When Shaun and I first got married at 18 and 19, we weren’t swimming in money as you can probably imagine, and from early on learned to be very resourceful.  One of the ways we could use the money we had for other essential necessities was to adhere to the motto “kill it, catch it, or grow it” in regards to our groceries.  We have never been trophy hunters even though we do have some precious and impressive memories on the wall.

 My first successful deer season where I had the privilege of filling one of our doe tags and contributing meat to the freezer for our family will live forever sketched on  “my favorite moments in hunting trail” on memory lane. It was my second year to hunt not having seen anything legal the entire season the year before.  My father-in-law picked me up on his way to the deer lease for an evening hunt while my hubby was working nights.  Dad and I hunting together while Shaun was at work would become a regular occurrence for which I am forever grateful!  At the time, Shaun and I were sharing his Winchester lever action .243 which I had brought with me, unloaded of course until we actually got to out of the truck to hunt.  I don’t remember how or why it happened, but I ended up with Dad’s .243 a Remington Mohawk which was the gun I later shot my first hog with and all 3 of our kids shot their first deer and hogs with as well. Priceless for it’s sentimentality as even a glance evokes a flood of memories of time spent with our family in the woods together. 

Dad decided, due to my inexperience in hunting I’m sure, to forego going to his own stand and instead hunted with me.  He watched me as I climbed up in my ladder stand, still to the dismay of my husband who prefers a climbing stand, made sure I got up safely and got seated and then made sure I loaded a round into the chamber of his rifle after I got settled.  He then went behind and to the left of me to climb in Shaun’s climbing stand much higher than I would ever feel comfortable!  We sat there in the cool air, a fortunate thing because hunting season in Texas is often still incredibly hot.  I practiced being still and moving my eyes only and ever so slightly my head.  I sang songs in my head, I distinctly remember having that song from the movie Hocus Pocus stuck in my head, the one when they are trying to lure the children and I adapted the lyrics to fit my current hunting adventure.  I was feeling pretty satisfied with my creativity, and stillness, sitting there in that oak bottom as the sun was slowly going down for the day and the bottom seemed to glow the orange you see in those hallmark movies.

I couldn’t see dad because he was behind me but I was sure he was watching me for movement and everything else so I was on my game making sure I applied every hunting strategy I had been taught or seen as well as being safe. In reality, the man was asleep way above me in that climbing stand probably watching a continuous feed of hunting shows behind his eyelids!  I only found this out after I shot one of the does that came busting in.  While I sat and silently partied in my head to my song and how good I was doing and how proud dad was going to be of me, 3 does came from the other side of the bottom directly in front of me walking cautiously as does do, but straight in my direction.  I later surmised that they caught a whiff of something not quite right even though we had sprayed with scent killer because they turned circling left when they reached the spot right about where we walked in.  As they circled out there to the left I began the torturously slow practice of raising my rifle and getting into position as they passed behind trees.  When I was in position I waited for my moment and as the largest doe out front paused to inspect the acorns on the ground, I was positive I had a good safe shot, I breathed in and began to slowly release as I took aim, stopped and slowly squeezed the trigger.  It was instantly obvious I had made a good shot. It wasn’t far probably 80 yards or so and she ran about 30 after I hit her and I watched her fall.

I’m not really sure if I made any noise other than the sound of my labored breathing because of my RAPIDLY beating heart. I knew I was struggling not to shake as I squeezed the trigger. I sat there for several minutes trying to control my breathing and also being extremely excited, I tried to lean around behind me to see dad, but his back was to me, and he was starting his descent to the ground.  When he reached me, he wore a giant smile bordering laughter and gestured for me to make sure I had unloaded the gun before I climbed down.  I remember trying to get my legs to work to climb down and they were shaking so badly both dad and I were sure I was going to fall, so he made me turn back around and sit down for a few more minutes.  Then this man had the audacity to ask me what I had shot at and scared him half to death! This is when I found out he was taking a nap and that my shot had scared him awake and he never saw the does.  I explained and pointed to where the doe was laying, you could just barely see the white of her belly from where we were but when he looked back to me, the pride on his face was unmistakable and his smile could not have gotten any wider.  He coaxed me out of the stand slowly and gently, I’m sure he was gentler with me at this particular time because we had just learned that I was pregnant with his first grandchild, I don’t think we even knew the sex yet.  When I reached the ground there was hugging and high fiving and since I was still shaking, he insisted on me wearing his jacket in addition to my own!

We tagged her, my first time ever getting to fill out a tag at 20 years old, loaded her up and headed for the truck.  When we got home, Dad was adamant we take a picture before skinning and quartering her into the cooler. We didn’t have cell phone cameras quite yet. I still have that picture and I think of all of these words and more every time I see it, it is true, a picture really is worth a thousand words.  I felt such a sense of accomplishment knowing that I had been able to provide food for our family and safely participate in a time-honored way of life that my husband’s family had been handing down for generations.