Dad was one proud Papa as he savored the moment -- his first deer with a bow.

After we'd both finished hyperventilating, I hugged him and asked, "Do you realize what you just did?" I doubt that he did because, amazingly, he went straight back to playing his Gameboy SP, as if nothing had happened. It was an unbelievable moment that all bowhunting parents want to experience with their children. Not only did I witness it -- I videotaped it!

Now that Ryan had his first deer, I wanted nothing more than to shoot a deer myself. Not wanting to disturb the area, we stayed in the blind and didn't retrieve Ryan's deer right away.

Soon, darkness started to creep in, hurried along by an approaching rainstorm. Just after 7 p.m., a spike, some young does, and a big doe trotted down a trail that would bring them past our blind. I had my sights on the big doe. My dad does some taxidermy work, and I thought, Wouldn't it be neat to have our deer heads mounted together?

With light fading fast, the doe stopped broadside at 25 yards. Quickly, I drew and released. As the arrow flashed through her, she bucked and ran out of sight into the thick laurel.

After the shot, we exited the blind and immediately found both of our arrows. We radioed Josh's guides, Bob Beasley and Matt Aide, and as we waited for them, I had Ryan start tracking his first deer, even though the deer lay only 20 yards away.

"Aw, heck, Ryan, let's just get over there to your deer," I said, too ex-cited to prolong the process. I hug-ged him again and shook his hand until it nearly fell off.

Ryan could not stop grinning. "I did it," he said. "I did it!"

Rich, my dad, gets ready to enter the ground blind in which he shot his first-ever whitetail with a bow.

Later, things got even better for Ryan when we learned that the St. Louis Cardinals had won the National League pennant that same night. The Cardinals are Ryan's team, so what a day for my little guy. He'd shot his first deer, and his team was going to the World Series. I think he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow!

I, however, still didn't have my deer, and rain had begun to fall. Several of us searched for almost two hours in the wind and rain, but the blood trail had all but disappeared, and our flashlight batteries were dying. We had no choice but to come back at first light in the morning.

When we got up to resume the search, I didn't have the heart to wake Ryan. With all of the excitement the night before, he had been up late and needed the extra rest. Heading out at first light, I remained confident that my hit was good and that we'd find my doe. Bob and Matt dropped J.J. and me off where we had ended our search the night before, and they took off to help George track a deer.