I told my daughter (Alexa) at the beginning of this deer season that if she came with me on at least 5 hunts this year she would finally get to see me shooting a deer. As it turned out I was a little too optimistic. We hunted hard together early season and all we had shots at were little bucks. Of course every time she could not make it out we had does all over us. With the cold weather front that moved in this past week I was afraid the conditions were going to be a bit too extreme for her to be sitting on a deer stand with dad in single digit temps. We decided to give it a shot and after 6 layers of clothes, 3 layers of socks, 2 foot warmers and a hand warmer we were ready. Wednesday night was her 10^th time out this year and I thought it was finally going to come together. Alexa was on my lap and we were getting ready to do a pre hunt interview when Skyler saw a doe coming in at 10yds. Somehow I was able to get my bow and get drawn before she busted us and trotted out to 23yds. Never having a chance to range her I thought she was at 30 and with the combination of her jumping the string and me misjudging the distance I hit her high in the back…..man were we disappointed. All that work for it to end like that just did not seem fitting. After finding the arrow and no sign of any blood trail it looked like my daughter would have to wait another year before seeing her dad shoot a deer.

I was planning on filming Skyler the next evening which would be the last evening I was able to hunt this year. After talking it over a bit, Skyler really wanted to give it one more shot with Alexa and as luck would have it her school was cancelled again due to the cold temps. With our last night out we decided to go hunt a new set we put up this year that had been pretty productive during the rut. It is a good pinch point between 3 thickets and after walking in and seeing all the tracks in the snow it looked as though we had made the right decision. It wasn’t long and the deer were on the move. After seeing a couple does out of range I looked up and seen a doe and two fawns heading our way. It all could not have come together any better. The big doe came in at 32 yds and stopped perfectly broadside in a wide open lane. I remembered to aim a little low this time and let the arrow fly. A short 50yds later and I was finally able to keep my promise to my daughter.

A special thanks to Skyler for giving up his hunt and coming along with us one more time. Looks like I owe him another good turkey hunt this spring. Most of all I would like to thank my little girl for sticking it out till the very end and never complaining or giving up. She is quite the trooper.Daddy loves his little girl!