I still remember my first deer. I was not like most Natural State hunters, growing up almost exclusively hunting ducks and quail. When I went to college, however, that all changed.
One of my college buddies, and still my best friend to this day, offered to take me to the deer camp where his family members had long hunted. I was a novice deer hunter at the age of 20, but I was more than willing to learn from what the older heads in the camp had to teach me.
More than one season later, I finally pulled the trigger. However, the hunt was far from over.
I found blood, but I lost the trail where the buck had entered the woods. Darkness and rain fell. By morning, any such evidence had been washed away. So, starting from where I left some tissue paper at the edge of the woods, we headed in two directions that the old-timers said were the most likely travel routes.
An anxiety-filled hour later, we found my first deer. He was only a spike, but at the time, does were not legal for me to shoot with modern weapons. From the smile I cracked in some of the after-hunt photos, you would have thought I had taken the biggest, baddest buck in the woods.
That was more than two decades ago, but similar scenes play out each season for beginning and youth deer hunters across the state.
For instance, the college buddy and friend I told you about — well, one of his cousins took a doe earlier this year near Pangburn. That youngster is barely in his double-digit years, but that first-deer smile he offered looked decidedly familiar.
One hunter’s tale
One of the more intriguing first-deer stories I’ve recently heard is that of Caleigh Martin, a 12-year-old girl who attends Bethel Middle School in the Bryant School District.
She is representative of so many hunters who have savored that inaugural success, whether they be from Alexander or Arkadelphia, Beebe or Batesville, Conway or Clinton.
Caleigh is the daughter of David and Crystal Martin. Her father is vice president of First72 Cyber LLC, a cyber-security company headquartered in Little Rock, while her mother owns MartinNestDesigns.com, an e-commerce company. Caleigh has three younger siblings: sisters Cassidy and Camryn, 5 and 11, respectively; and brother Dawson, 8.
It is her father and her paw-paw, she said, who have spurred her interest in the outdoors, with the latter name referring to her grandfather Bryan Martin of Warren, who also happens to be the mayor of the south Arkansas city famous for its yearly pink-tomato festival.
After getting gun-safety training from her father, Caleigh trekked south with him to Paw-Paw’s for the early youth hunt. It would be her first time deer hunting.
The anticipation
“I was nervous about holding the gun at first,” Caleigh admitted, “but I felt better about it once I got on the deer stand. I was also excited about getting to go hunting for the first time and hoped for a chance to shoot a deer.”
Then, she added, “I liked getting checked out of school early on Friday.”
Indeed, David Martin arrived to check Caleigh out around 11:30 a.m. on the eve of the youth hunt and their trip to Calhoun County. After all, there had to be time to ride Paw-Paw’s Rhino ATV around the property and prepare for the next day’s hunt.
“The weather was nice and perfect for being out of school and in the woods,” Caleigh remembered. “We drove to our land near Harrell and put chairs in our stands. The roads on our land were wet and muddy, and we almost got stuck near my uncle Brent’s deer stand. Dad said that was the place Paw-Paw got stuck last year and had to call Mr. Melvin to come winch him out.”
From the deer woods, father and daughter headed to the camp house on the Ouachita River. There, Paw-Paw cooked dinner, and talk began of where to hunt the next morning, of where young Caleigh would be most likely to see some deer.
“We stayed up late waiting on Mr. Brad [Cicero] and Rachel to show up. My dad invited them to come hunt with us this year. Rachel goes to school with me, and we are good friends.”
Murphy’s law
As is usually the case the next morning at deer camp, 4:30 came exceedingly early. Following a breakfast of eggs, biscuits and bacon,
Caleigh and her dad tried to beat the forecast rain and get to their intended hunting grounds, which were about 30 minutes from camp.
“We talked about all the deer we were seeing on the way to the land,” Caleigh said. “Once we got through the gate at our land, my dad let me drive the Rhino out to the deer stand. We went through a big creek with water in it, and that was fun!
“It was still dark when we got to the stand, and we quietly walked up the steps and tried to be really quiet so we would not scare any deer away. Dad loaded the gun for me and told me which way I should look.”
Father and daughter each had a shooting lane to survey as the rain and wind arrived and provided the hunting duo with a chilly greeting by blowing raindrops into their roofed stand. After about 45 minutes of getting wetter and colder, they decided to leave.
A text message to her father sent them on a detour to get Mr. Brad’s truck out of the mud.
“Dad and I drove the Rhino over to the place where Paw-Paw had gotten stuck and found Mr. Brad and Rachel stuck in the same spot,” Caleigh said.
The foursome soon found the confines of David’s truck to be much more hospitable than the mud, muck and blowing rain. They then drove for assistance from a neighboring deer camp, hoping to use chains and separate Mr. Brad’s truck from the mud.
Hunters at the camp warned them that the mud was pretty bad, and the exercise might require a winch. With both trucks soon stuck, the Martins and Ciceros were soon quite happy that David had told the other hunters to come look for them if they were not back in about an hour.
Three-plus hours later, after getting in touch with Paw-Paw and Mr. Melvin, the situation finally reached its ending as the men returned to the camp to pick up Caleigh and Rachel, who were left there to keep them out of the harsh weather.
“Dad said that Mr. Melvin’s truck got stuck, too, and they had to winch all three trucks out. Mr. Melvin said that everyone could tell we had been through that road in our trucks now. He sure was nice to come help get the trucks out of the mud,” Caleigh said, then added, “I told Dad he could never go down that road again.”
Hits — and misses
After getting back to their own deer camp, the Martins devoured some lunch, warmed up and dried off. As Murphy’s law would have it, by that time the rain had stopped, tempting the hunters to try their luck again that afternoon.
“Dad said the deer would probably be moving since the weather had changed. We loaded up in the truck and drove back to the land,” Caleigh said, noting that the large number of deer they saw on the way had both her and her dad excited and expecting to see several deer while on the stand.
Quietly, the pair crept their way to the same stand where they had hunted in the morning and made their preparations. It did not take long for the deer to appear.
“Dad showed me a big doe and helped me get the gun up to shoot at it. I was nervous — and shot at it. Dad said I shot over the top of it and that we needed to be still so we could see other deer,” Caleigh said.
About 15 minutes later, another big doe appeared in the shooting lane her father was tending. Caleigh watched the deer feed in their direction, and her father helped her get her gun ready for the shot.
“I had trouble finding the deer in the scope at first. I moved around a little and then saw the deer through the scope. It looked up at me for a second and then started eating again. Dad said to shoot it once it turned to the side. The deer turned sideways, and I took a shot. The deer jumped and then ran a few feet before it went into the tall weeds,” the young hunter said.
An excited father told his daughter she had hit the doe, and high-fives were exchanged. An eternity later — or about 10 minutes in post-shot time, they unloaded the gun and got down to find her deer.
It took a few minutes to find any blood, but once the evidence was discovered, the trail led them to the doe. But, it wasn’t a doe.
“I was so happy to see that I had killed my first deer and was yelling, ‘I got it.’ Once we found
it, we realized it was a button buck. I felt much better about killing a buck than a doe. It was the greatest hunt ever,” Caleigh summarily said.
The rest of the story
Since then, young Caleigh has gone back to Paw-Paw’s several times. She took a big doe one day after counting 22 deer from her grandfather’s stand before pulling the trigger on Deer No. 2. She was also reminded of the frustration that can come with hunting when a big six-pointer provided her only a glimpse before jumping back into the woods.
“I was upset that we could not get a shot at the buck and told Paw-Paw that the next deer that comes out is getting shot,” Caleigh said. “About 20 minutes later, a big doe came out to the food plot, and Paw-Paw helped me get the gun up and pointed at the deer. I shot her right behind the front leg, and she went down right there.”
What happened next offered some insight for this young hunter. After talking with her paw-paw and her dad, Caleigh agreed that the best use of this deer was to donate it to a needy family in Saline County. That was after Caleigh’s first two deer went to Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry (www.arkansashunters.org).
“I gave my deer to the Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry because I want to help people,” Caleigh explained, then added, ‘I’m now hunting for a big buck to shoot and hang him up in my room.”
While still in the infancy of her hunting career, Caleigh said she has already learned how enjoyable hunting can be, and how Paw-Paw’s land has lots of deer.
Furthermore, she said, “I like watching other wildlife in the woods, and just being out there with my paw-paw is fun.”
That sentiment also carried over to her advice for other youth hunters: “Don’t be scared or nervous about going hunting. It is fun being outdoors and watching all of the animals in the woods.”
Staff writer James K. Joslin can be reached at (501) 399-3693 or jjoslin@arkansasonline.com.