I don't know if you have seen any of my thread near the end of summer this year, but I posted several times where I was setting up my newly scoped Knight and my completely new TC Encore. The Knight is mine and I got the Encore in the spring for my wife. The idea is I will get her a .243 barrel if she sticks with hunting.

Anyway, the guns are all set up and I have been anxious to get a deer in the crosshairs. I have hunted for 6 weeks now, 4 with a bow and 2 with a BP gun and haven't had the first shot. I drew the bow on a doe but didn't get a shot and saw several others with a bow but no shot on them either. Since BP season started 2 weeks ago we have not seen the first deer. Until tonight.

We are hunting a blind in a field pointed toward the woodline. I shot two deer out of it last year. Anyway, my wife is up to bat and I am there to coach her. We hear something in the woods but couldn't see anything. Then it moves up the hill toward our left and got fainter. I had about given up on it being anything when I noticed a 4 or 6 pt buck had come about 5 yards out of the woods and was about 80 to 85 yards away.

I said deer and pointed it out to my wife. I grabbed the shooting sticks and handed them to her. She got on them and I told her to go ahead and pull the hammer back. She was getting ready and I asked if she was ready. She said yes and I grunted to get the deers attention. It worked and the deer stopped. She didn't shoot. It started again, so I grunted a couple more times. The deer got skittish as I think I grunted too much since he didn't seem to pay attention to my follow up grunts. I urged my wife to hurry and she finally did shoot.

The smoke cleared and she had about fallen off her 5 gal bucket. We have the padded, swivel seats but she brought a cushion to put on top of that. I think the extra pillow is why she lost her balance. After the commotion settled down, we saw the deer looking our way, probably at the smoke. He started up the field then back to the woods. Then reversed direction and started back into the field again. He couldn't make up his mind what had just happened or what to do about it. I grabbed my Knight up but was too late, he finally turned and headed back into the woods.

From his reaction, I was sure she had missed. She was pretty sure too. After reflecting on what happened, she said she rushed the shot because I rushed her and while she saw the deer in the scope she couldn't really say if the crosshairs were on him. In my defense, I only rushed her because the deer was moving on.

In hindsight, I had thought about telling her I would take the shots at bucks and she could have the does but I was afraid she would think I was being selfish. The new rule is I shoot at deer that won't stand still or that are much over 50 yards away. She will take the closer in deer if they aren't in a hurry. Around here, bucks are usually in a hurry like they have someplace to be and are late. Does are usually browsing around like they have nowhere to go and all day to get there.

I should have had my rifle more ready and will be backing her up with my 30-06 for the rest of gun season. I quite likely would have gotten the deer had I been ready for a miss.

Oh well, it was exciting and we are back on speaking turns again.