Karla grew up on a golf course and never hunted a day in her life or picked up a gun until we got married. It has been a fun process to start from scratch and teach her along the way and see her interest for hunting grow. She has killed a deer with a rifle, then a cross bow, so next she wanted a bow. Leading Edge Archery in Boerne (especially Paige) did a great job with her setup, building her arrows, and giving her the confidence she was ready. Of course, she started shooting lights out as soon as she picked up her bow. Now she is better at golf and now archery than me. 
We have a crazy schedule, so there are not many weekends available, but I circled this weekend on the calendar for her 1st archery hunt. She told me she was going to shoot a deer, turkey, and pig with her bow. I have tried to express that in bow hunting, things do not always happen like you want and a lot of things have to go right for you to be successful.
We arrived at camp late on Friday night and she crashed as I prepared everything for the morning hunt. If I am hunting with Karla, the breakfast of choice is pop tarts. I have gotten smarter over the years as I open them in camp and place in a ziploc bag.
At first light, we had several small bucks filter in and a 9 point that she wanted to shoot. Now keep in mind, she wants to shoot every single deer that steps out so most of the time in the blind it is me telling her "no, we are not going to shoot that deer", followed by "the look". I gave her the green light on the 9 and she let it fly. I was trying to film the shot through mesh like an idiot and didn't get a clear view of the shot, but she said it felt great but a tad back. I saw a deer walking around behind the feeder and had a feeling it was Karla's buck but we lost sight of him. As we were waiting, a group of turkeys strolled in, so she smoked one.
Once we exited the blind, I found the arrow which was a pass through with good blood, no guts or gut smell. The blood trail was very light; however, I did find two really good spots of dark red blood - so my mind immediately went to a liver hit. We backed out to give the deer plenty of time and went to grab some corn and eat lunch at Lyssy and Eckel in Roosevelt. Let me tell you guys, its a great place to eat!
It had been 4 hours since the shot, so I made the decision to call in a dog for her deer and quickly Bobby Martin out of Junction met us at the gate. As soon as the dogs hit the last blood and didn't immediately pick up on the trail I knew it probably wasn't going to work out. It was hot, dusty, and no grass. We spent several hours, over 3 miles making circles trying to pickup the deer's path to no avail. I told Karla, it is hard for the dogs to find the deer when they are getting pets!
After the disappointment, I took Karla to a stand I knew would have pigs so she could get some confidence back. With the hot weather, I wasn't expecting much but we did see several bucks and then of course pigs. She put a great shot on a pig and now had 2/3 of her trifecta.
I decided to go back to the blind she shot her buck as there was two other target bucks visiting that spot. It was pretty slow and I had to hold her off of shooting a raccoon as I knew the deer could show up behind us at any point and sure enough the bucks started to filter in about 8:15. I saw the first target buck, which was a cull buck she named Lobster and Lobster was always with a buck that was an 8 with kickers, so I told her to get ready. She settled the pin and let it fly. The shot was a little high, but blood was pouring out as the deer hit the ground and got up out of view. After a 30 minute wait, we exited the blind to find Mr. October (she names all her kills) about 20 yards right on the brush line. She had her trifecta, with a bow, on her 1st weekend bowhunting.
Of course there is only one way to celebrate and that is with a DQ Blazer (my uncle always called them Blazers, so it has stuck with our family).
I am very proud of her, for picking up a bow and putting in the effort to make sure she was ready. I told her she got to experience everything bowhunting has to offer, the highs and lows all in one weekend. I was joking and said, I guess next is a spear and she said, "Where do we go buy one at".
We have a crazy schedule, so there are not many weekends available, but I circled this weekend on the calendar for her 1st archery hunt. She told me she was going to shoot a deer, turkey, and pig with her bow. I have tried to express that in bow hunting, things do not always happen like you want and a lot of things have to go right for you to be successful.
We arrived at camp late on Friday night and she crashed as I prepared everything for the morning hunt. If I am hunting with Karla, the breakfast of choice is pop tarts. I have gotten smarter over the years as I open them in camp and place in a ziploc bag.
At first light, we had several small bucks filter in and a 9 point that she wanted to shoot. Now keep in mind, she wants to shoot every single deer that steps out so most of the time in the blind it is me telling her "no, we are not going to shoot that deer", followed by "the look". I gave her the green light on the 9 and she let it fly. I was trying to film the shot through mesh like an idiot and didn't get a clear view of the shot, but she said it felt great but a tad back. I saw a deer walking around behind the feeder and had a feeling it was Karla's buck but we lost sight of him. As we were waiting, a group of turkeys strolled in, so she smoked one.
Once we exited the blind, I found the arrow which was a pass through with good blood, no guts or gut smell. The blood trail was very light; however, I did find two really good spots of dark red blood - so my mind immediately went to a liver hit. We backed out to give the deer plenty of time and went to grab some corn and eat lunch at Lyssy and Eckel in Roosevelt. Let me tell you guys, its a great place to eat!
It had been 4 hours since the shot, so I made the decision to call in a dog for her deer and quickly Bobby Martin out of Junction met us at the gate. As soon as the dogs hit the last blood and didn't immediately pick up on the trail I knew it probably wasn't going to work out. It was hot, dusty, and no grass. We spent several hours, over 3 miles making circles trying to pickup the deer's path to no avail. I told Karla, it is hard for the dogs to find the deer when they are getting pets!
After the disappointment, I took Karla to a stand I knew would have pigs so she could get some confidence back. With the hot weather, I wasn't expecting much but we did see several bucks and then of course pigs. She put a great shot on a pig and now had 2/3 of her trifecta.
I decided to go back to the blind she shot her buck as there was two other target bucks visiting that spot. It was pretty slow and I had to hold her off of shooting a raccoon as I knew the deer could show up behind us at any point and sure enough the bucks started to filter in about 8:15. I saw the first target buck, which was a cull buck she named Lobster and Lobster was always with a buck that was an 8 with kickers, so I told her to get ready. She settled the pin and let it fly. The shot was a little high, but blood was pouring out as the deer hit the ground and got up out of view. After a 30 minute wait, we exited the blind to find Mr. October (she names all her kills) about 20 yards right on the brush line. She had her trifecta, with a bow, on her 1st weekend bowhunting.
Of course there is only one way to celebrate and that is with a DQ Blazer (my uncle always called them Blazers, so it has stuck with our family).
I am very proud of her, for picking up a bow and putting in the effort to make sure she was ready. I told her she got to experience everything bowhunting has to offer, the highs and lows all in one weekend. I was joking and said, I guess next is a spear and she said, "Where do we go buy one at".
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