My first deer (injured doe) my favorite xmas present so far

by Nathan Wood
(Bath County Kentucky)

First Deer

It was my Xmas break of 08 and I was in Virgina at my cousins house to visit for xmas. Me and my 2 cousins had been squirrel hunting the day I got there. The next day me and my oldest cousin were going to go on an evening hunt in a couple of hours. My youngest cousin went to the store and called us shortly after leaving and said he saw a deer run across the road and up towards the mountain so we got ready and went out hunting. We checked a few fields and sat in the woods for a few minutes then went up to the 2 seater ladder stand. We were in it 15 minutes when I saw a deer run across the ridge of the mountain it was then my cousin saw a deer 80 yards behind us in the brush. It took me 5 minutes to see it then we watched it for a few minutes and my leg cramped as I was aiming. As I went to move my leg the metal hook on my boot caught the tree stand making a loud ping noise. I quickly took aim, the injured doe looking at us, I shot and she ran 30 - 35 yards and dropped. It was a good deer for me to take for my first one because she had a whole in her back where she had been grazed by a bullet. The wound was kind of old as it had started to heal. I discovered when we gutted it I had pulled a heart shot.