What was my very first deer like?

My mind drifts back. What was my first deer like?

My first deer was taken with a Texas Heart Shot at about 10 feet. I was hunting opening day of Kentucky's rifle season back in the Eighties. At about 10 AM I got up to stretch and answer Nature's Calling. There was a nice stump close by and I decided to sit down and rest awhile. I had a new grunt call, and I picked it up and blew it.

I blew three times on the grunt and was stashing it back in my shirt when all hell broke loose. The stand of cedars immediately uphill from me exploded with a herd of deer running straight at me--at least half a dozen. They ran so close to me that one hoof print was left in the dirt between my boots. It was a mixed bag of does and young bucks. My rifle butt was on the downhill side of me; the barrel was propped across my legs. The first few deer ran straight at me and I leaned backwards as one of them side-swiped me. That's the one that left the print between my boots. They all ran down the hillside and stopped at the edge of the creek. At short range, a small buck offered me a perfect shot.

I regained my balance and swung the rifle around. I had forgotten to crank the magnification back from 9X to 3X so when I took a sight on the buck, all I had was a patch of fur. The fur behind the front leg was moving slightly, so I followed it. What I was not aware of was the doe at the tail end of the herd had come from behind me and crossed right in front of my sight. She was running toward or a little ahead of the buck just as I touched it off.

At about 10 feet, I sent a round of 180 Grain 30-06 into her rump. It entered just off-center, and traveled parallel to the spinal column before exiting through the spine between the shoulder blades. Ooops. The buck and the rest ran off, and I was left with a very dead doe.

It's true. Everyone gets their deer cherry popped one way or the other; mine was being nearly run down by a whole herd of stampeding deer.