Did I Miss Him?

Did I Miss Him?

By Bailey Dodd

Most people might think that middle schoolers can’t or don’t learn from their mistakes. From my experience, there are many lessons to be learned from hunting. My name is Bailey Dodd. I’m a 13-year-old girl, in 8th grade. I have been hunting, trapping, and fishing with my Dad since I was two. Since then, with a firearm, I have successfully harvested two turkeys, one whitetail doe, two whitetail bucks, one coyote, several rabbits, and my personal favorite, a chocolate phase brown bear. Up until this year, I have always harvested my animals with one clean shot. But this year was a little different.

My whole body was shaking, I took a long deep breath. He was approaching. As I watched him leap over the fallen fence, I drew my bow. He was only 15 yards away, so I stayed calm and still as a good hunter should. I took another deep breath and pulled the trigger on my release. I watched the arrow as it flew over the back of this deer until it disappeared into the grass. I felt my heart sink to my stomach. I sighed as I looked at my Dad replaying that moment over and over again in my head.

My Dad is great at being prepared and has done a wonderful job teaching me to be prepared, no matter what the situation may be. “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail” is the motto I’ve been growing up on my entire life. We have always done a great job to keep our firearms and bows cleaned and stored properly and safely. We always practice shooting before we go out hunting and if something isn’t working right, we get it fixed before the hunt. The number one priority to owning and handling a weapon is to treat it like it’s going to go off, or the arrow is about to fly.

In 2015, when I was about seven years old, I got my first compound bow. It is a Diamond Infinite Edge Pro. I was so excited to shoot it, so any chance I got, I asked my Dad if we could go out and shoot. Shooting a bow just felt natural to me, almost like I’d been doing it my whole life. Pretty soon after I got my bow we started building a new house. We were so busy that I rarely had an opportunity to practice shooting my bow, but we knew once we got moved in, we were going to start shooting again.

Finally, one Friday in November of 2021, my dad scheduled an appointment to get my bow sighted in. After school that day we hopped in the truck and headed to the bow shop. We met with the bow tech, and he helped us get it all sighted in. I was strong enough to pull enough pounds to shoot a deer. We decided to go out to the shop, and I would shoot about 15 arrows, only using field points. Field points are used for target practice, and broadheads are used for hunting. I heard the SMACK of the arrow every time it hit the target. The bow was ready for hunting.

That night my Dad and I were confident that putting the broadheads on instead of field points wouldn’t affect my shooting. Just to be sure, we were going to find a piece of styrofoam to practice shooting. The only piece of foam we found was in an old outdoor dog kennel with a tree growing through it. Because the foam was difficult to get to, we made the decision that I wouldn’t shoot a practice arrow. My Dad and I were confident it wouldn’t make a difference because I was only shooting out to 15 yards.

As it turned out, we were wrong. That night my arrow flew right over the back of a nice buck. I had never missed an animal until that day. My Dad said, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.” I knew he wasn’t mad, but I was. I was so disappointed in myself. The shot felt great. It was perfect left and right. I made 110% sure to follow the three most important rules of bow hunting… Form, Focus and Follow Through. Maybe I just got buck fever, maybe it was because I hadn’t shot my bow in several years, or maybe it was the broadheads.

My Dad and I thought long and hard about whether the broadheads really did affect the shot. So we went home in hopes that it was just the broadheads and not my shooting. I sat down in a chair and shot from the same distance, 15 yards. I heard the SMACK of the arrow as it hit the target. I followed through, lowered my bow, and to my surprise, my arrow hit high. I was excited, but at the same time I thought to myself that I should have been prepared. especially for my FIRST bow hunt. In the end we got my bow sighted in correctly for the broadheads.

Everything that happened that day made me motivated to practice so I wouldn’t miss again. I practiced for multiple days and shot many arrows. Finally, I was ready. When I got home from school the following week on a Tuesday afternoon it was time to go hunting. It was already starting to get dark, so I hurried to get my camo on. We jumped into the blind and got all set up.

Twenty minutes later a doe came out into the field to feed. She lifted her head to look back into the timber. I slowly turned my head around and there was a nice buck coming in. I quietly grabbed my bow, and once he was almost into frame I drew back. Still holding my bow, I took a deep breath, he started moving into my shooting lane. He stopped, I took another deep breath, and SMACK. Perfect shot! He ran into the timber, and we heard him fall. I started crying happy tears and gave my Dad a big hug. We were so excited, and I felt so proud.

This experience really made me realize that being prepared is really the most important step in any area or aspect of life. I knew I should have been prepared, but I wasn’t, and that’s why I missed. Pointing out or realizing your own mistakes is always a good learning resource. Knowing what you did wrong will always improve you for the future. Every time I think of the night that I missed the buck; I will always know that I should have been prepared. “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail.”