In the summer of 2009, I told my dad I wanted to go deer hunting. We lived in the middle of great hunting in Southern Illinois, but our family had never hunted. He said he would take me, so I saved up my money and he helped me purchase my first gun, a Rossi single shot 20 gauge. After that, I saved my money and bought a ladder stand. We set the stand up behind my house where we owned a little ways into the woods. One week before season, the neighboring landowner informed us it was on his land and we have to move it. We scrambled to find a spot and ended up getting a spot on the city limits of Carmi. We went in on Wednesday night, with gun season opening on Friday, and set up a blind we bought at Walmart. Friday morning we put out doe pee and used a can call, and 30 minutes after light, my dad told me there was a buck looking at us. I stood up and raised my gun and shot him when he started walking broadside. My dad and I got out of the blind and my dad spotted him down a hill. We went down to him, and he was dead. My first deer on my first hunt, and it was also my dad's first hunt. Little did I know what I had done, but I had spoiled myself. my first buck scored 174 3/8" gross. 2010- I killed another little buck with a gun, and my dad was right there with me. 2011- I decided I wanted to start bowhunting. I bought an older bow and started hunting after school every day. I ended up shooting my first buck with a bow, sitting in a buddy stand with my dad. 2012- My dad decided he was going to start hunting. He got a bow and started shooting a little. He passed many little bucks and does, because he said he wanted one like mine. 2013- He hunted hard, again passing little ones and not quite sealing the deal on the shooters. He saw two shooters that year, both within 30 yards but couldn't get them. 2014- He hunted hard all season and shot a buck, but unfortunately it was a shoulder shot, and we could never find it. He hunted the rest of the year but couldn't get it done. 2015- He saw six of our shooter bucks, including two 170" class bucks, but couldn't get drawn in time. He passed young bucks and ended up shooting an older buck but he ducked the string and it was in no mans land. 2016- At the beginning of this year, my dad and I decided to buy a small piece of property together. We found ten acres and bought it. It looked good, and we saw a lot of deer and turkeys this summer while scouting. When season came, we hunted but didn't see a lot of deer. We were starting to get disappointed. November 7, 2016. My dad is a pastor, and so he doesn't get to hunt very many Sunday's until the time changes, when he can sneak in an afternoon hunt. He told me he was going to our property to hunt. At 3:27 p.m. he texted me and told me he had a monster at 100 yards with a doe. He said he couldn't get them to come in. After that he didn't see anything, until 4:45. He looked over his shoulder and saw a nice buck about 150 yards away. He grunted at the buck and the buck came running in. He stopped the buck at twenty yards and let go. The buck dropped instantly, spine shot due to ducking. He got down and put another arrow in the buck. Then right after that, I got the call. He said he had shot a buck and my brother thought he said spike. We were both excited because it was his first deer after many years of hunting hard. We drove out to the property and met him at the edge. When we congratulated him on the spike, he looked at us funny and said, what spike? I killed a big eight. We took off through the woods to his stand. I saw the buck from about 60 yards and knew he had killed a good one. After some high fives and pictures , he had to take off, he had to go preach. So, my brother and I dragged the buck out of the woods and caped him and skinned him. It was more excited than if I had killed one myself! the buck ended up scoring 135 3/8". I couldn't be more proud!
