I killed my first deer while I was pregnant with my first child. I was very pregnant at seven months, waddling out to catch a glimpse of a deer. I never expected to see one but just after daybreak,a small buck grazed his way into the field I was watching. I waited until he in just the right spot and pulled the trigger on my rifle. He went down on the spot. I was ecstatic. I jumped up and down, as much as my protruding tummy would allow. Then I went after my truck, time to load him up. I retrieved the truck and got to him out in the field, I backed up to where he was and climbed out on the tailgate and hoisted him into the truck.

Now this was back when you still had to take your deer to a checkpoint here in Kentucky. My parents owned a little store on Cave Run Lake and I wanted to take my first deer there to be checked in. There was only one problem, I had an appointment with my midwife in thirty minutes.

The only option for me was to call and reschedule my appointment. I wasn’t going to miss a minute of my glory over killing my first deer. So I return home and call the office. When the midwife answered the phone, I informed her that I wouldn’t be able to make my appointment because I had killed a deer. She asked if I was ok, which puzzled me. I’m fine, I responded, why wouldn’t I be. She said, “Well, you hit a deer.”

I laughed out loud. I didn’t hit it with my car, I explained to her, I killed it with a gun.

“I’ve been delivering babies for a long time but this is a first for me.” She told me.

So I rescheduled my appointment and went on to my parent’s to check my deer in and bask in my moment.

The day came for my next appointment came and I took my midwife a picture of me with the deer, my pregnant belly dominating the photo. She had been telling everyone about the woman that shot the deer when she was pregnant. Back then it wasn’t too common for women to be out hunting with the guys, especially not in the shape I was in. But that never stopped me, I repeated the feat two years later, pregnant once again.

For more humorous hunting stories, check out my new book, Hunting with Hope, now available at Amazon.