Taylor Drury's First Deer
Editor’s Note: No, Taylor Drury, the daughter of Mark Drury of Drury Outdoors, wasn’t wrapped in Mossy Oak when she came home from the hospital. But according to Taylor, “There is a picture of me hanging at home of me in Mossy Oak when I was 6-months old. So, I feel like I was born in Mossy Oak.” Now 18-years old and a freshman in college, this week Taylor Drury will talk about growing-up as a hunter.
I never can remember a time when I didn’t wear Mossy Oak. All my friends who came home with me would gravitate toward that picture of me in Mossy Oak when I was 6-months old. My family always has been a part of Mossy Oak, and the Mossy Oak family always has been a part of my family. I know all the people at Mossy Oak, and I am really proud to wear their camo. As I’ve grown up, I guess you can say the people at Mossy Oak have helped to raise me, because they’ve always been with the Drury family.
I’ve hunted with my dad, Mark Drury, since I was 8-years old and have hunted every season with him. I look forward to going hunting with him, even as a college freshman. Even when I was little and couldn’t shoot, my dad would dress me in Mossy Oak, and I’d sit in the stand with him while he hunted. When I took my first deer, then I began to understand what hunting was all about, what my family business meant, and why my dad loved hunting so much. I am 18 now.
I took my first deer 10-years ago. I could tell my dad was nervous and didn’t want me to get bored. He brought along a big bag of snacks, he let me take my video game with me, and I also took some music. This is what I remember most about that hunt. We were hunting in Kirksville, Missouri, on John Williams’ farm. Mr. Williams is one of my dad’s best friends. While we were sitting in a blind, when we saw a doe, my dad started coaching me on how to get my gun up, put my cheek on the stock and how to aim. Looking back now, I know Dad was trying to calm me down, because I really didn’t know what to expect.
But even as long ago as that was, I never will forget the experience of taking that first doe. I thought it was so awesome to finally see and feel everything that my dad had been teaching me for so-many years. I didn’t know who was more proud – me or my dad, when I took my first deer. I was shooting a Thompson Center .223, back then. When I walked-up and saw that doe lying there, I was excited, because I had gone out scouting with my dad, listened to him talk to me about hunting, seeing and learning the signs that deer make and then watching the deer through the binoculars. So, when I finally took my doe, knowing I had done everything right that my dad had taught me, I just thought how awesome it was to finally take a deer and have a better understanding of why my dad hunted.
