Dominion

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28


Yesterday was my first time hunting.  


My friend John from church asked me to join him on his family land near LaGrange and I met up with him around 3pm at their camp.  We shot a test round from by rifle (to check the zero) before we headed into the thick.


My uncle died in 2006 and I inhereited his Ruger M77 (300 WinMag) and a Glock .45 - as well as a Mossberg shotgun (don't try to break in my house :)

The rifle zeroed good and we were off.  John took me out to a big feed plot and he showed me the tree stand I was supposed to climb into.  That was the most nerve-racking part of the trip.  I am not overly fond of heights and I was definitely worried about getting us a foot wide ladder thats chained to a medium sized pine tree.  But, at the end of the harrowing climb, I was seated comfortably.


John has two way radios and we were able to quietly chat about life as we sat up in the trees on opposite ends of the plot.  Time passed quick the first hour, then the cold began to show itself and we were both quiet until just before dark.  


Right as the light began to fade into that haze of twilight, two deer came out onto the plot about 100 yards and 180 degrees of me.  I heard John say "theres deer on the field" and then he asked me if I had a shot.  I replied "yes" and he said "take it."  


As I was quietly inching my rifle into place, two more deer arrived.  Now there were 4 deer on the plot and I was in place.  John told me to "shoot the biggest one."  I lined up the crosshairs and began a slow steady trigger squeeze.  I was terribly excited and my breathing was way too sporadic to hit my target (or so I thought).  


BANG!


The gun went off, the deer jumped up in the air and ran off the field.  I observed her flight and I was for sure that I missed.  Then I heard John shoot twice.  I realized that deer were still on the field and I told John as much - he replied "Shoot them!"


I reploaded and set back up.  Unfortunately, by the time I was ready again - the field was clear.  I began to talk with John and tell him that I felt I had missed.  Just then, two deer peeked out back onto the feed plot about 80 yards away from me.  I took aim on one of them  and hastily fired.


BANG!


I was positive that I hit him even as he ran off.  The crash in the woods just ahead of me confirmed my shot.  John radioed me to carefully get down outta the stand.  We met up on the field.


Tracking consumed about an hour.  We found both of my deer via the blood trails.  We also found a lobe of liver from one of them which had fallen out.  As we looked them over we pieced together the scenario...


My first shot was dead on and it felled a 140 lbs doe.  

My second shot went in at an angle and it exited low and back (making it a gut shot - hence the organs falling out)  That kill was a young buck - which is a no-no...of course, in the low light I thought it was a female.

Not bad for my first time out John told me.


We went back to the camp and I soon realized that "the fun ends when you pull the trigger."  Skinning, gutting, and slinging around dead deer is less than stimulating.  I was bloody up to my elbow and the smell was horrible.  


We ended the night by dropping the deer off at a local deer processing establishment.  Meat should be ready middle of the week.


THE VERDICT:


I enjoyed the hunt.  I do not consider hunting a sport however.  I consider it a skill.  Its a skill that is mostly dead in the "civilized" west and I was happy to reconnect with some of that pioneer spirit.  I imagine that I will pester John to go once a year in the future.  


Two shots, two kills...the US Marines taught me well.  Semper Fi.


Thanks John!