It was spring of 2013, I was out on a nice warm day with  my cousin, Rylee.  I wanted to practice my shooting because a few weeks before a tragic incident occurred. My brother and I went to Archery World in downtown Vancouver to take archery lessons. My brother and I practiced all the time after we went to our lesson. It was a great experience. We wanted to become the best ones there.

 At the time, we lived on a farm. We had chickens, goats, horses, cows, dogs, pigs and a few more beasts roaming around. Rylee and I were out in the front yard. None of our crazy animals lived inside of the old barn. Inside, the walls were filled with broken down windows, and the floors were covered with holes and squeaky boards. The barn’s condition made it relatively hard to keep animals inside, saying it was very hazardous.

 To the left of the yard was a field. There was an empty field. The pasture was pretty big in size, lots of room to roam around. Next to the barn was a worn out silver gate. As you walked through the gate, you entered the large field. In the large field lived three cows, named Fern, Willard, and Moo Cow. The three four-legged animals were mean, they would chase you if you went anywhere near those feisty things.

         As fun as it sounds to live on a farm, it was not always the most exciting place to live. My cousin and I had to get creative on multiple occasions. On this cloudy afternoon, I thought of the best idea. I grabbed ahold of Rylee’s shoulders and asked her if she would shoot with me.

    “Sure,” she answered with a smile from ear to ear, “ Let’s do it!”

While Ry stayed behind, sitting in the grass, I went off to get the target. You know, the one I should have been shooting at? The target was inside the two-car garage. It was nearly three and a half feet tall, and thicker than Rylee and I’s heads put together. On the front had one large, red circle in the middle, this made it relatively easy to spot from a distance.

We both took turns shooting the bow and arrow It was my turn and I looked around and saw a bird. He was flying to the right, by our empty pasture. I probably should have took into consideration that this wouldn’t be the safest thing to aim for The little guy was flying right in front of me! I went to shoot and missed so I was really eager to shoot again. I tried one more time and missed again. I didn’t have enough time to give it another shot. The bird flew away, but my cousin and I instantly heard someone yell.

          “AAHHHH!”

We whipped around with fear in our big, brown eyes. We didn’t see anybody. As we were walking to the pasture to see if anyone was there, I noticed a figure in the distance. As we go closer I realized it was my dad. My dad was mowing the lawn on his John Deer tractor.Yet he was at a complete stop by this time. He sat completely still, staring down at the wheels of the tractor. After a few quick glances between Ry and I, we realized what had just taken place. We ran over there as fast as possible to see if he was okay.

I must have shot the arrow too high, resulting in the arrow to fly in my Dad’s direction. Thank God it hit the lawn mower and not my Dad. My Dad is tall, about six foot one, with short brown hair and ginger peach fuzz on his chin, and deep blue eyes.  It was a close call! The arrow landed inches from him, just nearly missing him.

It was terrifying, but it made me realize something. You should never shoot at live stock as an inexperienced shooter.Oh yeah, and don’t go shooting your daddy! Make sure you know where everyone is before you shoot.