As you can probably tell from the title, I tagged out! I am now done with Whitetail for the season! We were back at the VF Ranch in Sonora this past weekend. Some special moments happened at this hunt, and most took me by surprise.

The first special moment I want to discuss was when I had a face mask on with Emily and another girl hunter. Oh, and the huntmaster! That was a blast! It was about 22:30 and we were all very giddy. Giddy + face masks = laughing. Laughing + face masks = scary faces! We looked kind of creepy with only our teeth showing! That was one heck of a night to remember.

The next moment was when we were all helping a girl search for her doe. I was in a group with two other girls (one of them was the girl we did face masks with). All three of us found antler sheds and that was my very first shed! Usually, I love finding things. When I found the antler, I think I was more excited about finding something other than deer poop and cow patties! When we walked under a tree, I saw bones on the ground and some in the tree. I’m not too superstitious or anything but I was spooked. When we turned around and started walking out from beneath the tree, I saw antlers sticking up from beside a log. At this point, I’m practically shaking! I walked over to the log and saw it was a skull. I jumped up and thought, “heck naw!” When I decided to be brave, I used my antler shed to drag the skull towards me. Bam! I have my very own Axis skull! The skull and shed was not the only special thing about this tracking event. Not only did we learn about tracking but it was the perfect time for the hunters to become friends. I had a great time tracking with my crew!

The next special moment was when I tagged out. After every deer I harvest, I feel more like a successful hunter. Now we have 13 deer in our freezers!

I cannot forget to mention when I found a mesquite branch that made a perfect triple marshmallow stick! Marshmallows for everyone!

Now let’s talk about when I was in the blind. On Saturday morning, both my sister and our dad was with me. I had several bucks come out at the feeder, but we were hunting for does. I had several yearlings come out and finally a few does. I took the shot on a doe and she dropped where she stood. To add, she did not have a yearling with her. After she had died, a yearling came up and drank some of her milk! Later on, another small doe came and drank from her. I waited to see if I could get my last doe but I only had yearlings after that.

During the evening time, we were out at the blind at 15:30 After a buck and several does came out, I had to make the decision of which doe to get. Almost all of them were about the same size so I chose the one that looked older. I shot her and she ran about 10 yards. When the feeder went off at 16:30, we stayed and watched the buck. After a little while, we decided to check on the doe and head back to the truck. When we were walking to the truck, a herd of humongous Aoudad started running off! They were big enough and close enough that I wished I wasn’t on the ground! Although they weren’t right up on me, it was still scary seeing how big their horns are. By the way, Aoudad run like gorillas. Figured that out!

This hunt was a total blast! I wore my Hunters HD Gold Velocity glasses, and I used my Vortex Optics Viper scope. Like always, they were a great pair!