15 year old Jessica starts the year off with a 9 point

A truly special opening day that will be remembered by my family for many years.  Jessica went with me on her first gun hunt.  We went to a two-person tree stand that she, Hannah, Ben and I had put up the week before.  The moon was waning at 5:30 am as she and I walked without lights along a trail on the farm in Bloomfield that I have hunted for the last 19 years.  After we got in the stand I drifted off into a nice pre-dawn slumber.  At dawn I saw a deer and poke Jessica who said that I already missed a group that walked right under our stand....we watched probably twenty deer in the first couple hours.  I spotted a flock of turkeys and a spike buck to the north.  I poked Jessica and told her to look.  She replied that she was watching an 8 point and a 10 point.  There were three bucks chasing a hot doe.

 The first was small, second an 8, the third was big!  I was real proud of how composed she was and how she followed the rules of hunting that I taught her.  She did not take a rushed shot.  She waited 10 minutes until she had a good shot and did not pull the hammer back till she was immediately ready to fire.  One shot with the 20 gauge and the big boy dropped.  It was an old buck, my guess 5-7 years old.  It was a nine point with the 10th point broken off.  Jessica was so excited.  She called her mother who actually drove over and hiked into the woods to join the celebration.  Our good friend Mr. Hedges hauled the deer away in his tractor.  Later that day, back at our house, Mr. Flanagan came over to cook lamb burgers for everyone who came to see this big boy.  What an exciting first day.