About 6 months later, while I was struggling to fight against Pseudomonas, my passion for hunting overrode my instinct to stay home and sleep. I was out of wild game, and knew I needed some more if I was gonna get any stronger. My uncle Courtney reluctantly agreed to take me hunting, but said I could quit anytime. He agreed to drive me everywhere the pronghorn roamed, and said he wouldn't push me to do anything.
We were out the door by 5 am, and were at the ranch we were hunting at near Walden, Colorado at 7 am. There were pronghorn everywhere. I didn't think I'd have a problem hunting with all the pronghorn roaming around. I had several chances, but only took one shot which I missed by a few inches. The final chance I had, I was starting to feel weak and discouraged, but I just knew I'd get it that time.
I was laid down with the 243, staring through the scope at a lone doe. As soon as she turned broadside towards me, I aimed just behind her shoulder and fired. She immediately went down. We found her laying down in the sage about 30 yards away from us, and Sean drove the truck over to the doe. Within a half hour, we had the doe butchered and packed away. I only had a few minutes for pictures, before I let the men pack her into the cooler for me. I was feeling pretty weak and nauseous by then, and was sitting in the heated truck with a bottle of water and the windows down, but I was satisfied and had a little more hope.
My grandpa drove me home, and I had several severe nose bleeds on the way back, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. As soon as I got home, I took a few pills and went to bed. A week later, the cooler full of game arrived at my doorstep, and it included all of the meat except for the burger, which Courtney made for me a couple months later. Within a month, all 35 pounds of meat in that cooler was gone, and I was feeling a lot better too, so I returned to school (big mistake, honestly, but I didn't realize I caught Pseudomonas from the school). (talk more about Pseudomonas, life and death, etc.)
