Meet Brittany – Wisconsin Huntress

During bow season this year, I was able to get the first 2 weeks of November off from work to go deer hunting with my dad in Wisconsin. This was our last hoorah before rifle season started and the rut was just heating up. The weather took a crappy turn and it decided to be 55-60 degrees and sunny out and we believe that’s what kept the big bucks from running. We saw lots of little bucks chasing after does during that first week, but none bigger than forks. We each had decided to wait for a bigger buck since we still had the week after to hunt. When the next week arrived, the weather got cold and sleety. It was one of our last chances to hunt and shoot a buck. We were hunting in an area of Wisconsin where archers were only allowed to shoot legal bucks. We went to the stands at about 10 AM to sit all day. Before heading to the stand, we both agreed to shoot anything legal to get meat in the freezer and fill our tags. As the day went on, it started to rain and was like 30 degrees out and I started to get cold. I had a spike come in from behind me in the afternoon and he was acting skittish. He was walking into my wind, mind you. He was close enough to shoot, so I swiftly grabbed my bow, and drew back and as I drew back, he turned and went to walk away. As I am trying to put my pin on him, I am shivering – partly because I’m wet and cold, and partly because I’m so nervous and I want to fill my tag SO bad. So I aimed the best I could, and when pulled the trigger, I knew instantly that I was in trouble. The arrow went through his guts. I waited 15 minutes and got out of my tree to see if I could find my arrow or any blood. I was silent in doing this just in case he hadn’t went far and laid down. I crept to where I had shot him and found white hair – another bad sign. I found my arrow and it had guts all over it. I tiptoed back to my tree and got in it as quietly as possible. I texted my dad and gave him the update of what had happened and he basically said to relax and we would look at dark. As I waited, I began to feel more and more ashamed of myself for even taking the shot. I should have waited for a better shot, however, at the time, I had made the decision to shoot because it was “now or never,” and I really wanted to shoot a deer (We were both skunked the year before). I started to cry as I realized this deer would probably die a slow and painful death and that we would probably never find him because they don’t bleed well when gut shot. I began to chastise myself about taking a bad shot and then living with the fact that this animal would suffer and die for no reason if we weren’t able to find him. I was so upset with myself. Finally, when it got dark, my dad came to pick me up and we decided to give him some time after he examined the arrow. We went to the nearest bar and had a couple drinks and some deep fried food – which made me feel a little better. When we went back, we looked for any more clues to see whether we should wait until morning to track or not. We decided to wait until morning. Dad called my sister and asked her to come in the morning to have another set of eyes in the woods.

In the morning, we got up early and went back to tracking. When we got there, my dad spotted crows in the sky. He turned and looked at me and said, “I bet your deer is right where them crows are flying. I’d bet money on it.” We briskly walked in that direction and it was kind of a trail, like it had been used for four-wheelers, and it lead out into an opening. When we got to the opening, the crows flew and we were pretty sure we could see the outline of my deer and as we approached closer, sure enough, there he was, stone dead. The crows had just found him probably that morning and picked at his eye a little bit, so none of the meat was ruined. I was so happy that I cried – happy tears! In the end, I definitely learned a lesson. I should only shoot when I am confident I can shoot to kill. It was the perfect way to end our vacation. My dad had shot a doe in a legal area earlier the week before, so he end we each shot one. I can’t tell in words how good it felt to break my two year streak of not killing a deer. It was monumental. I am already so excited for next year and can’t wait to start shooting in our archery league next week to pass the time!