By Heidi Dugan

-- One evening my husband decided we were going to hunt out of a treestand. I wasn’t too opposed to the idea until I saw the tree. There was no climbing straight up — it was an up-and-over-to-another-branch thing that I wanted no part of.

I refused, and he felt bad for leaving me in the pop-up ground blind, but I didn’t mind. Anything was better than climbing that tree. All I needed was my bow, my arrows and some patience.

Considering this was only my second deer season, I actually felt pretty confident with my bow. I had been practicing and had gotten really accurate. As I was sitting there all alone for the first time, I was able to calmly watch about eight does try to bust my blind. They knew something wasn’t quite right, but I didn’t move and there was no scent to give me away.

Finally, just about the time I thought they were going to blow out of there, something caught their interest behind me. I didn’t have a window open in the back of the blind, so I sat there wondering what all the fuss was about. That’s when a beautiful 10-pointer walked past my window and stopped about 30 yards out.

I took my time, aimed and ... missed! I was sick.

The buck went out about 40 yards and stood there. I wasn’t comfortable shooting that far, so I just sat there looking at him, wishing I could have the shot back.

As I sat there watching the buck and replaying the shot in my head, imagine my surprise when a nice 8-pointer walked out and stopped 29 yards from the blind.

I drew back, put my pin on the vitals and sent the arrow straight through him. The arrow went in perfectly, and the flood of emotions was overwhelming. I watched as the buck ran off, going 75 yards before falling down. I did a victory dance in my stand until I remembered that I better go to the truck to wait for my husband so that we could go and get the deer.

When I walked up to the truck my husband was already there. He said a doe had busted him at his stand, so he had come out a little early. When I told him about my buck, I don’t think he could’ve been more excited to see that bloody arrow and the beaming look on my face.

His grin faded a but when I told him that girls don’t have to hunt out of trees to beat their husbands!

Heidi Dugan
Grand Saline, Texas