Hi, my name is Braden Burns. I want to tell you a little bit about my first deer!

Ever since I went hunting with my stepdad, Todd, I’ve totally loved it. My birthday came by and I got a 20 gauge.

At that point, I took the hunter education course and passed with a 93% after studying very hard. I was thrilled, and I was ready to go hunting for my first time!

During firearm season I wasn’t able to take a good shot on a buck or a doe with my firearm. Now it was muzzleloader season. The muzzleloader I used had never been shot.

We got out to the tree stand at 6:15 a.m. A doe walked past at 6:30. I couldn’t shoot it because it was before legal shooting hours.

Again, I sat and wait.

After another 45 minutes, there were two does about 100 yards away but too far away for me to shoot. All of a sudden, a four-point buck came out of nowhere. I made a “doe bleep,” and it froze and looked me straight in the eyes. I aimed, took my time and shot him! He ran 50 yards and just dropped.

At this point I was shaking from excitement. I couldn’t believe it. I finally shot my first deer!

We waited the longest 15 minutes of my life before we tracked him down. It took a few minutes before I spotted the blood trail. By looking at this blood we knew he was down. We tracked the blood for 50 yards. There he was lying with his head between his legs. I then filled out my “tag” and put it on the deer.

Here’s a picture of my successful hunt!