 It was 1998; I was ready to make the switch from practicing with my bow to hunting with it. I purchased a Browning bow in the winter of 1997 with the idea of practicing for about nine months to ready myself to bow hunt that next fall.
I had already harvested several deer with a rifle and shotgun by that point, but I was ready for more of a challenge. My husband Brent was an avid archer, so he was ecstatic when I wanted to buy my first bow! I wanted to give myself plenty of time to hone my new skill before taking to the woods.
We shot at several targets, we had purchased, in our backyard for months. I was actually really good. At that time Brent was shooting fingers, no release, so that is the way I learned as well. I had no peep sight, no kisser button, nothing. It came easy for me though. I really enjoyed it. I started at 25 pounds and was trying to increase my strength all of the time. In Virginia, to be legal to bow hunt, you had to be able to propel a broadhead arrow at least 125 yards. So I finally settled on 35 pounds for my first hunt. At the time Brent worked for the Women’s Correctional Center in Virginia and had permission to bow hunt the grounds. On October 24, 1998 we headed over to the prison and signed in. We accessed our stand from the railroad tracks, which was about a half a mile walk from our vehicle. This was going to be an afternoon hunt, Brent had been patterning the deer on his shifts at work, (it’s like double duty, watch the deer and make sure he was getting his work done as well)! There was a big double tree that he thought would be perfect for our hunt together, the deer would funnel right by it! We had to carry all of our equipment in that day, two bows and two tree stands with all of the steps as well. That was a long walk down those tracks. We were being silly that day I remember, joking and laughing with each other. We just wanted to have fun. We snuck to that double tree; I waited patiently as he set up both stands side by side. We took forever to get set up, by this time all we had was about two and one half hours to hunt, but that was ok with me, I was pretty laid back about it. From our vantage point we could see and hear the convicts in their dorms carrying on with each other, I have to say I never would have thought that deer hunting and inmates would be synonymous with each other! We tried to stay quiet but it was hard, we wanted to talk to each other. He kept saying “shhhh,” then I’d be quiet for a couple of minutes, then he’d start talking and I’d say “shhhh.” By that time, Brent just came out and said “nothing is going to come out with all of this noise that were making!” So at that point we both straightened up and got serious.
 We had a plan that if a deer came out and presented me a shot, I would draw back my bow and shoot, and at the same time Brent would draw back as well. If I missed then he would shoot. At the time that sounded like a good plan to us. I was confident to about 20 yards, so I thought... bring it on! Just as we thought we had blown it for that evenings hunt, 80 yards off we noticed several does working our way. It was as if they were on a string. I had my bow ready and was just waiting to see if one would enter my shooting lane and offer me a shot. A large doe was closing the distance and I knew my chance was coming. She did enter my shooting lane, I slowly drew my bow, Brent grunted with his mouth to stop her and I released! To my surprise Brent released as well! It was just a split second after I released. She ran off and crashed, we knew she was dead. I was so mad at him for shooting, I knew I had a good hit and that was not part of our deal! He was only supposed to shoot if I missed! Was I wrong, did I miss? Maybe I was delusional? Regardless I was pretty upset, I asked him why he shot and he explained that he had gotten excited, and he wanted us to get that deer! I did not want to share that deer with Brent, I wanted her to be all mine, MY first bow kill, not me and Brent’s bow kill! At that point Brent prayed like heck that his arrow was clean! We climbed down to try to make sense of what had just taken place, I was hoping that my arrow was the lethal arrow not his. We walked up to where WE had shot, and as we got closer, there lay his perfectly clean arrow! Brent knew that I had shot this doe all to myself, he grabbed me and hugged me, swung me around, we were both elated! We ran over to where the doe had expired to find my arrow still with her. I had just harvested an adult doe on my very first bow hunt! Unbelievable! We relished in the moment then we both realized how long of a walk we were going to have dragging her over those railroad tracks, with two bows, two tree stands. We didn’t care though, one way or another we were going to get her to the truck if I had to drag her myself!
We made it to the truck about an hour later, not bad eh? I could not wait to drive home and tell my family, I knew they would be so proud of me, as I was so proud of myself; all of that practice had paid off. This will be a day that will always be etched in my mind, convicts and nature, all coming together!
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