Today’s great guest post from longtime BIG DEER supporter Nate Grossman. Thanks Nate!
Hi Mike: I wanted to write you about my beautiful wife, Makayla, the mother of my gorgeous baby girl. I’m definitely proud of her, and I definitely consider this bragging!
October 2015 was her first experience deer hunting. She knows how passionate I am about it, and we got her an early muzzleloader tag so we could share some time in the woods together.
Our hunting plans happily took a back seat after we found out we would soon become parents, but we still managed to get out a few times in ‘15. Makayla’s first season ended with a thrilling but unsuccessful last day/last light stalk on a big 9-point. We got busted by a doe group when we were still 150 yards out, and the effects of adrenaline and exertion combined to result in a clean miss when she took her last-chance shot.
Fast forward to Saturday evening of Iowa’s 2016 shotgun opener. Makayla was planning on being picky about what she put her tag on. We snuck into an elevated blind on a cut corn field and got settled in by 2:30. At 4:00 she spotted the first does in the woods. I glassed them, and as I turned to whisper something to Makayla, I glanced over her shoulder to see a big buck jump the fence into the field!
She got turned and settled in. I asked her if that was the one she wanted. She said, “Yes!” I whispered a few words of encouragement. She took up the slack in the trigger… I whispered, “WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! There’s a bigger deer in the woods.”
It was the buck she had missed the season before! He jumped into the field and sauntered in to 25 yards. She smoked him with a quartering-to shot and he tipped over 30 yards later.
I don’t think the excitement has lessened for either of us in the week since the hunt. Knowing Makayla busts her back caring for our baby girl and working nights to help make ends meet, and then getting to see her perseverance rewarded with a little redemption on a great 5½-year-old buck… You could say I’m one proud man!—Nate
Stories like this—real, genuine and heartfelt from hard-working, hard-hunting people–epitomize what BIG DEER is all about. Great job Makayla…and what a perfect shot!
Great job Makayla! Congrats on a great buck.
Nicely done, both of you. Is it not just as rewarding to be with someone you helped harvest a trophy? Some of my most memorable outings have been when I was with someone else as they took game and I was not even carrying a gun.