My first deer

It was a cold September morning in 1995. My grandpa was taking me hunting for the first time. It was a family tradition to go Thanksgiving weekend to "the spot" It was in the Hoosier National Forest just outside of Birdseye Indiana. Many deer had been taken from there and I was hoping to get one of my own. It was still dark when we got to the woods. We suited up and loaded our guns then headed in. After getting settled in my tree stand I waited for daylight. It felt like forever, the leaves were rustling all around me but I couldn't see anything. The sun began to peek over the pine thicket and I began to see the beauty of the place. It was cold and my feet were going numb, but just then the forest erupted with gunfire. By this time it was almost 8 am when I heard another shot. When I looked in the direction of the shot I seen a deer 35 yards in front of me. I can still see him standing there eating acorns and wagging his tail. It looked huge to me and I knew I was going to get him. I slowly stood up and brought my dad's 20 gauge single shot shotgun up to my shoulder. I tried to aim at the front shoulder but I was shaking so much it was very difficult. I took the safety off and pulled the trigger. The smoke was so thick I couldn't see if he went down or not. I waited for what seemed like forever before I decided to check it out. I was so excited that i nearly jumped out of my stand. I headed to where I seen him and there he lay. My shot placement was a bit off, severed his spine, but it got the job done. After dragging it out of the woods we took it to the weigh station and it weighed in at 95 pounds. It was just a small button buck, but I was proud of it.