Birdshot and backlashes

In the early dawn frost of opening day, Don and Cindy Beans tiptoed quietly through the fir and aspen forest to their deer stand on the edge of a ridge, settled down and waited for daylight. A sound of footsteps caught their attention. A doe came past, moving along noiselessly. Don and Cindy were near their home adjacent to the Fernberg Road in a bucks-only area. The doe vanished. Then silence.From the distance, ravens called hoarsely, winging on their way in search of breakfast. Squirrels began to rustle about in the dry leaves.Cindy nudged her dad, spotting a deer moving slowly toward them. It was too far off to tell if it was a buck or a doe, so they simply waited. The deer vanished into a ravine, then emerged closer, the antlers glistening in the sunlight.“My hearts was beating so loud I was sure the deer could hear it,” Cindy recalled later. “I was sure it would run away.”Don gave a couple of grunts on his call and the deer froze in his tracks.Cindy slowly raised the muzzle of her Remington 20 gauge, lined the sights on the buck, squeezed off a shot…and missed. The startled buck began to move and Don gave another series of grunts. The buck slammed on the brakes. Cindy’s second shot dropped him and at 8 a.m. on opening day, that buck became a part of the 2004 Minnesota whitetail deer harvest, but with one notable detail. Cindy Beans is a 13 year-old school girl.In more civilized areas of the country, an eighth grade young lady bagging a buck on opening day, or any day, would probably be considered a rarity; but not necessarily around Ely where hunting and fishing are a way of life. Also, it was Cindy’s second hunting season. She hunted deer in 2003 as a 12-year-old, but didn’t get a shot. Luck, combined with skill, put venison on the table at the Beans householdThere is just a smidgen of embarrassment in the family, however. Both her dad and brother Rajib haven’t gotten a shot yet. Of course, there is still time. A full week is left. But the fact that the other two hunters in the family haven’t scored in no way diminishes Cindy’s good fortune.But luck is only a part. Cindy passed the six-week state Hunter Safety course in 2003, studying gun laws and gun handling and learning target shooting. She bagged her first duck that fall on a trip with her dad to North Dakota.But hunting is not her only pursuit. “Cindy is involved in numerous school activities,” notes her mother Joan. “She likes dancing, excels at volleyball and is looking forward to her second year on the Ely girl’s cross county ski team.”“We start dry land ski training this week,” Cindy points out. But she still intends to keep hunting whenever time and opportunity afford themselves, doing what she can to help her dad and brother to get their deer.Interest in outdoor sports comes naturally to the young lady. Don Beans is a well known Boundary Waters fishing guide and canoe outfitter in the Ely area. For over two decades he operated a trapline. In the summer, Cindy and her folks sometimes venture by boat or canoe on camping and fishing trips.In Deer Hunting Zone 1A, which encompasses Ely, there is just about a week left to the season which closes on Nov. 21. Most hunters are looking forward to a tracking snow for the final week. Reports indicate it has so far been an excellent season, but slightly less successful than 2003.But as far as a young hunter like Cindy Beans is concerned, it has already been a record season. There is nothing quite like a hunter’s first buck. It is an experience which happens only once. Veteran hunters, who have bagged dozens of deer, may forget many of them, but never their first buck.