New rifle, new hunter

I bought my wife a TC Venture in 30-06 as she has expressed an interest in hunting for the first time...I'm happy as a half-starved bed bug in a mattress factory!

She has done well at the range but has only had one day out hunting and was not confident in the target presented at 150 - 170 yards on that day. I commend the decision to not shoot, there are a lot of folks that will shoot at whatever moves.

I must take a moment here to mention that this rifle is a-F'ing-mazing! For 449.00 it is the best rifle I have ever seen. I have a Remington 700BDL and the Thompson is its' equal in every way that matters. My Remington is prettier but pretty doesn't put meat on the table.

My daughter decided that she also would like to hunt so I put together a Chi-com SKS with a scope that is good out to 100 yards. She was able to group 3 inches at 100 yards which is good enough, offhand with a rifle that wasn't designed for deer.

Thanksgiving morning my wife had to work and my daughter did not so she got to go out with Mom's 30-06.

We arrived at my 45 acre getaway at 5:30AM and headed to the deadfall at a hilltop that was deemed a virtual "living room" where lawn chairs could be used to provide a comfortable stand hunt. A large red oak fell and the layout of the limbs made a nearly perfect "room" on a hilltop overlooking 3 small fields, a road and a pond.

At 7:45 a very small yearling walked in at about 200 yards and bedded down. 5 minutes later after glassing the area my daughter said that there was another larger deer already bedded where the small one had laid down.

I confirmed this and told her to look at the spot where the grass ended and the deer began as it was facing us. We had at least 5 minutes to discuss the shot placement and all of the details. These were 2 of the same 3 deer that my wife and I had seen the previous week.

I asked her if she was confident that she could hit the deer in the vitals and kill it quickly, she said yes. She is a nurse and has recently studied the organ placement in whitetail deer and is well versed in the effects of trauma to vital organs.

She said later that she did not feel nor hear the round go off when she fired (that is normal and always funny to me). I watched the target through my scope in anticipation of a possible need for a follow-up shot. The deer raised up from the bedded position and immediately fell back down and did not move again.

200 yards is a long shot in WV, it is usually more like 30 or 50 but as I type this I am munching on some great jerky from a doe that was the first for a new rifle and a new hunter.

She is 33 or so...it's hard to keep up with the years but it is never too late to begin a journey into the woods that will change a life for the better. It isn't so much the kill, the marksmanship or even the food on the table. It is the participation in the life, our life and all of the life that we experience in the short time we are here.

Bravo my dear!