Musings of Madelyn: "A doe, A deer, A female deer."

I had told myself, and everyone else for that matter, that I would not shoot a doe. I just couldn't bring myself to shoot a mama, knowing that she had a young one still tagging along or that she could possibly be with bambi (kind of like with child).
I went out to the the deer box six evenings during rifle season. I would arrive around 3:30pm, feeder would go off at 4:00pm and the does would start showing up anywhere between 4:15pm and 5:00pm. Most evenings I would leave right as it was getting dark and would have to scare off the does. Only one time hunting did I not see a single deer. The does and this years fawns were fun to watch. But I was waiting for the big buck to arrive.
Today was the last day of rifle season. I was pretty much over the whole hunting experience and just wanted a shot at a buck. I arrived at the box at 3:45pm, the feeder went off at the usual time and I patienty waited while reading a good book. Finally around 5:00pm the first doe and fawn showed up, followed by several others. At 5:10pm I decided that a big buck wasn't going to appear so I either needed to take a shot or go home. My heart started to beat a mile a minute and at that point I knew I was going to shoot a doe. I couldn't let the anticipation and excitment of the shot go to waste and I couldn't go home empty handed on the very last day of the season. I quietly opened the sliding window, propped my gun on the window opening making enough noise that all the deer looked up and stared directly at me. I sat as still as possible until the deer went back to eating. Then I placed the target on the biggest doe there and took a shot. She took off running but I was pretty sure I got a good shot. I never know for sure because I always close my eyes when I shoot. I watched where she ran and thought I heard her drop. All but one of the other deer had managed to run off but the one still stood there and stared at me. I'm thinking I probably shot her mama...sorry about that. My heart was still pounding and I was shaking with excitement. I called Ryan and our friend Andy to let them know that I shot a doe. After a couple minutes I got down from the box and went to where I shot the doe and saw blood so I knew I hit her. I then followed a trail of blood and walked in the direction I thought she dropped. I found her within minutes. Ryan and Andy arrived and took pictures and then Ryan walked me through the gutting process.
It was another fun hunt and all those sad feelings about shooting a doe quickly went away as soon as I pulled the trigger. Fun stuff.

Madelyn wasn't with me this year when I shot my deer but she sure enjoyed watching me field dress the deer. However, she wasn't too fond of the smell. :)