Virginia Huntress: How I Got Here

I found myself standing at the Sporting Good's counter at Wal-Mart today. I was purchasing my hunting license for this fall. I was standing there thinking to myself 'twenty-nine years old, 2 kids, 3 cats, 2 dogs, a house to take care of, 3 vehicles on the skits, credit card debt along with many other debts and here I am putting $70 out for this fall to hunt.' How in the world did I get here?

Well, it started the fall of 2006. My husband and I had just bought a house in Cumberland, Virginia. I'm originally from the next county over and he's from Caldwell, West Virginia. I'd known him for a while and knew all to well with fall and hunting season approaching, he would become very scarce around the house. His love for hunting is equal to that of his love for me, so I decided to size up the competition so to say. I figured if I wanted to get to see him at all, I'd have to tag along. He was thrilled at the idea when I mentioned it, so no backing out then.

The plan was for me to tag along and learn as much as I could the first fall. Also, before investing a ton of money in hunting gear for me, we figured we better make sure I see a kill first. Well, I learned a lot that fall. The most important thing that I learned was that you don't necessarily see a deer when you go hunting, little lone kill one. We hunted 'down here'-Virginia and 'up there'-West Virginia. We spooked a couple of does going to one of the stands up there, but all I saw of them was white bouncing butts going down the mountain. Nothing else all fall and winter.

Here's what else I learned from that fall: The difference from rabbit doo and deer doo. The difference between a rub and a scratch and what they both mean. Oh, and I really don't like the cold.

I was not discouraged though. I patiently waited for the next fall, filling my time with hunting videos and target practice. I've never shot more than a BB gun, so that was extremely fun. My husband says I'm actually a pretty decent shot. Guess that's good.

Fall finally rolls around and I'm am actually looking forward to it. I figure there is no way I'll go another whole season without seeing anything. Called that one right. We went to the next county over early in the season. My husband told me to pick the spot, so I picked a stand that was on the treeline around a field. I felt good about it. About an hour into the hunt, 3 does came through in the treeline. I learned in the next moment that followed their appearance that all the times my husband told me about their sense of smell, he wasn't lying. They winded us and were gone before he could hardly get the gun up. Not getting to see a shot was frustrating, but at least I got to see something.

I was completely stoked after that. I couldn't wait to see another. We have a state park in Cumberland where we live, Bear Creek State Park, which has public hunting land. We toyed with the idea of trying there since it was close to home and we needed to be back in time for the school bus. We went in the park at the lower end and took the first dirt road off the main that went down past a pond that we fish. We were riding along pretty slow and out my window, I see a pine with a really nice rub. I didn't say anything at first because I thought there was no way a deer could make a rub that size. On the way back out, I pointed and asked my husband if that was a rub. He stopped and just stared for a minute in complete awe at it and then said, "Yeah. A nice one." We scoped a good spot back off the road in front of a creek and thick pines. We left the park and went straight to the local trading post for the State Forest Permit. The next morning, we got the kids off to school and headed straight for that spot. In this particular park, running dogs is allowed and the forest was full of howling way off. We settled into our spot at about 8:10 am and waited. At about 8:45 am we could here the dogs a little closer, but still off a ways. My husband was getting anxious while I was jumping at every little sound in the woods. At about 9 am, the dogs were practically on top of us, just on the other side of the road. My husband got his gun and got in a comfortable shooting position. In this park, there is only 2 doe days per season and this wasn't one of them. We needed the dog to be running a buck to us. The creek was to our left, the road to the right and the trail from the rub to the creek running in front of us. I heard the thump and clash of leaves and my heart started beating so hard and so fast. I was shaking like a fool. They were headed right for us. I don't remember much after that. The doe busted through the woods into the opening first and I said, "Doe!" As if my husband, seasoned hunter, didn't notice that. Then he came through right behind her. The doe had winded us and spun around and stopped about 12 feet from us about the same time the buck busted into the opening and I said, "Buck!" Again, as if he didn't know that. The buck hadn't stopped yet. He was running and then he wasn't. I never even heard the gun go off. The doe backtracked back towards the road to take her chances with the dogs. The next thing I knew, we were standing there, both of us shaking and hugging and acting crazy. It was like 75 degrees and I was sweating and stripping layers of hunting attire off. He was a 6 point older buck. He was beautiful. It was a good shot. Most of the shots went to the kill zone while one knocked his spine out. He died instantly and lay right where he had been hit while running. No tracking lesson that day.

I thought that seeing one shot and die would ruin it for me, but it didn't. I was hooked on the hunt and I, according to my husband, had 'buck fever.' The rest of the season was uneventful. We saw another doe on a trip to WV, but my husband didn't have a shot. It didn't matter. I knew I wanted to hunt and didn't want to 'observe' for another season.

This past spring, I took my Hunter Safety class and today bought the licenses. We put a tree stand up overlooking the cutover behind our house and I now have my first shotgun. Her name is Samantha, after the lady that sold her to me at Wal-Mart. I am so stoked about this coming season and will keep you updated.

If you are a gal like me and you are curious about hunting, don't jump right in. Take that season or two, and just watch someone else. Do plenty of research. There is a lot of useful info out there. Deer are amazing and incredibly smart animals.