This is my third season hunting and I shot my first deer this morning!
Shot her on Black Kettle WMA about 6 miles from the Oklahoma-Texas state line a little after 9am. Now for the story...
I decided at about 9pm last night to go hunt some public land that I had only been too once before. After some driving around I find a section that has no vehicles parked along the road or parking area.
I walk in and when the small patch of woods opens up I see a wide open area with a shallow hill in the middle and a small patch of trees on top. I figure even the short hill will provide some vantage on any wildlife in the area so I go up to the patch of scraggly trees. I end up on the other side leaning against a tree growing away from the rest. I am on the north slope of this geographical feature facing East towards some lower areas of the rolling hills. There are a few patches of trees spaced out, one of them being 60-80 yards in front of me. To the left and right I can see for miles. I settle in and start scanning the landscape through my scope.
Hmm...this tree is actually kind of comfortable...
*This is where I drift off to sleep for anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes...alone...on public land...at least I had my hunter orange on!
*
What was that noise? HOLYJEEBUSTHEREARETHREEDEERSHAPEDOBJECTSRIGHTTHERE!!! (They were three does about 50 yards away.) After two empty seasons I bought one antlered and one antlerless tag so I could shoot the first sizeable deer I saw. I line the scope up and can't see anything that I can make sense of. I realize I have the power turned all of the way up and reach up and crank the power down. Look through the scope again and these three does are still staring at me with giant wtf? looks on their faces. I put the crosshairs on the largest one and squeeze the trigger.
Did she move before my gun fired? I think she did. Did I hit her? OMGWTFBBQ SHE'S RUNNING RIGHT AT ME!!! I work the bolt, line up another shot, and *click*. I short-stroked it.
She starts running away, stops, and then leaps into the air. This is where things slowed wayyyy down for me as I saw a beautiful arc of red spray come out of her and she moved through the air. She landed behind a shrub and I didn't see her get back up. This shrub is out away from the other shrubs. There's nowhere she can go without me seeing. She must have not gotten up.
She's done! I did it! My first deer after hours and hours freezing my butt off around Oklahoma for years and I have finally shot a deer! Okay, okay, calm down. What did those youtube videos say to do now?
I need to wait and make sure she's dead before I go check on her. They said 30 minutes to an hour should do it for a good chest shot. I check the time. Ok, I can turn on the music on my phone and chill for half an hour. I can replay the shot in my head too.
I made it 10 minutes.
I walk over and poke her in the butt with the barrel. Nothing. Walk around and poke her in the eye. Nothing. Doe down.
The gun is a Savage model 11 in .308win and the scope is a Nikon 3-9x with the BDC reticle.
The exit wound doesn't look too bad. It was large enough for me to fit the end of my pointer finger into easily. When I rolled her over to check the entry wound I saw it. She did turn away from me as I was pulling the trigger. Gut shot.
Again, youtube warned me about this. Field dressing was going to probably make me gag.
Youtube does not lie. I nearly threw up twice. The bullet passed through and blew apart the stomach before piercing the diaphragm and obliterating the bottom portion of the left lung. There wasn't just a hole in that lung, the bottom part was gone. I couldn't find any lung pieces floating around. Now comes the hard part...
I had to drag her fat butt over a half mile through knee high dry grass and brush. I think I just became one of those hunters who swears the smaller deer taste better.
After some struggling (I forgot to bring a rope) I get her to the back of my truck.
You can also see where the entry wound is.
Finally. I am tired, breathing hard, covered in blood that isn't mine, but there she is. My first deer.
My dad isn't a hunter and has never taken much interest in me hunting, but when I called him and told him he drove an hour and a half to meet me back at my apartment to see my first deer. Then he asked how much of the meat wasn't going to fit into my freezer.
Now about that "lucky" part. I know I did a lot of things wrong. I fell asleep, alone, on public land during the opening weekend of rifle season. Those does actually woke me up and surprised me. Shooting at them was more of a knee jerk reaction with part of me screaming at the other part to remember what I was supposed to do. My shot placement wasn't great. It was definitely an experience though, and now I know several things I need to work on for next season.