The leaves crunched under my boots as we approached the stand. The woods were silent except for the rustling of leaves falling to the ground. I could see the stand faintly in between all of the leaves and trees on top of a massive hill overlooking a field. Dad and I climbed the hill where I could now see the stand more clearly. It was made of wood and butted up next to a wide tree. We got up to the stand, and the waiting game had begun.

There wasn't much room to do anything, so I tried focusing on looking for the deer. The woods were as quiet as a mouse.  Dad looked out while I began to doze off. I had gotten bored and was starting to fall asleep. That was when deer started to come in. I woke up to Dad kicking my boot and holding a finger to his lips. I glanced out the window. It was two does and a small buck, way off in the distance. I made eye contact with Dad and he raised his eyebrows. We both knew that he was asking if I wanted to shoot it, and we both knew that I wanted to. I watched the deer move around the woods, not noticing Dad and I in the stand. I got the gun out the window to take the shot. Creek! I had turned the chair too far and made a loud noise. I looked to see if the deer was still there, but it wasn’t. It was a ghost, gone out of thin air.

We sat for another hour, sitting and observing some small deer that had come in. I was starting to get concerned that we were going to run out of daylight. I was starting to get discouraged that no other bigger deer were going to come, but I realized that there was still lots of time left. Right when I thought this was going to go on forever, the deer were running away faster than lightning. They were gone before I could even interpret what happened. I glanced back at Dad, but he looked just as confused as I did. I knew that it only meant two things; there was either a predator around in which our hunt was spoiled, or there was another bigger deer around. Thinking of the best case scenario, I got the gun at the ready.

“Nick, look in the corner of the field.” Dad was pointing through the window and I had to lean over to see. I saw another small buck, bigger than the last, step into the field. Followed behind it was a buck standing tall over the high marsh grass and had antlers that rose so tall they almost touched the sky. I knew I wanted to shoot this one, and Dad did too. He handed me the gun, and the deer stepped into view. I had the gun ready and I clicked the safe off. It was ready to fire.

“I got this, I got this, I got this,” I whispered to myself several times. I put the cross-hairs right on its shoulder. Bang! The gun flew back and kicked me in the shoulder hard. I’d made a perfect shot. The buck ran away a million miles an hour, but I knew it wasn’t going anywhere far.

“You got him,” Dad said in a shaky voice. I looked over at him. He had a smile from ear to ear, just like I did.

We climbed out of the stand and began to track it. Just like I thought, it didn’t go very far. Dad found it right outside of the field it the tall marsh grass. The grass grabbed at my coat and pants as I tried to get through. I walked up to it and my eyes wided to the size of walnuts. It was even bigger in person! I hugged Dad because it was the only thing my head could focus on.

“Big buck down!”, I yelled. I glanced back at the deer over Dad’s shoulder, still amazed by how big it really was. I knew I was never going to forget this moment.

Author’s Note

I wrote this piece to show my love for the outdoors and doing what I love. Every time I do it something crazy or amazing happens, and I want to share that feeling with the reader. I want the reader to feel as if he/she was there and feel the same way I feel. I have a passion for the great outdoors and I want to share that with the reader