How I Shot My First Buck (With My Pants Down!)

By Kelly Sheffer

I love the fall. The weather is still warm, the bugs have almost disappeared from the horizon, and the leaves are turning brilliant colors. One of the best times to be in the woods is during bow season!

Having been bow hunting for five years, I had not yet filled a tag. Opportunities had presented themselves, but I had passed on plenty of does and a few small bucks because it was still early in the season. This year I remembered those decisions and determined not to bypass any decent does or bucks. In fact, just two days earlier I had seen a 4-point buck just outside of my range, fighting with a 6-point in the neighbor’s back yard. I decided that if either of them came into range, I would take him.

I sat in my tree stand enjoying the weather and the woodland creatures when it hit me that I had to pee. You know that this is not an easy thing for a woman to do in a tree stand! I stood up, looked around and saw thirty turkeys walking single file through the woods directly towards me. I didn’t have a fall turkey license so all I could do was watch. I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself so I sat quietly.

Imagine having to pee real badly and waiting for all those turkeys taking their sweet time scratching around and you will understand my agony. One turkey walked right under my stand. After twenty minutes, they finally started to walk away. When they were thirty yards away, I couldn’t wait any longer. Ahhhh, RELIEF!

I have to tell you that I’m a petite woman: 5 feet tall and 110 pounds. Finding hunting clothes that fit me is darned near impossible! I have to wear two pairs of pants to keep my clothes from falling down. I never wear my camouflage hunting pants without another pair of pants underneath.

After my pee break, I pulled my first pair of pants up and, as I did, I noticed that 4-point buck I had seen earlier only fifteen yards away. I watched him watch the turkeys. I sat down quietly and quickly before realizing that I couldn’t shoot my bow from a sitting position. So I stood back up. All the while my camouflage pants were still circling my ankles.

I picked up my bow and drew back, but the buck was not at a suitable angle. So I waited and waited and waited for him to move into position. He started in towards me and stopped at seven yards. I remembered to bend at the waist, I took aim and I shot. He kicked and I saw the arrow and it looked like a perfect shot (a double-lunger). I watched him run twenty yards to the left and then I lost sight of him behind a big tree.

I could finally pull up my pants. I waited about thirty minutes and then climbed down the tree to find the arrow and follow the blood trail, except I couldn’t find either. I decided to walk in the direction where I had seen him flee. I didn’t find a thing.

With a heavy heart I started walking through the waist-high weed field. Then I saw some bright orange fletching with the buck still attached to it. I watched him for a few minutes to see if he was alive and nocked another arrow just in case he started to move, but he was down for good.

He ended up only fifty years from my stand and I indeed had made a double-lung shot. He had also broken two tines from his rack, undoubtedly from his recent fight with that 6-point.

This deer was my first buck, my first bow kill and, of course, the first buck I shot with my pants down!

They say you never forget your first; I will surely always remember mine.