Worth the Wait

With a family full of hardcore hunters and being raised as my Daddy’s little boy, I could not help but have the hunting fever as well.   I have been hunting with my dad as long as I can remember.  I took my first deer when I was eight years old, and that evening with my dad plays through my mind every time I hunt. Some of the best childhood memories I have are of hunting with my Dad and my Papa.  Most girls want cars when they turn 16, my dad bought me a Sako 243 with a Leopould scope, and nothing could have made me happier.  Unlike most kids, I think I could tell you the sound a deer made before a horse or a cow.  After 19 years of hunting with a rifle my husband, Trent talked me in to trying out a bow.  So, at the 2006 TTHA Hunting Extravaganza in San Antonio I decided to buy a Youth Model Hoyt Banchee and give it a try.  We hunted all that season in South Texas and after not getting a shot at anything I was pretty disappointed.  It was so different from hunting with a gun.  You had to be so close, quiet and still.  It brought a new meaning to hunting for me.

The 2006 hunting season had come and gone, and I started practicing for the season to come.  I had high hopes for the 2007 season and was very excited at the chance to be able to get a shot at something with my bow.  After looking for many months we were able to find a small lease in Wimberely, Texas that had never been hunted.  With the lease being so close to home I could hunt at least once a day, work would just have to understand.  We were all very anxious to see what we had on the place, and could not wait to set up our feeders and cameras.  There were only 3 of us on the place so being the only girl and them not thinking that I knew much about hunting they let me pick my stand first.  After our first round of game cam pics they figured out they had made a mistake.  I had never seen so many deer in one place.  I was use to hunting with my family in Maysfield, Texas where the deer are thin and you were lucky to see anything besides hogs.  This was incredible to me.  The season started and after the first couple of hunts I had only seen does and some small bucks. Instead of taking the advice of Trent to just shoot one and get one under my belt, I decided to wait it out and see if I could get one of the bigger ones to walk out in front of me and with any luck give me a shot.  It was the start of the season and I did not want to rush things.

On the evening of October 6th I climbed into my stand and waited patiently for the feeder to go off, and the deer to come in.  I had the usual does and small bucks in front of me.  I am sure you are all aware of the how hot bow season is in Texas.  I sat, wiping sweat out of my eyes and trying to fight off the mosquitos without moving.  After 30 minutes or so of not being able to move a muscle since there were several nosey does were within 10 yards of me, here he came.   A heavy horn eight point walked in about 15 yards in front of me and stopped.  I wanted to wait for him to come in to the feeder and turn broadside so I would have a perfect shot.  He came in and turned, giving me that perfect angle I had hoped for.  I reached down slowly and as I was drawing my bow back I mis-fired.  I could not believe I had just done this.  All of the deer were spooked and scattered.  I was almost in tears knowing that I just ruined my perfect opportunity on the biggest buck I had ever had in front of me.  There goes my evening I might as well go to the truck and sit.  I put my head down and when I picked it up this big 10 point was walking in straight to the feeder.  I had to look three times to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me.  I could not tell you how many times a Mesquite tree had turned in to a Muy Grande.  I had seen this buck on my camera a couple times but it was always early in the morning around 3am so I never had dreamed that he would actually walk out in front of me during the day.  As soon as I realized it was actually him the buck fever sat in and I was shaking uncontrollably.  I slowly got another arrow ready and was just praying that he would not see me moving and I would get a shot at him.  He messed around and took what seemed a lifetime to walk in.  He was always facing me and would never turn.  There was no way I could put my bow up without him seeing me.  I knew I was running out of time but what could I do.  He ate for a bit and then turned to walk away.  I could not believe he was leaving without giving me a shot.  I thought this is it, it may be the only time I will ever see him and I can not just let him walk away without even trying to get a shot.  I had a million thoughts going through my mind, should I grunt and try to stop him.  Right then as he was walking away he stopped and put his head down to eat.  This was it I had to take my shot if I was going to.  He was angled away from me with his head down.  As I was shaking I raised my bow, drew back and put the sites right behind his shoulder.  As soon as I released I guess he heard my bow pop.  He whipped his head up and sunk down his body down.  The arrow went straight in his neck.  I could not believe what had just happened, how did I hit him in the neck?  I had been practicing this shot forever.  Instead of being still and calm, I stood up and stuck my head all the way out the stand watching him as far as I could.  I could see the arrow sticking out of his neck and I just prayed it was a shot that would put him down soon.  I sat there for about 10 minutes which seemed like 10 hours and then with my knees knocking I climbed down from my stand and headed to the truck as fast as I could to get my husband.

We had a plan that if I had shot something since he could not hear me like when I was hunting with a gun that I would go to the truck and honk and then he would come as soon as he could.  Well, by the time I had got to the truck I was hysterically crying.  After honking the horn to get Trent to come in, I got on the phone with my Dad looking for some reassurance that the buck I had wanted so badly was on the ground.  When he answered he did not know what was wrong with me.  I was trying to stop crying long enough to let him know that I was okay and that I had shot the “Big 10” I had been seeing on my camera.  He just kept saying calm down, calm down.  He then told me what he always had.  “Let him be, and wait an hour or so and then go find your deer.  Trent made it to the truck and we drove in to town to waste a little time and try to get me to calm down a little.”  We got back to the pasture and drove up to my feeder.  We got out and the nerves kicked in.  By this time it was pitch black so I knew we may have trouble finding blood.  I went right to where I thought he was standing and we found our first drop of blood.  After about 30 minutes of following his trail it seemed to have ended.  We looked around and then I saw him laying about 10 yards in front of me.  I could not believe my eyes.  There he was, he was down.  I had shot something with my bow, and he was the biggest deer I had ever taken.  The emotions kicked in and I called everyone I knew and told them what had happened.  I had entered the Sabinal Buck and Boar contest and I could not wait to have him scored and sent in to the contest.  He scored an even 130 B&C, and I won the 2007 Buck and Boar Women’s bow hunting division.  Besides my first kill with my dad beside me I have to say this was one of the most exciting times of my life and I know I will never forget that day.  Now I am just looking forward to making many more hunting memories, and teaching my kids the way my dad taught me.  Thank you Daddy!

By: Cara Dodd-Carter