Rachel ’ s First Muley !
Rachel ’ s First Muley !
By Rachel Cantrell
My name is Rachel Cantrell , and I am 15 years
old . I got my first deer this year after a wild and fun hunting trip . In the following few paragraphs , I ’ ll talk about just a few of the neat things that happened !
The first time my parents , brother ( Daniel ), and I went out this year , Daniel was able to get a nice 4x4 buck . I had a shot at a doe the next day , but I was just a little low . Even though I had missed my first shot , I was determined to try again , and I got that chance a few weeks later .
On our second time out , just my dad and I were able to go on the hunt . We set up our camper and headed out to do some scouting for the next morning ’ s hunt . As we drove across the snowy landscape , angry clouds loomed ahead of us . They looked like they could dump a foot of snow at any moment ! We got a bit worried , but we tried to put that out of our thoughts . We went to bed early and woke up well before sunrise . Thankfully , the storm had passed without dropping anymore snow . Quickly , we got on our four-wheeler and headed to the hide where Daniel had gotten his deer a few weeks earlier .
We sat on our rock looking for deer for hours .
It was freezing ! I could barely feel my fingers and toes even though I had hand / feet warmers . In a disappointed mood , we decided to go back to camp to warm up . All of a sudden , we saw a shape that looked like a deer off in the distance . My Dad looked through my binoculars and sure enough , it was a big doe ! We made our plan on how to stalk closer to the deer . As quietly and quickly as I could , I grabbed my DPMS 308 rifle and we tried to get to the location we had discussed .
As fast as I could , I got into my shooting position . There wasn ’ t much cover for us to hide behind and the closest we could get was 320 yards . My dad used the rangefinder and then I set the Leupold CDS riflescope for 320 yards . Even with a bipod , I was shaking like crazy ! I tried to calm myself down and wait for my dad to tell me when to shoot .
When the shot went off , four or five more deer pop up out of the bushes ! Due to the way the doe reacted , my Dad said the shot was good but the doe stopped running after a few steps . He said that I should shoot again to ensure that we get her quickly . Comparing her with the other deer that had stood up , she was the biggest of the bunch , and I know this is a great chance for me to get my deer . I take a few deep breaths , and after Dad ’ s ok , I shoot again . This time , we see lots of blood . The deer I shot runs up the hill , and the others go the opposite direction . Dad said it was best to wait an hour or two before we start tracking her and because it is so cold we don ’ t have to worry about the meat .
We head back to our camp and talk about what just happened . After an hour or two , we go back to where the doe went over the hill . We walk over to the bush the deer walked by to try and find the blood trail . Something seemed different about the bush and I told dad that I thought we were at the wrong one . Dad thought we were at the right bush , so I kept looking . Little did I know , Dad had walked over to the bush that I said was the correct one and sure enough , the blood trail was over there . Dad calls me over , and now we begin to track the deer .
The blood trail leads us into a thicket of pokey , tall bush-trees . Soon , we come across a place the deer had laid down . There ’ s a huge amount of blood , and we wondered why the deer hadn ’ t stayed there to bleed out . After examining the scene for a
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