My first time hunting for a deer was also the first time I ever shot an animal. I woke up at about 4:00 in the morning not really wanting to go. The reason I didnt wanna go is because I probably only got 4-5 hours of sleep the night before and I also didn’t really want to shoot an animal. I did not want to shoot an animal because that seemed like a cruel thing to do. Not knowing the bad things deer do and also not knowing the overpopulation that happens each year.

In the car ride on the way there, I fell asleep almost the whole way because I was super tired. By the time I woke up we were pulling into my grandpa's land in Wisconsin about 45 minutes away, and I was ready. I got out of the truck and started loading my rifle. All I was thinking about is that I've never done this before and it is quite scary to shoot a gun so I wasn’t all that happy to do that. By the time I got done loading the gun at the truck, the sun started to rise and the deer started to awake. 

Then I started to walk towards my blind, my blind is a little ways from the truck so it takes about 5 minutes to walk there. On the walk all I usually see is a few early riser squirrels or maybe some deer if I'm walking in a bit late. If I remember correctly I saw 1 deer on the way In all it was was a button buck. Only if I knew.
I finally arrived at my blind and got all comfortable there. It starts out pretty boring for the first couple hours. So in those hours all I could really do was talk to my dad or watch all of the birds and squirrels around me. Only if I would understand that this is my first hunt ever. I shouldn’t have taken it for granted. All that time I just wasted when I could be thinking about how I’d beg to go watch my dad hunt in my childhood but then it was my turn and I didnt want to. 

Shortly after those few hours around 11 a.m. came the same button buck that I saw on the way in. I instantly changed my mind about hunting, I knew that it was gonna be a new favorite hobby of mine after I saw that first deer. Just the feeling of seeing it made my adrenaline rush, some people call it buck fever. The button buck stayed laying in the same spot for around 3 hours, this felt like FOREVER. 

Then the buck got up and started walking very slowly in kind of a horizontal line in front of me. I knew it was time to take the shot. I grab my gun and put it to the window. It’s a bow hunting blind so the windows are tall. Which means I need a gun stand to put my gun on. I aim my gun towards the deer to the right position right on the front shoulder. I must have moved the gun just a little bit because after the shot the deer couldn’t run. I shot it in the shoulder but very very low. The time I shot it ended up being around 4 o’clock so I knew I had to react soon. The leg almost came off after the shot, it was only hanging by nothing but a bit of skin. 

I felt horrible seeing the deer dead lying on the ground. Especially with the leg just dragging. The only reason I didn’t feel as bad as I should have was because it took about 15-20 seconds for the deer to pass. All I could think about was that I knew we had to gut it next. Gutting is by far my least favorite part of the whole process. Knowing the deer cant do anything and just being cut open and gutted seemed so wrong at the time. My dad started to gut it and asked if I would hold the legs to make it easier for him. I almost said no because of how disgusting it was for the first time. Hearing the noises of all the organs and other parts of the body just flopping around was the nastiest noise you will ever hear, especially at the age of 9 ½-10. By the time we were done with gutting it was around 8 p.m.

I just wanted to go home and go to sleep, it was already past the time I usually fall asleep and I still had an hour ride home. Instead of going straight back home we had to take the deer to my aunts because the deer can't go over the border unless it's just packaged meat. So we dropped it off and then went back home to tell my mom about the day I had.

We got back and my mom was so excited for me. She knew that it meant a lot to me and my dad. I told her all the stories that I learned and told her every little thing about the day. After I bet she could have told you exactly what happened and how it happened too. Then I got to take off all my heavy hunting clothes, lay down, and go to sleep. But then carry on the process the next day. After that day I learned so many important things that are useful in many ways, not even just about hunting. I took all the things I learned and found a way to imply them into my life to make me a better person.