Sara’s not a new hunter. She’s been hunting for four years now, but as I watched her playing in the dirt, twirling her shooting sticks, and doing other annoying things, I had to remind myself that she was just a child. Yes, she’ll be a teenager before we know it, but she’s still young and full of energy.
We were hunting the Arkansas Youth Hunt for whitetails and had taken up refuge in an old barn behind my mother-in-law’s house in hopes of spotting a whitetail for Sara to harvest. Last year, I had taken Sara to my special spot in the woods to hunt out of my fiberglass hunting shack, but before the day ended, every deer in the woods knew of our location. Sara would not be still and would not be quiet. I vowed then to never take her back to the same spot I would be hunting in the next few days. Remembering my promise to myself, I chose this barn for our hunting adventure, hoping that a deer would make itself known and Sara could get a shot.
In the barn, Sara had some room to move around and I didn’t feel so claustrophic or annoyed with being cooped up in a small enclosed area with an overly energetic 12 year old. Sara found plenty to keep her busy; breaking up clods of dirt (or was that cow manure?), balancing herself on an old piece of firewood, using her shooting sticks as a baton, and glassing the horses in the pasture next door. I tried hard to concentrate on the hunt, and often reminded Sara that this was “her” hunt and that she should be helping to watch for deer. She’d glance around and reply, “ I am, Mom!” (Yeah, right!)
We had already spooked two deer, arriving at our hunting locale a little late. The small doe and spike never did see us, as we entered the barn from a side entrance, but they had apparently heard the crunching of the dry leaves under our feet as we approached the barn and were watching at full alert as we entered the barn. They pranced around the field searching for the noise-makers without success and finally exited stage right into the woods. Sara and I were both a little disappointed in ourselves for not arriving earlier, but settled in to wait for another deer.
About an hour later, a doe arrived to our left, feeding around in the brush for a few minutes never giving Sara a decent shot. The doe finally disappeared back into the woods, leaving Sara with little hope that she would return. Tired and sleepy, we both decided to call it quits and return in the afternoon.
4 p.m. the same day:
I feared that we had arrived too late again, but with the sun still burning hot in the sky we found the over-grown field empty as we entered the barn. We settled down in our lawn 
chairs and both grabbed a magazine to help us pass the time. I scanned the area often looking for a sign of deer and realized quickly that we had made a serious mistake. This was definitely not an afternoon hunting spot, as the sun was right in our eyes. Using our binoculars was almost impossible as the sun beamed straight in our faces. I wondered if Sara would be able to see through her scope on her .243 if a deer appeared. We hung close to the dark corners of the barn and tried to stay hidden as well as possible, but no deer appeared. As the sun finally disappeared behind the hill in the distance, we were able to see clearly without shading our eyes. Finishing another Suduko puzzle, I laid my book down and slowly stood to scan the field and surrounding woods' line. To my surprise, I spotted a large doe feeding under a tree at the edge of the field. She’d pop her head up every few minutes to look for danger, then resume feeding.
I quickly got Sara Kate set up and ready to shoot. She was visibly shaking and I tried to encourage her to breathe and get control. “Can you see the deer through your scope?” I asked. “Yes,” I heard her whisper, still shaking uncontrollably. I was watching the deer through my binoculars and Sara did not have a good shot. “Don’t shoot yet,” I told her. “Wait till she turns broad-sided.” The deer was facing us, head down.
Several minutes passed and Sara was starting to tire. Something startled the deer, maybe a bird or squirrel feeding nearby. She started to bolt, then changed her mind. I felt my heart sinking, fearing that the doe would never give us a shot.
However, the deer turned… but not broad-sided. Instead, she turned completely around with her backside to us, head still down. “I’ve got a take a rest,” I heard Sara say. “My arms hurt.” I held her gun as she rubbed her sore arms, still watching the deer through my binos. I saw the deer start to move.
“Get ready to shoot!” I encouraged Sara. She quickly took control of the gun once more and found the doe in the scope. The doe took a couple steps to her right as if preparing to leave the area. Again, I started to worry about the success of this hunt, when I heard my little huntress say, ‘I’m going to shoot.”
The explosion of the gun startled us both, but apparently not the doe. She looked around then went right back to feeding, slowly moving back towards the brush. ‘Reload!” I heard myself say. Digging through my pocket though I realized that I was not wearing the same jacket as earlier in the morning and the extra ammo I had pocketed was at home. Running my hand into my pants’ pocket I found one shell. ‘Make this one count,’ I told Sara. “It’s the last one.”
“You jerked the trigger, didn’t you?” I asked as Sara reloaded her gun. “Yes,” she replied. “Squeeze the trigger, Sara. Concentrate on the shot. Let it surprise you.” I encouraged.
“I’m ready.” I heard Sara say and I prepared myself for the shot, at the same time focusing my binoculars on the doe feeding farther and farther away from us. The bullet hit its target and Sara and I both watched as the deer disappeared into the tall overgrown field. The sound of leaved crunching, limbs breaking, and the crash of the doe on the ground was sweet to our ears. Though we could not see the deer in the tall grass, we knew she’d never left the field.
The sun was totally gone and I knew it would be dark very soon. I did not want to push the deer if she had not expired yet, but I also knew that we did not have a lot of time. We also did not have a flashlight. On another note, neither did we have another bullet if one were needed.
Sara and I slowly started towards where we knew the deer had gone down, searching th
e tall grass for any sign of the downed doe. We had not gone far before I spotted the deer laying under a large oak tree in the center of the field. We couldn’t wait to call her daddy on our cell phone and share the news.
Hunting with a young person can be a very trying, yet rewarding experience. It takes patience, understanding, and yes, a sense of humor helps too. Though our hunt had started with the usual ‘I’m bored’ and ‘let’s see how much noise I can make’ syndromes, Sara came through and successfully harvested her fourth deer. I was totally intrigued with how well she handled the whole situation and loved seeing the ‘serious hunter’ come out in her.
A seed’s been planted and I’m enjoying watching it grow.
