My dad and I went hunting last October. It was a Thursday and we were up in Ashland, Montana, hanging out with my dad’s lifelong hunting buddy. We were going to go deer hunting and I was excited. At about 8 in the morning, we headed out and saw some deer. But they were does, so we couldn’t shoot them. About two minutes later, my dad’s friend spotted a nice buck. We hiked up a little hill. And my dad reminded me of all the things he taught me about the gun. He reminded me that it would have a bit of recoil, so I needed to be ready. He was also telling me to be really quiet and some other basic hunting stuff.
So we got set and I found the picture of the buck in the scope. I waited for my dad to tell me to shoot it. I took a deep breath and waited about one second to aim right behind the shoulder. I shot about 200 yards away. I hit it a bit high, but my dad said it was okay. It stumbled around a bit and then fell down into a gulley.
Then me and my dad and his friend jumped up and hiked up to the spot. It took us a bit to find the deer. I used a weed to poke its eyeball and make sure it was dead. It was dead because it didn’t blink.
When it was time to process, we were really respectful and used the tree to our advantage. My dad taught me that you should cut it right along the stomach. After that, he told me how to hold the knife while skinning and gutting the deer. He taught me how to gut it and he taught me what intestines were and where to find the heart and liver. We found where my bullet went. It hit the lung and the liver.
And so after that, we brought it home to my dad’s friend’s house and we skinned it out. I watched my dad again to learn how to do it. Then we let it dry out for two days. Then we cut it up. It added up to be 41.8 pounds of eating meat. I was really happy. And then we went home.
I’ve been hunting since I was three years old with my dad – duck, grouse, turkey, antelope, elk and now my five-by-five mule deer. I love to spend time with my dad hunting.
Cole Herminghaus,
Age 10
Hamilton, Montana