My first deer with gun & bow

I killed my first deer in Troup County, close to the Alabama line when I was in the 5th grade in 1990. It was a morning hunt on a short ladder stand in a pine thicket. As the spike walked up and stood broadside at about 50 yards I squeezed the trigger on my Marlin .30-.30 and almost shot over it, but hit him in the spine and he dropped in his tracks.

My second deer harvest was the most special, just two years later when I was in the 7th grade in 1992. It was a father-son hunt at the Blanton Creek Wildlife Management Area in Harris County, Georgia. We were bow hunting and Daddy and I had hunted all day, just getting down to eat lunch. Finally as it was getting dark a small doe walked under my tree and I took the shot, with the arrow passing through both lungs. It didn't run far and I remember being so excited as we followed the blood trail. The deer was tiny but it might as well have been a trophy buck to me.

In the years that followed I continued to hunt, but as I got older there were more activities and responsibilities competing for my time. I don't think there was a year where I didn't go hunting, but there were years where I only went a few times.