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Wife's first bow deer

I've posted before about my wife's struggles in the tree stand. I think this was year 3 of trying to tag a deer with her bow. She's had a few misses which ultimately came down to form and buck fever. I'll take the blame for the form issues. We don't have a great way of practicing from a tree stand or elevated position so it's not natural for her to bend at the waist when shooting down. She has a tendency to drop her arm. I had her in a ground blind once last year to try and help after she missed last year. She was leaning in the chair when the deer walked in and tipped over and basically trapped herself between the chair and tent wall. She was laughing pretty hard when she came in from that hunt. She's shed some tears after some "easy" shots she missed the last few years and I've heard the "I should sell that bow, I'm never going to get anything," line the last couple years too. She stuck with it and finally put things together this year.

It will be 2 years this coming February since she unexpected lost her father. He was a hunter just getting to retirement and planning to spend more time in the woods. They gun hunted together the last few years and hunting was something they bonded over. This will be important in a bit.

We have 3 kids at home. My wife got her sister to come over and watch the kids so we could go out this past Saturday morning. It was her first time out this year. I put her in my favorite stand and packed in my climber to sit another spot. I believe shooting light was 7:08 that morning. At 7:18 she called me. I figured she dropped something from the stand or something. Instead, she told me she just shot a nice buck. I asked if she saw it go down and she said no. He kind of kicked and ran over the hill. I told her we will give it an hour and I'll come down and check for blood and decide what to do. A few minutes later she called me back. She was half in tears, she missed again. She saw the buck walking up another hill. I told her it was still early in the morning and we will see what happens.

According to the story she told me, she said a prayer to her father. "Dad, if you can hear me, if you give me one more chance at him, I promise I won't miss." She said he disappeared over the hill she saw him walking up a few minutes before. She rattled at him briefly. I guess all of a sudden she saw him walking straight at her. The buck walked in to around 12 yards or so. She grunted at him and he stopped broadside. She said it happened so fast she didn't have time to stand up or anything. She just drew and shot him. It must have been around 7:30-7:45 and I got another call. She said the buck came back and she shot him. She could see the arrow in him when he ran but it looked a little high. I told her we'd wait 30 minutes and I'd come and check for blood. I get down to where she's at and I don't see any blood but I can make out the tracks in the leaves where he ran. We followed the trail about 40 yards before I lost it where a bunch of turkeys had been scratching. No blood. I told her we better give it time as I wasn't sure how good the shot was. She took 3 more steps forward and spotted him. It looked like he was dead but I had her knock an arrow and we moved up on him. He was dead. As soon as I said that, the tears started flowing. She was so thankful to get her first deer and for the second opportunity with her father's help. We hugged and laughed and gave her a few minutes to compose herself before snapping some pictures. I'm so unbelievably proud of my wife for sticking with it. I told her it's the feeling that she's feeling that makes the struggles she faced so worth it.

Awesome! Congrats to her. First one always the hardest.

Awesome. Tell her congrats.....

Awesome!! I’m betting her dad was smiling down on her the entire time, Eric. Congrats to your wife, on a great buck!

I’m kinda confused, a bit. Did she hit the buck with her first shot, or miss him and killed him after rattling him back in?

Well done, tell her congratulations! That was a day that you’ll both never forget!

Your story and your wife's success, made my day. Congrats and Thanks. Paul

Congratulations

What a roller coaster ride!

Congrats!

Congrats to her. Very nice first first archery deer.

Nice job!!!!!! Hard work pays off you have a partner for life congrats!!!!

I love it! Congrats.

Great story! Great job sticking to it & making the shot happen! Now the ice is broken!

Congratulations to both of you, nice story.

Great story ! Thank you for posting it.

Great story and congrats to your wife on a very nice buck!

Really nice picture also!

Bernie

Congrats!

Way to go, great first deer!

Outstanding, congrats to your wife!

Congratulations... beautiful buck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to both of you! Great buck!

That's what its all about!! Congrats to you both, nice buck!! Thanks for sharing and enjoy that memory for the rest of your lives!!

What a great story and buck. Congratulations to your wife for sticking with it!

Congrats to you both! I have been through the exact same highs and lows with my wife as well....but it is so worth it when it all comes together!

Congrats to you both!

Congrats. We all understand that bowhunting can be an emotional roller coaster. Kudos to your wife for sticking with it.

It's great that she stuck it out! Congratulations to you all!

Awesome stuff! Congrats to you both!

congrats to the wife

Congrats, thx for sharing!

I'm with Paul on this as well, made my day. Congratulations to her and her Dad for giving her that "something" extra!

Congrats to your wife on a fine buck!

Love it! Congrats to her! TODDY

Well, cool congratulations. My wife quit bowhunting with me a few years ago out of frustration and the fact she has no upper body strength due to a medical condition.

A few years ago I was having a frustrating turkey season and finally got a bird. Since she still had her lisc. and was going through some hard times at work, supporting a parent dying of cancer, told her she needed a break. We went to the blind, less than 40 minutes later she had her bird ( her Lil Pardner shotgun). Not a bowhunting story but this experience is key for her to understand my trials and tribulations when it comes to hunting, fishing and life. We created a much stronger bond due to our various hunting experiences over the years. Could tell you about the other experiences in that blind with my partner, lover and friend but this is a family forum. For those with spouses and significant others who don't hunt or hunt sporadically continue to ask them. The experiences can be good.

Congratulations! That's a nice buck. Well done

Eric, that’s a heartwarming story and I’m sure your wife appreciates you standing by her and helping her through the misses. Congrats to you both on a nice buck, first……or last !

And…..that buck is considerably better than my first bow buck……considerably ! :-)

Congrats to her on that great buck. It took me 7 years, with a few misses and a lost deer, to get my first. It was much, much smaller than that beast. Way to stick with it.

That's great! Thank you for sharing and congrats to her on a nice buck!!

Outstanding! Congrats to your wife and that's a great buck!

Heck of a start!!! Congrats—

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