A guy like me has passed some milestones in his life: marriages, births, your son’s first deer. Mooselette and I passed a big one yesterday together. She killed her first deer.
Yesterday was the Yute Opener in KY. They’ve extended the early season so it runs for a whole week, clear into Muzzleloader Season next weekend. Mooselette is fortunately off school for a couple of days this week. We figured we’d press hard and get her a deer for sure. We did not have to press too far.
Saturday morning, we were out at Hollywood. Mooslette carried her new 25-06. We were hunting into the rising sun over a 1-acre food plot. This one is probably the best developed of any we planted over Labor Day. All the cereal grains are doing well. The rest is just starting to peek out. At the far end of the field a flock of turkeys came out to munch– jakes and jenny, almost full grown, still following the hen around.
Amongst the turkeys, 3 doe came out of the treeline and walked out into the middle. Mooselette brought her rifle up to the rail. The lead doe caught the movement and went on alert. Mooselette waited for somebody to turn broadside. I couldn’t see much of an angle on any of them. It did not take long for the lead doe to blow, and they were all gone in a blur of wings and white tails. Mooselette kept apologizing, but she did not need to. It was pretty long for a first shot, and nobody had been cooperating.
We were back out about 1530 to go to Midway. I’ve had this blind up for 16 years, and this is the situation the blind was really meant for. It opens in the back and front. Each hunter overlooks his own 1-acre pasture. It was warm. We were both in T-shirts. The paper wasps were really active. I usually have a cold snap before now and get out and spray the wasps. Mooselette was scared, but I advised her that if we just sat down and didn’t bother the nests in the peak of the roof, we would be ignored in turn. It worked. They were more interested in the two new open windows than us. Mooslette had the south window. I took the north.
At 1715, another herd of 3 doe came out of Left Leg Creek and came out into the plot. Both sides of Midway overlook 1.25-acre plots . They’re planted identically in 1/4 acre sections. Venturing a guess, I would say these three were eating in the section I’d sewn in Antler King Honey Hole. Before you go and call this a ringing endorsement, understand the Honey Hole Brassicas are barely sprouted. What they were probably eating was the Barley I sewed with the Honey Hole to carry it through the seeder. In any event, the three were head-down in the green stuff and didn’t mind the noisy bunch of musical chairs going on 100 yards downwind from them.
16 years of hunting this blind has taught me that it is possible to rearrange themselves and swap sides in view of the game, but it’s not a sure deal. One advantage is that there is a curtain of operacloth across the middle. This keeps both hunters from being backlit. I advised Mooselette to pass me her rifle across the curtain and then stand up and await orders. I then arose from my chair and stood with the rifle while she slipped past me and settled into my seat. This all went on behind the curtains of camo burlap. I’m sure the deer could see the patches of light and dark, but Hunter Orange is an amazing color with deer. They just don’t seem to care.
Once Mooselette was settled in the chair, I had her gently stick the rifle out the window while I crammed in behind her. All three deer were butt-on, head down, and occasionally poking their necks up to listen to the scraping sounds coming from the blind. It did not take long for the doe furthest to the middle of the field to take a step further out and turn sideways. I heard the safety come off. I heard the report and witnessed my grandkid become a blooded hunter.
The doe’s back legs collapsed, and she did a backflip. The other two doe were gob-smacked. They did not know what had happened and kept coming up to their buddy and pawing at her, urging her up from her nap. They hung around for a good 10 minutes while we called Dad for the announcement and a request to bring the truck. They left just as the truck pulled into view. Mooselette had lost sight of the deer when she shot. She thought it had run off. Nope. It was down. It was just buried in the barley.
In honor of the occasion, I gifted Mooselette a Ka-Bar Mini-Folder knife, I’d been carrying around unused in the box for years in expectation of this event. I looked it up: I’d ordered it from Amazon 2 weeks before she was born.
One of the big hassles about hunting Yute season has been finding someone to process the deer. Luckily, Poe & McFadden are now servicing all seasons. They closed at 8. We had the doe out, hung, cleaned ou,t and put back in the truck before 1900. Hers was only the fifth deer they had taken in. BTW: The Store at Lenoxburg is no longer processing deer.
The details of the hunt:
10/11/25 @ 1715 ET 145 lb Doe taken at Midway North @ 100 yards by Hunter Mooselette. Temp: 75 F Winds: North @ 2.2 MPH. Barometer: 29.37 Steady.
Rifle: 25-06 Custom Mauser with 4-12X40MM Bushnell Trophy scope. Load: Speer 100 grain PSP.
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