minute or two , Dad finds a print that he did not want to see . It was a coyote print and it ’ s fresh in the blood trail . Some coyote was on the track of my deer and had probably pushed her out of this spot . With a sickening feeling in our guts , we continued to follow the trail . We thought the worse that the coyote had probably pushed the deer beyond where we would find her . To our surprise , two more times the doe had lain down , and two more times the coyote had followed her . Eventually , we came out of the thicket and into the valley . My deer might have been long gone thanks to that coyote chasing her ! We kept following the trail . As we followed the trail , the spots of blood became smaller and less frequent until it seemed multiple times that we had lost it . Then , one of us would pick it up again , and then it would disappear once more .
After over almost ninety minutes of tracking , we thought we had lost the trail for good because we just couldn ’ t find it . As I was searching for blood , I came across a tiny trail that seemed to go back the way we had come from . In the snow on that trail , I found the dog tracks . They were also heading back to where we had come from . I showed Dad , and we tried to figure out why the dog had left . We thought he must have found the deer , ate his fill , and then headed out . But where was the deer ? If it had been in the thicket , we would have found it . Puzzled , we went back to the last spot we had seen blood . Dad went down a deer trail to the left , and I went down one to the right . Finally , Dad
spotted some blood on a bush . I walked over to where he was , and we both tried to find the next spot . We came up to this big bush , and Dad went to the left while I went to the right . Suddenly , Dad tells me to stop and back up slowly . The deer was looking right at us from the other side of the bush ! Hastily , I aim at her neck and shoot . I had my first deer !
When we were about to start the gutting process , Dad pulled something out of his pocket . It was a Buck knife signed by Chuck Buck , and he was giving it to me ! I got my first deer and first Buck knife on the same day . Soon , we had the deer gutted , and pulled her to the four-wheeler . Happier than ever , we drove back to camp and packed up . We drove into town and got ice on my deer , then took her home to show her to Mom and Daniel .
Angry snow-storm clouds , a coyote , and losing
the blood trail were just a few of the obstacles my Dad and I faced . In the end , God took care of us , and I was able to get my first doe . Without a doubt , this was a hunting season I ’ ll never forget !
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