DH was out all morning, and when he came in for lunch I took the opportunity to leave the youngest with him and take my 5 yo with me to my "stand" (an old silo on our family's abandoned farmsite 6 mi from home) which faces about 120 acres of corn.
DS and I chatted and watched the rain come down. He was pointing out a pigeon feather on the floor to me, and when I looked back up there was this little guy standing about 30 ft from me. I steadied my breathing, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. And "CLICK" echoed in the silo...and the deer jerked his head up and looked right at me. Never saw me tho, he just grunted and went back to grazing. So, I popped the bolt open and closed it, thinking it would pick up a shell, and again it clicked and echoed in there... I was just about in tears, my eyes were welling up and I was shaking. I didnt know WHY it wasnt firing, I thought it was broken, and I came -><- this close to hollering at him to spare myself the frustration of watching him and not being able to shoot. But I gave it one last try, manually loaded a shell, and balsted him in the ribcage, shredded his lungs, and he never took another step. I made the rookie mistake of closing my eyes after I sighted him in, so I didnt see him drop. When I opened my eyes and he was gone I was so mad. I didnt even know what direction he had gone in to begin looking for him. Then my 5yo says "well are going to go look at him or NOT mom?" so at least one of us saw the great shot. He was just as excited as I was, we bounced around while we waited for Dh to arrive to help me drag it out and dress it. Not very big, but as I like to joke, you cant find a whitetail much bigger
(I'm used to Co and WY mulies, no comparison). DH was impressed that I did it alone while he was eating pizza with the little one. I told him, I hit what I aim at!
DS and I chatted and watched the rain come down. He was pointing out a pigeon feather on the floor to me, and when I looked back up there was this little guy standing about 30 ft from me. I steadied my breathing, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. And "CLICK" echoed in the silo...and the deer jerked his head up and looked right at me. Never saw me tho, he just grunted and went back to grazing. So, I popped the bolt open and closed it, thinking it would pick up a shell, and again it clicked and echoed in there... I was just about in tears, my eyes were welling up and I was shaking. I didnt know WHY it wasnt firing, I thought it was broken, and I came -><- this close to hollering at him to spare myself the frustration of watching him and not being able to shoot. But I gave it one last try, manually loaded a shell, and balsted him in the ribcage, shredded his lungs, and he never took another step. I made the rookie mistake of closing my eyes after I sighted him in, so I didnt see him drop. When I opened my eyes and he was gone I was so mad. I didnt even know what direction he had gone in to begin looking for him. Then my 5yo says "well are going to go look at him or NOT mom?" so at least one of us saw the great shot. He was just as excited as I was, we bounced around while we waited for Dh to arrive to help me drag it out and dress it. Not very big, but as I like to joke, you cant find a whitetail much bigger
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