It was September 26 and it was cold and rainy. It was officially the first day ever dedicated to youth deer hunting in Virginia. Every kid and especially parents looked forward to this day and it had finally come.

We decided and made plans for Hunters Helping Kids to take two kids hunting, while I was to go hunting with Dr. MacCarty on his property, who is one of the Hunters Helping Kids committee members. Deciding and finalizing our plans, we prepared for a great day of hunting.

We woke that morning at 5:00am and got ready to head out to the blind. We grabbed our gear and left, driving to Pittsylvania County to hunt. When we arrived, it was just becoming light enough to barely see without a flashlight. We walked to the blind and settled, waiting for any sign of deer.

I was sitting and watching the woods, while Dr. MacCarty read one of his books. When the sun rose, it was like god turned the switch for nature on. The birds were chirping, squirrels scampering, a turkey sitting in the tree above us and one flying his way down the ridge was giving me a gut feeling that this was going to be an awesome day. We sat till 10:30, without seeing anything but two house dogs, and we decided to go back to the house for lunch and a quick nap.

After a quick nap and some good food, we left to sit in a box blind behind their house that overlooked two huge food plots and also gave us small peeks of the two food plots 200 yards away. We sat patiently waiting for the deer to show. It had been drizzling all day and finally it was letting up a little.

I watched one food plot and the voice in my head told me to look in the other and sure enough it was right, here suddenly came a spike walking in the right food plot. I eagerly picked up my binoculars to watch him. He stayed for only a minute and then disappeared into the small pine trees. To kill some time, I watched as a fat groundhog munched away on the green forage of the food plot. Excited to have seen a deer I was eager to see more and bigger. I waited and about 30 minutes later another spike walked out from the left food plot. I also watched as he walked away because I had a feeling I could shoot bigger.

As I watched the food plots, I saw an animal coming through the pines and I grabbed my Carson binoculars, thinking it was another deer. But to my shock, it was not a deer but a coyote. He made his way out at 180 yards into the field as I picked up the Ruger .300 Winn.Mag. and placed it on the railing of the box blind. The coyote made his way thru the field and with Dr. MacCarty hollering at him...he finally stopped. I placed the cross hairs on his shoulders and slowly squeezed the trigger. Boom! The gun went off and I watched as the coyote dropped in his tracks. Dr.MacCarty and I celebrated with a high fives and he told me how great of a shot I had made. I was extremely excited because not only did I shoot a coyote but It was my first coyote and I had dreamed of shooting one.

We decided to let the coyote lay till dark incase a deer walked out. I waited patiently, trying not to make any noises because I had an even funnier feeling that I was going to see something good. About 30 minutes after I shot the coyote, Dr.MacCarty said ‘deer' and I looked to the food plot in front of us. It then caught my attention that this was no spike; it was a 7 point buck. My heart raced as I watched him step out in the food plot 90 yards away, Dr.MacCarty asked if I wanted to take him but when the buck turned his head, we knew right away I should take him because something was very odd about the left side of his rack. I was excited, heart racing even faster now as I brought the gun up to the box blind window. I placed my cross hairs behind the deer's shoulder and slowly pulled the trigger as I controlled my breathing, so I would not flinch. It felt like time froze as I squeezed the trigger to shoot. Finally, the Boom! Came and the buck took off with signs of being hit. I watched as he ran in the woods, and disappeared. I was very excited; I had just shot a coyote and a buck within 30 minutes of each other and within 90 yards of each other.

Excited we climbed out the box blind and went to find blood but the rain had started coming down harder and washed it away. We went and got the coyote, took pictures, and retrieved the Bad Boy Buggy. We drove to where the deer was shot and we walked into the woods. Calling Paul, Dr. MacCarty's son, to come help, we searched for a while and finally found him. He had only run 100 yards from where he was shot. Paul and I dragged him out of the woods to take pictures and to take a better look at his rack. He was definitely a great buck to take out the gene pool because of his rack deformity. We searched for signs of injury on his right side but none were to be found which confirmed it was a genetic deformity.

It was the best Youth Hunting Day I have hunted and I look forward to taking some kids hunting next year to enjoy this new Youth Only Deer Hunting Day, since this will be my last year as a Youth Huntress. I am also hunting with a bow now and am hoping to score on my first bow kill this year since bow season started Saturday October 3, and the deer have been moving well. I think this will be a good year for me because I can't think of any better way to start the 2009-2010 Deer Season.