By Meagan Hale

I have always enjoyed being outdoors. My dad (Tim Genry) always encouraged me to enjoy outdoor activities such as hunting and sporting clays. He would take me with him and explain the real reasons behind hunting. It gave me and my dad a chance to spend quality father-daughter time together; doing something we both loved.

Recently, due to complications of diabetes, my dad is no longer able to hunt. The diabetes has caused him to lose much of his vision. It was a goal of his to kill a deer good enough to have it mounted. Unfortunately, that never occurred, so that is when I decided I would take on that challenge. Early on in the year, I had seen several good size bucks pass through our backyard. After seeing them several days in a row, I decided to go hunting in the woods behind our house.

The first several mornings, I tried sitting at the base of a few different trees. On the third day, I took a shot at an 8 point. Unfortunately I missed. I then decided that hunting from a tree stand might better help me. I asked for a ladder stand for Christmas. My dad found the perfect buddy stand at Mark's. A few days after Christmas, we set the stand up on a trail the deer had been traveling.

On one particular hunt, I had a good opportunity to get a good buck, but I could not get a good shot because I came down with the well-known "Buck Fever". My heart was racing at about 100 times per minute and I could not hold my gun steady. The next morning, I decided to try it again. I went up to my stand and waited. About an hour into I heard something. This noise had spooked 3 deer. There was an 8-point, a doe, and fawn running in the opposite direction of me. I tried to whistle and make a grunting sound to get their attention, but they never slowed up.

So here I thought, another 8 point got away. I kept watching in the direction they were running, but they were already out of sight. I thought he might come back so I sat back down, put my safety on, and prepared to wait. Again. About 5 minutes later, I looked to my right, and there he was. This 6-point buck was right on top of me. He was about 10 yards in front of me. I sat as still as I could. I just remember thinking how was I going to get my gun up. Just then he looked down so I grabbed my gun. Then he walked behind a tree. I aimed my gun so that when he took a step, my scope was on him. He took one step and my crosshairs were on his neck and I shot. He threw his head back and ran off. I jumped down from my tree stand and ran home to tell my dad that I had shot at a deer. I went back to the stand to start looking for the deer.

No signs of anything. I ended up calling a friend to help me look for him. We walked down to the power line but still no signs. Just when we thought all hope was gone, I walked across the power line and looked down this hill and saw what I thought was a rock. I soon discovered this rock had antlers!! I had found my deer. I ran all the way down the hill. The entire time I was running, I was screaming, "I killed the deer" - "There is my deer". I think that all of Pelham may have heard me yelling. This had to have been the best day. I will never forget the times spent with my dad or my first deer.
This one is for him.