Written by: Hannah Riggs
There are very few things that compare to the peace and solitude that comes with sitting in a deer stand. Mix those feelings with the nerves of opening day, and it’s a combination like no other. If you combined all of that with the anxiousness that comes with hoping to kill your first bow deer, you pretty much get how I felt on October 1st.
Last year, when I picked up a bow for the first time, I fell in love with it immediately. There was something so calming to me about drawing back a bow and watching that split second as the arrow flies through the air to its target. So every day last summer I was outside, practicing and hoping I would be ready for bow season. However, once the season rolled around, I realized that I had never even taken my bow into a climbing stand, let alone try to pull back. So once the deer finally came out, I was so uncomfortable in the stand, I let my bow hit the edge of the stand before I even really got a shot at the deer.
But, I was determined to make this year different. In addition to practicing more so I would be able to pull back a few pounds more, I decided this season I was going to shoot out of a different stand. So opening morning, full of nerves and a little bit of caffeine, I climbed into our box stand and waited for a deer.
Lucky for me, I didn’t have to wait too long. My fiancé, Garrett, had come along on this hunt with me for moral support, and at about 7:10, he spotted the deer right before I did. The way our box stand is set up, it has about a one-foot tall window around three sides of the stand. I crouched down into the stand to pick up my bow and stand back up while the deer wasn’t looking my way. When I finally stood up, I realized there was not only one deer but two. The closest deer was at about 25 yards, so I knew it would be my target. As I stood up and pulled back aiming through the small opening in the stand, I realized the deer had turned its head to stare straight at me. I was so nervous my whole body felt to be shaking. And in my mind, I was breathing so hard the deer surely the deer had to hear me. After having a ten-second staring contest, it dawned on me that while the deer was looking at me, I still had a clear shot and it wouldn’t notice if I triggered the release. But, as shaky as I was, my arrow flew about two inches over the deer. So, of course, the deer ran off. Luckily for me, however, he only decided to run off ten more yards.
I was determined not to let this deer get away from me, so I nocked another arrow, steadied my breath, and raised my bow back up. The deer was on high alert but luckily decided not to have a stare off with me again. I drew back my bow, said a little prayer, and sent my arrow on its way, straight into the vitals. The deer did a little kick and ran off into the woods. Garrett and I looked at each other, and the first thing he could do was yell “You got it!” as he gave me a big high five. I, however, was used to just shooting a deer with a rifle and seeing it drop, so I was a bit more confused if I hit it or not. My hands still shaking, we waited a few minutes and climbed down the stand and walked to where I had shot my deer. We found my pink arrow sitting right behind the spot the deer had stood, dark red blood all the way to the fletchings. We walked a few feet more and saw a blood trail no one could miss.
But then came for me, the hardest part, waiting. We climbed back in the stand and waited another 40 minutes since the last thing we wanted was to spook the deer farther into the woods. When the time came, we walked our way towards the woods, having an easy trail to follow. Once we got about 50 yards into the woods, we saw her.
For me, I think that day was one of my proudest moments. All of the hard work I had been practicing had finally paid off, even if my nerves almost ruined it. Not much compares for me to sit in the woods that God created and take it all in as I wait for a deer. But when that moment finally comes and I’m able to do what I set out to do, that moment and that feeling trumps them all.
