Ray of sunshine

Corrine Emily Burrell is my oldest daughter. She's my sunshine and a rock. She dances to her own beat without concern on what other's might think. She reminds me a lot of her momma. She is beautiful, smart, and as I learned lately...real cool under pressure.

She just became a teenager not too long ago and is playing the role nicely. She recently has become boy-band crazy, One Direction can be heard blasting through our once quiet home at any given time. She's an all-American girl: runs in cross-country, plays in the school band, seeks boy crushes (ugh), and giggles uncontrollably while telling a story.

At a young age she has always tagged along with us on our outdoor expeditions and has learned to appreciate the little wonders one can only find in nature's flora and fauna. "Dad, when is my deer hunt again?" she asked repeatedly throughout the year. "In October but we need to go scout", was my common response. She was one cool cat when it came to killing turkeys but I sensed some concern in her voice when it came to deer. One afternoon we picked up three different rifles to go shoot and hopefully help calm her ease. She shot all three and I then let her pick which one she wanted to shoot...she picked the .243 shooting 85 grain partitions, which just happens to be Emily's rifle she killed her first buck (Gus) with. She calmed my ease shooting a tight little 1" group at 96 yards. Not bad!

One afternoon during the summer I picked her up at the house and we headed to where we planned on hunting. She had drawn a Columbian Whitetail tag. She wanted to kill a species of deer Emily nor Hunter have ever killed...competitive little bugger. We had a wonderful time eating blackberries, finding deer, and eating more blackberries. Corrine really enjoyed stealing my big camera with the telephoto lens and taking some great pictures of deer that evening. Here are some of her shots...

blacktail doe we startled on the trail

A young Columbian whitetail buck and a doe with her fawn (notice the doe's eartag)

A hungry berry-eating bi-pedal

Whitetail doe on our trail

Finally October rolled around and it was time to hunt. Before it was light enough to shoot, we made our way up the trail we'd scouted during the off-season. I hoped she wouldn't want to play "trophy-hunter" and would be excited to be able to hunt any whitetail buck, no matter the size. As the darkness gave way to sunlight, we started finding deer, mostly blacktail and all does.  

Arriving on opening morning

At first light...

We stuck around our glassing post for a couple hours and enjoyed watching the sun come over the horizon warming our bodies and souls. We talked about moving locations as the temperature and the sun rose, so we got our things packed to leave. I gave one last look through the binoculars across a big canyon on a whitetail-prone hillside a half-mile away.  "Roo!, buck!" The buck was with two does as they were feeding across a hillside and acting as if they were ready to bed. The buck separated from the two does and fed along thick brambles of blackberries. "Keep your eye on 'em" I directed Roo as I continued looking for other deer. She was amazed how quickly a deer can disappear and reappear so suddenly. 

We watched as the buck disappeared alongside a blackberry thicket. I felt confident once he was bedded that other youth hunters wouldn't be able to spot the buck. We gave him another hour to make sure the buck was sure he wanted to stay put in his current bedding spot. Corrine was losing patience wanting to go after it now..."patience". Finally it was time to execute our plan going after this buck

Our plan would take us down the mountain and back up another ridge. We had a couple landmarks to help with our bearings as we changed angles and position on the buck. A few short hours later, we had gotten to where I thought we would peek over a ridge and his bedding area would be around 150 yards away. Roo loaded a cartridge in the chamber, "It's go-time, girl!" I whispered as we snuck over the ridge. 

Suddenly, I noticed our prominent landmark, which was a black stump, was much closer than I anticipated. I froze and swallowed loudly. I motioned with my hands behind me for Roo to stop and get down. The buck's bed was only 125 yards away and there was a doe below us that had us pegged! Roo slid in front of me and positioned the rifle for a shot in case the buck stood up. Suddenly her calmness I had witnessed thus far was out the window! Roo was excited, breathing hard and alert! 

Blacktail doe

As the doe ran off, I saw some movement from the thicket where the buck laid which gave me confidence he was still there. "We may be here all day Roo waiting for this buck to get up" I whispered into Roo's ear. "OK"", was her response which made me happy that she was fine with the idea of sitting on the hillside for the next 7 or 8 hours. I burned a hole through the blackberries with my binoculars hoping to catch another glimpse of the buck. Fifteen minutes later I saw another glimpse, "I see him, I think he's up!" I said. The vegetation was so thick even standing up the buck was hardly noticeable from our angle. 

"That was fast!" Roo responded, probably relieved the buck decided t get up as the sun was getting warm on our backs. The next minute or two was a blur, but it went something like this:

 "There he is, he is gonna drop down where you can't see him anymore, got a shot?", 

"No!"

"Well, do you see his head?"

"Yah and his back" 

"Can you see where his front shoulder should be through the grass?"

"Yes"

"Shoot" "Now!"...the buck was just beginning to turn away unaware of our presence still.

" Now? "

"Ye.." "Ka-Boom!!!!!!"

All smiles

I watched the buck cartwheel back as I heard the report of a solid hit.

Taking the lead in search of the dead buck

Corrine walked up and found the buck. She was so proud of herself and excited that she was able to make it happen so swiftly and easily. I couldn't be more proud of Roo and the beautiful person she is growing up to be. I will always cherish our times together no matter what we are doing, but to be there with her on her first deer-hunting outing and for her to taste such sweet success on a fine basket-racked buck is going to be hard to beat in my books... 

eww, gross

"Dad, I never noticed how beautiful a deer really is up close"

The glory march through the "pokies"

Bearing the weight with a grin

This has been my favorite hunt this year, hands-down. Roo, thanks for your great attitude and wanting to be out there with me. I never heard one bit of negativity from you during our trips, you were always willing to go along for the ride happily. Your spontaneous bursts of laughter and weird stories helped make this a special hunt for me. You have a special gift, not many people can hang-out with me for more than a day and stay happy. (: I love you.