Mike's First Deer

Mike and my dad were drawn for the big Camp Ripley hunt this year. They both headed out bright and early this morning to sit in a tree stand for close to 12 hours. How anyone can sit there that long is beyond me. (But that is coming from someone who has a hard time sitting through an entire movie.) The weather was absolutely perfect and they were both geared up for shooting a big one. Mike said it was very peaceful. Close to a dozen deer came near him today, only a couple close enough to make the kill. At 1:00, a button buck crossed right in front of him and he excitedly pulled back his bow and took the perfect shot. The deer dropped dead about 100 yards from the place where he was hit. It weighed about 100 pounds. Way to go Mike!

The kids were pretty excited too. Lilly didn't know quite what to think when she saw it on the back of my dad's truck tonight. Nolan tried to comfort her by telling her it wasn't real and was bravely petting it. When I corrected him and told him it was real, he got really big eyes and backed away for a second. He began asking a lot of questions and inspected closer. I am a softy, so I had a little bit of a hard time telling him Mike shot him. When he understood the whole story and realized dad shot him with a bow and arrow, he was intrigued and acted like most boys his age do. He came into the house and starting shooting things... my, oh my! I am sure the grandpa's will be happy to hear there is another potential hunter in the group...as his mom, I am not so sure! =0)