My first Wisconsin Deer.

by James Burk
(Redgranite, WI, United States)

It was the second weekend of the 2010 bow-hunt only my second year of bow hunting. I got sick of sitting in the stand and told my grandpa that this afternoon I was moving to a different spot and I didn't care if I had to sit on the ground. So after we got done in the morning we went home for lunch and to take a quick snooze before the afternoon hunt.

When we came back out there I had second thoughts about sitting in the stand or not but I decided to walk over to the spot where I decided I would sit. I climbed up into this halfway cut oak tree moved around a bit to blend in, I got uncomfortable real quick. I jumped out walked around a bit to find somewhere else I found this downed oak tree about 3 feet in diameter figured it would be a good spot. I smashed down some long grass for shooting lanes then sat down facing the marsh grass.

As I'm sitting there I took off my gloves because my hands were getting hot mind u its about 70 to 80 degrees out. All of sudden I had this burning feeling on my back and hands, I looked down and I realized in was sitting in a huge and I mean HUGE burning nettle bush all I could think was "Is this night going to get any worse". So I sat with the pain and waited, then I heard this buzzing sound I soon realized I forgot to put my phone on silent. So I got it quick, checked it just to make sure it wasn't my grandpa or anything, well it just happened to be my buddy who just shot his first deer of the year and this didn't surprise me at all.

As I was about to reply I heard this rustling sound ahead of me so I looked up, and there she was. A 4 year old doe and 2 youngins were staring at me. I stopped all movement and waited for her to make her move she took a small hop over a dead tree in front of her and at that instant I grabbed my bow and clipped my release on my loop. As I waited for her to stop walking her kids were stamping and snorting trying to get her attention to stop. She looked at me and looked at the ground. I drew my bow back, looked at her fawns just to see what they were doing and they were staring at me with a "don't do it kind of look". At this time this doe was 5 yards away I'm shaking so much that you could hear my bones rattle, my heart feels like it coming out of my chest. I was sitting like this for about 3 to 5 minutes.

She took one last look at me, looked ahead of her I'm guessing for a path to run if she had to, she looked at her kids and right when she did that I said in a low voice "guide my arrow home" pulled the trigger and all I heard was "SNAP!" My heart sank, I watched her run for 15 yards and drop I started screaming and yelling and I called my grandpa instantly and told him what happen he said "I know I heard you, I guess we’re all done now aren't we" he came over by me within 20 minutes with his knife so I could gut it.

It was about 5 at night and we started bow hunting only an hour before, and before all this happened my grandma said "it will take you a long time before you get your deer with a bow". Well I think I put her in her place. The doe weighed 180 pounds field dressed I wish I had a picture to post with this story because she was truly a beautiful deer.

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