Hunting

WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SEEING BLOOD OR DEAD ANIMALS DO NOT CONTINUE READING!!!!!

Deer hunting season for me started October 1st. That first weekend, my dad, me, and a few other guys headed over to Eastern Oregon to hunt our unit.

The weather was dry and windy which is not good hunting weather. We did a lot of driving, a lot of hiking and didn't see any deer. We did see some great views though!

Part of our unit was on a ridge which means we had some great views of the valley below.

Sunrise over Summer Lake

That first weekend our hunting trip was unsuccessful so we headed back to work for the week empty handed. 

Not to worry though... we headed back over Wednesday evening and started our hunt again bright and early Thursday morning! 

This time it was just me and my dad. I've come to learn that hunting can be really slow.... our unit is huge and the deer can be hiding anywhere. Most of the morning we drove around in the truck looking for deer or fresh tracks. We weren't having much luck so we decided to stop and cut some firewood for campfire that night.

After we had filled the back end of the truck with wood we started to head back to camp. 

Now I need to explain something.... for some reason my dad's truck puts me to sleep on the 4x4 roads. I don't know if its the rocking or the lull of the engine but it sure does know how to put me to sleep. Not so good for hunting.... 

I was trying to stay awake but my eyes kept shutting. All of the sudden I opened my eyes and to my left I saw a buck! First thing out of my mouth is "BUCK!" and my dad quickly shuts off the truck. We quickly grab our guns and make a quick game plan. 

He walks to the left in hopes of pushing the buck out of the woods. I run the right and get set up to kill this deer. All of the sudden I see the buck in my sights! I was so excited that I pulled the trigger without even steadying myself. I miss the first shot but the deer doesn't even flinch! I quickly reload and this time I take a deep breath and slowly pull the trigger with my sights right on his heart. Bang. He drops to the ground. THEN he starts rolling around and I start freaking out that he is just wounded and gonna run into the woods so I fire again this time hitting him in the butt. The buck gets up and runs further into the woods. By this time I'm screaming for my dad (because I have no idea where he is) and running further into the woods after this buck trying to quickly reload my gun. 

I'm soon on the blood trail and by the amount of blood I'm seeing I know this deer hasn't gotten far.

 Within about thirty yards I see the buck again, this time dead! 

I literally started screaming like a little girl I was so excited. I was jumping up and down, the adrenaline rush was in full affect, I could barely breath. My dad soon finds me, which isn't too hard due to all the noise I was making lol. 

After my dad arrives we start the hard part.... gutting the deer. Blood doesn't really make me squeamish, the part that gets me is how warm all the insides are still. I won't go into too much detail on this part. Just a lot of blood and guts. 

We proudly returned to camp to show off my buck!

I have done my duty by putting meat on the table this winter!