A Minnesota opening weekend for the books. 75 degree temps….and some good ole family fun. This year, we drew names for deer stand partners. It would be my mother in law and her son, my wife and her sister, and myself and another sister in law. Father in law was going to stay home and hunt from the living room with our 3 year old daughter and our 11 month old son.
The sister in law that I was paired up with is 12 weeks pregnant and her morning sickness was in full swing. She did her best, but after tossing her cookies twice in the first hour, I was just getting ready to suggest that maybe we should head in. I mean, we had a pile of breakfast at the base of the tree, there was no way a deer is going to come by after all of that. No more than that thought crossed my mind, and she says “Buck…Buck.” I put up the binos and sure enough, here comes a small 4x4 walking through the woods. She had the .270 up and ready. This would be her first deer and I told her, that it is her call. BOOM, quickly followed and the deer ran about 20 yds and expired. We climbed down and off we went to recover her first buck…our team was on the board, but the coolest part was just giving her a big hug and feeling her trembling with excitement. She had made a perfect shot given the angle and I couldn’t have been more happy for her.
On our way to the truck we heard another shot come from another stand on the property. As we got closer, we could see a big smile and a decent 4x5 on the ground. The father in law’s buddy was on the board. Two bucks within about 15 minutes.
Fast forward to the evening hunt. I pair up with my wife and her sister and we are in a ground blind in the middle of 10 doe and fawns. Since it was opening day, the girls had said they wanted to try for bucks so they patiently watched the deer feed. My knees were shaking as these deer were so close, I could hear them chewing. Just before sun down, we hear a shot and soon after I see a text on my phone. Nana(mother in law) has just shot a 4x5. After some high fives in our ground blind, we quickly headed over to help recover Nana’s first deer. What a day of firsts for the girls. So proud of them and we had so much fun.
Needless to say, the 3 yr old and the 11 month old were very excited to see the deer. My 3 yr old daughter even helped wash them out and wanted to be part of the whole process. Brought a tear to my eye to see her passion at such a young age. I love the pic of her and my son looking out the window. I can't tell if she has the binos backwards or not..haha We will keep that fire going We are excited to head back for the final weekend…the boys need to get on the board now.
The sister in law that I was paired up with is 12 weeks pregnant and her morning sickness was in full swing. She did her best, but after tossing her cookies twice in the first hour, I was just getting ready to suggest that maybe we should head in. I mean, we had a pile of breakfast at the base of the tree, there was no way a deer is going to come by after all of that. No more than that thought crossed my mind, and she says “Buck…Buck.” I put up the binos and sure enough, here comes a small 4x4 walking through the woods. She had the .270 up and ready. This would be her first deer and I told her, that it is her call. BOOM, quickly followed and the deer ran about 20 yds and expired. We climbed down and off we went to recover her first buck…our team was on the board, but the coolest part was just giving her a big hug and feeling her trembling with excitement. She had made a perfect shot given the angle and I couldn’t have been more happy for her.
On our way to the truck we heard another shot come from another stand on the property. As we got closer, we could see a big smile and a decent 4x5 on the ground. The father in law’s buddy was on the board. Two bucks within about 15 minutes.
Fast forward to the evening hunt. I pair up with my wife and her sister and we are in a ground blind in the middle of 10 doe and fawns. Since it was opening day, the girls had said they wanted to try for bucks so they patiently watched the deer feed. My knees were shaking as these deer were so close, I could hear them chewing. Just before sun down, we hear a shot and soon after I see a text on my phone. Nana(mother in law) has just shot a 4x5. After some high fives in our ground blind, we quickly headed over to help recover Nana’s first deer. What a day of firsts for the girls. So proud of them and we had so much fun.
Needless to say, the 3 yr old and the 11 month old were very excited to see the deer. My 3 yr old daughter even helped wash them out and wanted to be part of the whole process. Brought a tear to my eye to see her passion at such a young age. I love the pic of her and my son looking out the window. I can't tell if she has the binos backwards or not..haha We will keep that fire going We are excited to head back for the final weekend…the boys need to get on the board now.
