Over the last couple of years, I have tried to introduce my wife to deer hunting. We have purchased several guns, a cross bow and her own hunting apparel to get her interested in hunting. She has become very excited with hunting and wants to get her first buck.

 

I had talked to several hunters about the rut in our area, but no one seemed to have any good info. The last week of bow season, I took my wife hunting with me. A few hours into the hunt, she got bored because we were not seeing anything and she asked if we could walk around. I told her we could not walk while bow hunting, but I had my rattling horns and maybe we could try and rattle something up.

 

We got out of the blind and walked to a clearing. I put my bow down and starting rattling. I hit the horns a few times and immediately saw a buck running straight for us. In less than a minute, this large buck was standing less than 10 feet away. My wife tried to hand me the bow, but she was so nervous, she dropped the arrow.

 

The buck was unsure of what was going on and so he ran off. I tried to rattle him back, but he was not interested. We both were so shocked and could not believe how fast the buck was drawn into us. We then developed a new plan and walked about 100 yards or so. I instructed her how to rattle and told her to make as much noise as possible. She looked at me with that look and said - I thought you said I had to be quite. I told her this was different. She started to rattle and a few seconds later, another big 8 point buck was staring us down and standing a few feet away. We both froze. The buck looked at us and he seemed only to be interested in who was there for the fight. It was as if we were invisible.

 

I had to move past a small tree and as he started to walk away, I told my wife to hit the horns again. She did and the buck stopped. I took aim and shot. The arrow penetrated his skin, bounced off a rib and struck him in the spine. He immediately dropped. I was so shock because I had never seen a deer drop in his tracks with a bow shot. We both just looked at each other because we could not believe what had just happed in less than 20 minutes. Two bucks is less than 30 minutes and a kill shot.

 

The buck dressed out at 106 lbs and had a 17 inch  spread. It was the most amazing 30 minutes of my hunting life. My wife and I both enjoyed this hunting trip and look forward to next year. Still today, I cannot believe what happened that day. I recently mounted the horns and put a picture below the mount so we can both remember our great hunting trip together. We were able to go hunting in December, but my wife was not able to take a deer. But she is still excited and looking for a chance to prove herself next year.

 

Greg Jaskinia