DISCLAIMER: If you do not like to hear about or see pictures of deceased deer DO NOT read! The content is graphic in nature. Otherwise...Enjoy my adventures!
There are two things in life that Josh enjoys and I never understood why.
1. Fantasy Football
2. Hunting
This year I was in a girls only fantasy football league and it was SO much fun!! I am very competitive so this was really exciting for me. Want to know my team name? ABC...Easy as RG3! Betcha can't guess who my quarterback was!?!
Onto #2--hunting. Now, don't get me wrong. I love that Josh hunts; I love venison and having my freezer stocked, but I never had the desire to try it out...until recently. Maybe it was because our freezer was pretty empty of venison. (And if my darling husband wasn't killing anything, maybe the wife could try!)
This past weekend Josh's cousin, Travis, invited us out to hunt on his property. I jumped at the chance and figured this was probably the best chance I'd get (since Josh is not on a lease now.) We left the boys with MeMaw and headed out to Travis'. I had never in my life shot a gun. Not even a bb gun (I didn't want to shoot my eye out!) Before getting in the stand, we practiced shooting. Travis let me borrow his AR. Wow!
After a couple of rounds, we decided to head out to the deer blind. Having never been in a blind before, I didn't know what to expect. It was very nice and probably the nicest one Josh has ever been in. There was plenty of room for both of us.
We were very lucky, in that we saw lots and lots of deer!
Here I am; ready to go!!
This is the sunset as we came down from the blind.
The first day we were out there, I wanted Josh to be the one to kill a deer before me. He was very serious and wanted to make sure it was the "right" deer before pulling the trigger. He's not used to having his wife in his ear. I kept telling him, "hurry and shoot that thing or I'll do it!" I was very confident in myself at that point! :)
He shot it but it took off. We looked and looked and were thinking that it got away. But then I saw her lying there!! I started yelling for Josh, jumping up and down.
His doe:
Josh made me sit and watch him quarter the deer. I was a bit nauseous at first, but I stomached through it.
So Sunday morning, it was MY turn!! We saw lots of deer as the sun rose, but for whatever reason, I just never could find the one I wanted to shoot. I had my finger on the trigger a few times, but wow. The confident person yelling at my husband to "SHOOT IT!" was a bit nervous to say the least. The second that gun goes from safety to fire, it's all up to the shooter. Travis let me borrow his gun and said it was a sure fire. Talk about pressure.
View out of one of the windows.
We saw Travis coming to pick us up, but he stopped at the end of the road. I was getting really bummed that I wasn't going to shoot anything. Then, out walked a deer close to one of the feeders which was 200 yards away. I knew it was now or never. I lined up the gun and Josh watched through the binoculars. He was encouraging me but I became SO nervous. Once the deer turned to the side I pulled the trigger and it immediately fell down. I turned to Josh and he had a huge grin on his face and said, "Nice shot!" Every single emotion ran through me--I was happy, excited, shaking and even started tearing up. The first thing I said was, "I need food because I'm about to pass out!" (I had not eaten anything all morning.) Then I just kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Travis heard the shot and came to pick us up. I climbed down from the blind and started jumping up and down.
The shot severed his spinal cord, causing him to fall and die immediately.
I called MeMaw to bring the boys out there and they watched Josh quarter the deer. MeMaw, however, dropped off the boys no where near us and quickly drove off! :)
All day, I kept thinking about the moments leading up to me pulling the trigger. It was so exciting. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm ready to plan our next hunting trip.
Who wants venison for dinner?!?
