McCaffrey Marcus McCaffrey ENG 101-130 Mr.

Neuburger 28 February 2012 Descriptive Essay Hunting Season Hunting has been a favorite and exciting hobby of mine for about half my life now, and the excitement never seems to fade away. I hunt for turkey, duck, coyote, raccoon, and other small game animals. Out of everything I hunt, deer would have to be at the top of the list for my favorite. Every opening weekend of deer season, my closest uncle, cousins, and friends, come camping with my dad and me at our familys farm on Flat Creek outside of a small town called Jenkins. I have looked forward to this weekend trip ever since I started hunting and it has become a tradition every deer season and will be for many to come. The Friday before opening day, and also the day we head down to the creek to set up camp, I am always itching throughout the day waiting for that last school bell to ring so I can

load up and head down. With my bags packed and tags bought, I am as happy as a kid in a candy store, and ready to spend some time with family and friends doing one of my favorite hobbies. Leaves are changing and theres a chill in the air, but we gather around the camp fire reminiscing on what might happen on opening day. The sun sinks slowly below the horizon bringing in the chilly temperatures. My cousin and I know we are going to be cold in our little camper that we always share. We constantly remind each other that its worth it. Morning cant come soon enough. I crawl out of my brittle bed first thing the next morning and head for the fire to warm up before packing up and heading to the stand.

McCaffrey Just before daylight we all load up on four wheelers and trucks, and head to our desired hunting location. Walking into the dark timber I slowly stumble over logs and rocks trying to be

quiet just in case there are deer in the area. It doesnt take long for me to realize that it will take a little longer for it to be light enough to be able to get a shot in the woods than it would in the open fields. I reach my tree stand and climb up to the top to begin my chilly wait. The sun seems to rise extremely slow, mainly because I am so anxious for it to shine its light on me to provide a little more warmth. When the sun reaches above the horizon its beam glares directly in my eyes making it difficult to see towards the east for any deer movement. After an hour of sitting, I continue scanning the woods all around me with no luck until I see what appears to be a shine in the distance between two trees. I raise my gun up hoping to have a better view through my scope, and sure enough about 75 yards away I see the sun shining off the fur coat of a good sized deer. When the adrenaline takes over and your nerves begin to cause you to shake it makes it rather hard to aim at your target. It doesnt matter whether its a doe or a buck I always get the same nervousness throughout my body, but when I saw the head of this deer pop around the trunk of a tree my jaw dropped. This was by far the biggest deer I have encountered in all my ten years of deer hunting. Waiting for him to turn broad side for a clear shot I load a bullet in my .30-06 rifle, take off the safety, aim the cross hairs just behind the front shoulder, and pull the trigger. The shot rang throughout the hollers and fields as I looked over the end of the barrel to see this beautiful animal lay right where he stood. Anxiously, I climb down from my stand and go to get my hands on my first bagged deer of the season. The rack seemed as big as a tree branch on this thing and is even bigger than I had expected. I couldnt wait to gut it, throw it on my four-wheeler, and show it off back at camp. I pull out my knife and make an incision up and down the belly. The blood and guts were hot on

McCaffrey my hands and the stinky steam smell rises out of the carcass straight into my face. Finished with gutting my deer, I drag it out of the woods and load it on the racks of my four-wheeler. With a big ego and a grin on my face, I pull into camp earlier than everyone else. Obviously, I was the only one with a kill so far. I stoked the fire, grabbed a snack, and warmed the coffee while waiting on my dad and the others to get back.

Pulling down the path was my dad, uncle, and cousin, and when they got out of the pickup they each had a smile on their face and I knew they were happy for me. Giving high fives to each other and taking a look at my ten point buck, I tell them the play by play of the hunt. I dont just look forward to this weekend every year for the hunt, making memories and spending quality time with friends and family is the best thing I can take away from the whole trip. Even if I were to not kill a deer all season, I would be as happy as a kid in a toy store because I got to spend my time with the ones that I hold close to my heart. For good food, fun times, and memory making this is the time for it. I couldnt be happier to be doing one of the things I love with the people I love.