My First Deer Hunt...Hunting is not like picking apples or like guessing when it's going to rain in Vancouver. It's more like fishing, sometimes your lucky. I was almost lucky on my first hunting excursion last week. Ha. Almost doesn't cut it, does it. This gorgeous bull moose wandered lazily in front of our hunting party. He paused about 70 yards away (well within shooting range) and slowly turned his big head to assess us. I looked at him, he looked at me and, I think, we both understood that I couldn't shoot him. My father and boyfiend (no that's not a typo) didn't think I'd see any moose, so I didn't get any moose tags*, sigh. As well, moose are so rare and otherworldly, I don't know if I could have shot him even with the licence. Deer seem more like cattle. There's lots of them, so it might easier emotionally to shoot one, maybe? I'll venture into the hills in the next two weeks again, and we'll see.
*Tag - a purchased license to hunt a particular animal, cheap for BC residents
So, this session was like hunting bootcamp, then. I learned a bucketful from my father, uncle and grandfather (87!) who came out with me and the girls to wander the hills of the Okanagan. Grandpa drilled us in walking a line to scare up any deer hiding in the hollows. Dad coached me how to shoot from standing without shaking, holding your breath and squeezing the trigger slowly. My uncle passed on his 408 rifle to me and provided his blue water cooler for shooting practice. Helen and I shot the shit out of that nasty water cooler. In the end, it was amazing to be up at 6am and see the sun rise, to be quiet all day and to wander the woods with friends. Stay tuned for next week when, hopefully, the Gods will smile upon me and send me a 4 point!
Hunter photo by Shannon Mendes Photography
Link to Update 2 - Deer Hunting with Chef Robin
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