Well the season has begun in Connecticut and it's been a great start. I originally had taken off opening day, but after looking at the weather and seeing the next day having a 15 degree drop in temperature and a front moving through I decided to switch my day off.

On that first day I made sure to get into the woods extra early so I could set up my camera equipment. Unfortunately, right before first light I heard some noise behind me as I was setting up my tree arm base and turned to just make out a deer in the shadows - that proved to be the one deer I would see that morning.  That afternoon a steady rain moved in and nothing showed up. It was getting dark so I packed up and climbed down from the stand. As luck would have it I jumped a deer on the way back to the truck and another one right at the truck. It was too dark to make out if these deer were bucks or does, but it was good to at least know deer were in the area.

Friday morning I decided to hunt before work. I slipped into a thick bedding area and the wind was just perfect. Around 7:00am I caught movement in the thicket and watched as a deer quickly headed my way. I grabbed my bow and stood up just in time to see the doe walk out of the thicket and jump the stone wall in front of me. With the doe 25 yards away I drew back, picked a spot behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The deer went about 40 yards before crashing and I had my first deer of the season!

"Sure enough at about 6:30pm my brother turned to tell me a deer was making its way up the ridge towards us."

On Saturday I returned to the woods with my brother on his first bowhunt. Last year I took my brother on his first ever deer hunt and he was able to take a nice buck with his slug gun. It was enough to get him hooked on deer hunting. This past summer he took his bow safety course and started shooting one of my dad's old bows. We practiced all summer long and I got him up in a tree stand to get used to being up in a tree and shooting from the stand.

While no deer showed that morning, we had some better luck in the afternoon. After about an hour in the stand I caught movement in a bedding area about 100 yards away and told my brother to get his bow ready. Within 15 minutes the two does made their way towards us. I filmed the big doe as she fed closer and closer to us. When she got to about 25 yards my brother grunted to stop the deer, but the wind was swirling and she turned and walked off, never giving him a shot.

I told my brother not to get discouraged as the deer would likely come back as it got closer to dark. Sure enough at about 6:30pm my brother turned to tell me a deer was making its way up the ridge towards us. I put the camera on the deer and watched as it made its way towards us. At one point it looked as if something spooked the deer as it took a few quick steps and then changed directions. This proved to be the deer's fatal mistake as it came closer and closer with each step. At about 10 yards my brother stopped the deer and let his arrow fly. We watched as the deer went down and my brother shook with excitement as the adrenalin flowed. It was his first bowkill and I had it all on film!

It was definitely a great experience and one I know we'll both never forget. Stay tuned for the upcoming video featuring Derek as he takes his first whitetail with a bow.