Hey! Shelby and Emily recently took me hunting and I wanted to share my trip with you. It was a pretty fun day for me and I hope you enjoy reading about it. Jennie Byrd
On January 24, 2015, the day before my 40th birthday, I
went dog hunting for the very first time.
I was invited by my nephew, Chase Byrd and his fiancé Leigh Black. Their hunting camp, Persimmon Creek is up
above Atmore, AL in Excel and is about an hour away from our house. Shelby and Emily have gone a few times this
season and have had a great time. I had
no idea what to expect as my only hunting experience was sitting in a shooting
house while I wait on something to happen.
One of my birthday gifts was some girly hunting
camo! That was exciting since I did not
own anything of my own. They took me to
Bass Pro Shop and set me up. I got a She
brand fitted camo long sleeve base layer top.
Then a pair of pants, Scent-Lok Mayhem.
My jacket is the Scent-Lok HeartStopper with the pink embroidery!! It fits me and has pink! I love it.
Both are the Realtree Xtra camo pattern.
To top off the outfit they got me camo gloves. Those were Redhead and they were great! Very warm for sure. I really loved having clothes that fit me
better and did not look super bulky like when I borrow Shelby’s camo. I already own a set of Under Armor fleece
lined leggings and top for running on the super cold days and those were worn
underneath all of this new stuff. Added
tons of warmth with no extra bulk. I did
wear jeans and a sweatshirt between the layers since the morning was going to
be very cold.
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| My new camo |
So we had to get up to meet Chase and Leigh at 4:30 am
and that was not a big deal because I usually get up at 3:45 am to run. We got ready and went up to where Chase has
his dogs. When we got there they were
chasing a little run-a-way that had made a break for the open door when Leigh
was trying to get him in the box. I
think they spent close to 30 minutes chasing that dog from the pen and all over
the yard and even all the way back to our house. Poor Leigh even fell in a puddle when she
tried to grab the dog as it ran past her.
That was a sight to behold and I was a little concerned that this
happens every time and it did not seem like all that much fun. Apparently this is not a common occurrence
and once the dog was corralled they finished loading the other dogs and off we
went. I tried to sleep a little in the
truck on the ride up but about the time I fell asleep (we picked up Hardees for breakfast) we
were arriving at the camp .
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| Yummy Hardees at 5am |
When we got to the club everyone gathered in The Pit-a
dirt pit where you sign in and meet the hunt master before each drive. I had to laugh when I saw how they stored
their camp log book. It was in an old
microwave but I guess that works and keeps it safe and dry. We got signed in and waited to see where we
were going to go. The camp president,
Allan was great at putting us in good places to hopefully see deer. Each time he would set us on our stand he
would show us where we would be most likely to see a deer and where they tend
to cross the roads. The first drive
really caught me off guard. We were
right on a main road over looking the pit and it was cold. I really wanted to sit down and not be
standing up holding a gun. I had no idea
what to expect and was getting antsy already.
At one point with the drivers hollering and the dogs yelping it sounded
like a murder scene out of a horror movie.
We did not see a deer that drive but the dogs sounded really close. I think they actually changed direction at
the last minute and ran away from us if the sounds were any indication.
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| Microwave / sign-in station |
Now I was into this!
The second drive Allan set us out on a road going up a hill. We were about 3/4 of the way up the hill and
there was a small little creek that crossed the road at the bottom of the
hill. It was so pretty and the sun was
out, birds were everywhere. It was such
a beautiful day. This one took a little
longer to get everyone in place before the drive started. I was using a vintage Belgium made Browning
12 gauge automatic shotgun. I actually
started getting sleepy here and forgetting that I was standing outside holding
a gun. I kept nodding off and startling
myself. At one point I was shocked to
wake up and find myself falling forward!!
That was good stuff. I decided to
sit down for a bit and “rest”. This time
the dogs got close to us multiple times and one of the the drivers and a dog
crossed the road a little ways down the hill from us. There were a few times the dogs sounded like
they were fixing to run the deer right out of the woods into us. We did not see a deer this time either but
just really enjoyed the spot we were in for all of the beauty around us.
After this drive we went back and ate some lunch while we waited for
the third drive to start. There were
people looking for dogs that had not come back.
The group gathered in the pit were mostly men and boys with a few
ladies. Me and Emily sat in the truck
listening to music and eventually got in the truck with Leigh and played some
games on the phones. As people started
rolling back in I was getting excited about going again. This time Allan put us on the main road out
of the pit just up from the big creek crossing.
We were at a fire break and checking the area around us. Allan had showed us the most likely place for
the deer to cross and I kept my focus there when the dogs started running. All day Shelby had been telling me to be
ready to go if the deer come to us. I
was not taking that very seriously and was not really holding my gun
ready. The dogs were getting really
close and he reminded me to get ready. I
got the gun up and all of a sudden he is telling me there is a deer and I see
it fly across the road right where Allan said it would cross. It gets into the woods and of course my gun
was not ready. I got the gun up and look
and there is another one quick as a flash.
I aimed and see the third deer streak across and this one I shot
at. I did not hit it but I shot twice
and was probably close (I tell myself).
That was awesome! I was so bummed
that I did not hit the deer but I have never shot at anything moving before and
these deer were moving!! Chase’s friend
Landon rode by and asked who shot and I was excited to say I had but hated to
say I missed. He was very encouraging
and went on down the road. Everyone we
talked to was excited that I was able to see one and take a shot.
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| Me and my side kick right before I shot at a deer |
Emily kept telling me that since I shot but missed they
were going to want to cut my shirt tail.
I was very nervous about that since I had on my brand new hunting
clothes. Thankfully no one brought that
up!
I was definitely not ready to go home after this so we
decided to stay for one more drive. We
were put in a completely different location this time and it was beautiful. Where we parked was down a little road
and we were able to walk out to the main road or go back and walk down to a pretty
little bottom. We chose to walk down to
the bottom. When we first started
walking we heard something in the woods and stood there trying to figure out if
it was a deer. The woods were
very thick and whatever was there moved on so we kept walking. As we got down towards the bottom of the
trail we could hear the dogs and drivers getting close. We waited and eventually they changed
direction and moved away from us so we headed back to the truck. We hung out for a bit and it started getting
too dark to safely hunt. We decided it
was time to head for the house as we had an hour drive back.
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| Shelby and the ride home |
I had a great day and look forward to going back again
next year! I was so glad that I went and
got to spend the day with my husband, daughter and Chase and Leigh. Leigh even killed a doe that day. I wish I could have hit the deer I shot at but it was
not bad for my first time. I will work
on this and hopefully get a chance to get a deer next time. All in all it was a beautiful day and a great
day before my birthday!
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| Chase's dogs |
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| Hanging out in the truck taking selfies |
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| Chase and Leigh |
