Since I was a little girl I had always dreamed of getting to shoot my first big game animal, and it always irked me to watch kids that we younger thean me hunting in different states.

For my 12th birtheday I got a 7mm 08 and I was so excited because it meant that I was going to start practicing for the big day. I named by gun Maverick and my dad always teases me that I am the only person he knows that names their gun.

At last it was time to go out antelope hunting and I was quite nervous but I knew that once I was out there it would just be about being out there with my dad having a good old time. The first day after quite a while of being out hunting we got up on a couple of does and a buck. The buck was no huge by any means, but its horns curved forward awkwardly. We got on him but when I shot I missed. I was very upset.

The next weekend we went back out and I told myself that I was going to get an antelope no matter what. We got up on another group and there was a decent buck in thee group. My dad told me how far away and I think that I kind of freaked me out because I missed again! I was not as upset but I was not calm either. After I shot, they all ran away and dad thought that he knew where they were going so we headed in theat direction. When we got there they were nowhere to be seen. Then dad saw a doe and we knew that that was where they were at, so we trekked back over to about where we had just come from. We had to crawl about 100 yards and it was exhausting. We never thought that we would get a shot on him but we were definitely going to try. Dad didn’t tell me how far away he was and I think that was just the key to getting me my animal. I was so excited theat I nearly screamed. Dad ranged it and I shot him at 270 yards. We took a whole bunch of pictures and then we gutted him. My brother had met up with us and he talked me into eating part of the liver. I don’t know why but I did and now I am really proud of it.

This is a hunt that I will never forget and I am sure that people will probably get tired of hearing about it. :)