First deer is in the freezer...mmmmm!.....venison!

My first deer of the season is in the freezer...a mature, well-fed doe that was traveling with a group of four other, smaller, deer.

The other three deer came right under my stand and milled around about 10 feet from the base of my ladder stand. She, on the other hand, circled around and, with nose to the ground, followed my steps down the path toward my stand, coming in behind me. Luckily, I brought the crossbow instead of the compound bow, so twisting around for a shot wasn't a big problem. She ran about 150 yards and then collapsed. Due to the excessive temperatures (80 plus degrees in October, fer cryin'outloud), we had to butcher and freeze her immediately. We corned two roasts, had the inside tenderloins for supper and boned and froze the rest of the meat.

Good shot, quick kill, meat in the freezer...it just doesn't get any better than that.