buck in the creek. So we grab Erin’s rifle and shooting sticks and start quick sneaking north along the creek.
We watched a spike as he slipped into the willows and moved north ahead of us. We worked up to where we could see another 300 yards along the creek.
Pretty soon we spotted a good buck following a doe headed southbound weaving in and out of the willows. Pretty soon the spike came streaking out into the open as the buck defended his girlfriend.
The light was low enough, and at an angle that you couldn’t see deer in the shadows under the willows without binos or a scope. I could see the doe looking our way deep in the shadows. Pretty soon the spike made the mistake of approaching her and the buck came out and chased him off. He dropped his head and fed for a little bit before he headed back into the cover. He lingered in the open too long and Erin dropped him in his track at 200 yards off the sticks with her 7mm-08. One finisher behind the ear sealed the deal and Erin had her first buck.
Erin was a trooper and did much of the knife work in field dressing and skinning her buck late into the night. Monday morning she had photos to share with her friends and teammates commemorating her first buck.
