Daughter's first deer hunt

Most men want to have little boys when they get married and have kids. I was no exception. But God had different plans and blessed me with the two most beautiful little girls in the world. My oldest had started to take an interest in deer hunting so this year I decided to get her a youth permit. I had never let Emily shoot a real gun up until the week before the season opener. I got my 22 rifle that had a scope out of the gun safe so I could start her on something small. We set up a target at my friends house and she was hitting the bulls eye every time. She was liking it and ended up shooting almost all of my shells. I purposely did not let her shoot the 20 gauge she would be using until it was time to shoot a deer. I did not want to scare her. Plus she would not even feel it because of the adrenaline. On opening evening we went out and set up a ground blind. Pretty soon a few does came out and she was getting nervous. The wind was not in our favor and we never had one come close enough for her to shoot. It did not matter. She was having a blast and I was a proud father. The next day I took a nap but Emily woke me to get back out there early. We had switched guns to a muzzle loader so that we could shoot further. Again, several does came out but they were way out there. Emily watched them in excitement just praying they would come closer. As we watched over the field two does stepped out of the corner of the field. One of them was in shooting range but kept staring at the blind. She was very skittish. As I eased the gun up and put it on the shooting sticks, the doe broke and went back in the woods. No shot. Emily was upset but I told her that sometimes it just doesn’t work out. As daylight faded we got out and took down the blind. I looked up and there were four does out in the field. I decided to let Emily have a crack at one of them. The shot would be long and I estimated it at around 100 yards. It was too far for her but she wanted to try. I helped her steady the sticks and she was nervous and shaking like a leaf. The smoke flew out of the barrel and the shot did not hit its target. She got teary eyed and I assured her that there would be many years to come and I promised her we would get one next year. On the way home I asked her if she enjoyed the whole experience. She did but she still wanted to get one. I knew she was heart broken but couldn’t wait to go again. My daughter had just become a deer hunter. The fact that killing is not what it is all about but the time spent together. I will never forget those two days we spent together in the blind and I am looking forward to her first deer as I know she is.