Submitted by Chris Connors, KNOW Publications Coordinator
Last fall, I went on my first hunt in Wyoming for antelope with my special friend, Dave. It was a chance for me to learn about myself and what I am capable of.
In January of last year, I went to a BOW workshop and was introduced to target shooting and also began to get interested in hunting. Dave is an avid outdoorsman, so he spent lots of time with me over the spring and summer sharpening my shot pattern and teaching me about hunting. I bought a Browning .270 for my birthday and learned everything I could about that gun and the antelope we were planning to hunt in the fall. When the trip came, I was still unsure that I could shoot an animal. I was never against hunting, but I never thought I would want to do it because I have always loved animals—I even cried when I hit an opossum with the car!!!
On the morning of the hunt, I put on my camouflage, prepared my knapsack, and put the sling on my gun. Although we found several herds of pronghorn throughout the day, Arnie was the first buck I saw and I knew he would be the one I would take. Dave took the first buck that day, then my turn came. I made my way over the rocky ground around the base of a hill crawling on my belly for several hundred yards. I slowly rose to take a peek through my binoculars—I knew the herd was right around the other side of the hill. As I got up, a doe spotted me and stared me down for what seemed like an eternity, then she turned and ran and the rest of the herd followed suit—including Arnie!!! Some hunters may have taken the long shot and risked injuring the animal, but I remembered the most important lesson from BOW and Dave—take the time to get close enough to get a clean, one-shot kill and don’t risk hurting the animal. So, I began crawling on my belly again until I got within 200 yards and I took the shot. All of the target practice, learning about pronghorn antelope, and learning about myself came together in that single moment. I was filled with many emotions—success, excitement, accomplishment, awe, and sadness. I cried for a minute as I thought about what I had done, then I said a little prayer of thanksgiving for the life given to me. Above all of the preparation and planning for the hunt, Arnie taught me the most important lesson—respect for the life God has given to all of us. I have made a promise to myself that in the future, I will build my target skills, learn everything I can about the wildlife I will be hunting, and do whatever I can to promote conservation and knowledge of the natural world around us.
