Making Memories
Hunting is a great pastime. It’s relaxing, fulfilling, and challenging. While it is often done alone, it is just as fun, if not more so, if you’re with someone. Getting people involved in hunting and helping them get their first deer, turkey, or even squirrel can be just as rewarding as if you would have shot one your self.
Teaching someone to hunt is not an easy task and is one that is quite the responsibility. While hunting is a very safe hobby, it has to be done the right way or someone could be seriously injured or killed. Teaching someone about the safety of the sport is crucial. While some consider a successful hunt one which they bring home their desired prey, I consider one where everyone made memories and came home safe. Making sure every hunt is successful in that definition of successful is paramount. If someone wants to go hunting the first thing they need to do is pass their Hunters Safety Course. While I recommend starting people off in hunting with small game, if the person is older they may want to jump right into big game, like deer. Once you have established the foundation of all safety precautions, and did some target practice, it’s time to hit the woods.
The first person I took hunting was my girlfriend. It was just this last deer season and we started off in archery season using a crossbow. While several opportunities presented themselves for a clean shot, they were all small deer, most likely yearlings. We did not manage to get anything because as she said, “They are too cute”. It is important not to push someone to do something they don’t feel comfortable with, because doing so may ruin the experience for them and have them questioning if hunting is really the hobby for them. So we let the deer come and go in peace. This happened a few times and next thing we knew archery season was over and rifle season was starting. Now the key difference between rifle and archery is the distance at which you can take an ethical shot at a a target. In archery I will not take a shot at more than 40 yards, but in rifle, I can easily stretch out to over 150 yards very comfortably.
As rifle season rolled around we went out a few more times seeing deer pretty often but always young deer or deer that were too far away or moving too quickly. After about the seventh time of going out and sitting in a tree stand from 2:30 until dark, it was the last day of rifle season. We decided to go out and give it one more shot at trying to get her her first deer. At this point I had pulled out all the stops because I honestly wanted her to get a deer more than anything I have ever wanted in hunting before. So, on the last day of rifle season we went out to the stand early, after sitting there for about four hours I saw something walking in the field in front of us. After I looked at it through my binoculars I could see it was a 5 point buck just grazing his was along a field edge. I hit it with my Range Finder and it was 127 yards away, Right inside the comfort zone for a rifle. 
I taped her on the shoulder as she was scrolling through instagram and quietly whispered, “There’s a buck out in front of us”. She put her phone down and rested her rifle on the shooting rail. I could tell she was exited because she was shaking, and truth be told, I was too. It seemed we both had a case of Buck Fever. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and shot. It was a perfect shot, right behind the front shoulder and he dropped where he was standing. I wont’t lie, I think I was more excited than she was, all the days of going out and not being able t get anything finally lead to the result we were looking for.
After we got it back to the house and had it cleaned, I came to realize, I enjoyed that hunt more than any other hunt I had been on and I didn’t even get anything. You always remember your first deer and everything after that just kind of melds together, but the first is always clear as day. Well that day I added another hunt that I will never forget, it was like shooting my first deer all over again. This realization lead me to recognize that it’s not the kill that makes a hunt memorable, it’s the journey along the way.