Let’s see, where was I? Oh yeah, it was 1300, I was finally warm, I was wide awake and I was full of Snickers. It was time for the deer to show up. And show up it did. A fawn appeared on the plot right where I’d watched them come out all season. It spent the next 15 minutes eating turnips before it decided it was time to go back to bed, but instead of going back into the timber from where it came it decided to come over to my side of the plot and go down into the dense cedars.
It passed in front of me at 15 yards, cut my trail and kept on walking. Well, that was a start. I had been texting back and forth with Winterkill the guy who was gracious enough to let me befoul his pristine hunting ground, stink up his cabin, use all his firewood and drink all his bourbon. He was trying to decide if he wanted to go hunting or not. Based on what I was seeing, or better put not seeing, he had decided to stay home.
I sat there in the stand contemplating all the problems of the world waiting for it to be 1400 so I could have another Snickers. Just when I was reaching into my pack for my hourly reward two more fawns came out right where they were supposed to and this time following them was momma. The three of them did what I had seen hundreds of times before; they grazed in the turnips.
They turned their backsides to me so I snuck a Snickers anyway. Just when I was unwrapping it another threesome came out to chow on the turnips. Now I had six deer about 60 yards away. I decided if the mommas came my way I’d take one. Eventually one of the mommas turned toward me and decided it was time to go into the dense cedars. She was moving along at a slow pace, take a few steps, eat a turnip, look around and repeat.
Again, just as I’d seen before, she got to the rye, grazed a little and when she got to the top of the ridge decided it was time to pick up the pace and get into cover. She fast walked right for a well-used trail that would keep the branches of the cedar tree between us.
I shifted for a shot that would be to my right through a small lane. She was at ten yards when she heard the stand creak and stopped just short of the lane. I had to ask myself why did that particular creak stop her? The wind was still blowing hard enough that the stand had been making creaking sounds the whole time she had been in the turnips. Why stop now?
She stood there for what seemed like forever then took the steps necessary to move into the lane. By now her fawns had caught up to her. I shouldered the crossbow, lowered the barrel to get the sights on her and tinked it on the backwards facing shooting rail. That was all it took. She and her twins were gone in a split second.
I was shaking. Was it because of the close encounter or the energy drink? Who knows. I looked back out to the food plot thinking for sure the other three deer would be long gone. Nope, still feeding. I had plenty of time to study them and again decided the doe was big enough to whack.
I tell you what; if range finders could kill, those deer would have been toast many times over. Once again, the doe grazed to the edge of the rye but this time she moved enough just to be over on my side of the ridge and of course as luck would have it she stopped in front of a branch.
This was no regular branch, it was a spindly little cedar bough that was hanging down a yard or so in front of me. With the relative closeness of the bough and the relative distance of the doe the bough was just big enough that it covered her vitals so I couldn’t take the shot. The crazy part was when the wind gusted it would blow the bough out of the way giving me a perfect 20 yard broadside shot. Had the doe been a few more feet in any direction or the bough a few more inches out of the way the shot would not have been a problem. But no, she had to stop right there.
I actually contemplated getting ready and when the wind blew the bough out of the way I’d take the shot, but it just wouldn’t be right because the wind would blow the bough, then me, then the stand and could have altered the shot so I passed.
Again, after what seemed like forever she moved toward the same trail as the first doe and again the same thing happened. I tinked the shooting rail. I had even sat taller thinking I could clear the rail, but nope, the tink was all it took. She gone and her fawns right behind her.
If I had the shakes before now I was having convulsions. I tried to text Winterkill and had a heck of a time with the touch screen. Every letter was repeated several times because my finger, I’m a one finger texter, would hit the same letter several times before I could move to the next. I’m sure it was the result of that energy drink.
Even though it seemed as if that sequence of events had taken an eternity to unfold, it had only been 30 minutes. Too soon for another Snickers bar, not that I needed any more stimulation from carbs but I wanted one. No, I needed one. I had to have one. I needed to feed my Snickers habit. The only thing I can compare my attempts at opening the Snickers bar in my current state of the shakes would be to a monkey on crack trying to do brain surgery. It was ugly, it was messy and something was going to die. But the Snickers bar died a valiant death, it fought me to the end.
Then it started all over again; another deer came onto the plot from the very same place as the others. This time it looked to be a doe by herself. Hmmm, does that mean there is a buck in the bushes? While I waited for the buck to step out I had a good look at the doe. She had a long neck, long snout, wide nose, wide brisket and looked tasty on the hoof. I looked back to where the doe had come and sure enough I could see brown in the brush. But how much brown?
The deer in question stepped into the plot. It was a buck alright, the doe’s button. I was disappointed to say the least. All season long from afar I had seen buck after buck after buck come from that trail on to the food plot. Where were they today? I guess they were wherever they wanted to be and they didn’t want to be on the plot.
This doe’s actions were a carbon copy of the two previous does. Until she got to the rye. Instead of going to my right and staying behind the tree she came to my left. She slowed down just before she got to my huge shooting lane and I thought I was going to have to play peek a boo again.
When she got into my lane she must have spotted the only clover plant that was growing and stopped to nibble it. It was a fatal mistake. She was just under twenty yards and slightly quartering to, I touched the trigger, heard a good hit, she jumped and came down dragging her front leg. She made it the few yards to cover and seconds later I heard her pile up and wheeze her last breath.
As long as I’ve been hunting I’ll never get used the paradoxical feeling of exhilaration and sadness. Exhilarated that I had just put meat on the table yet a profound sadness that I had to take a life to do it. Unless it’s a possum, then all feelings are null and void.
I sat in the stand for a few more minutes. I shakily texted Winterkill that I thought I had one down and I was going to climb down and look for her. I went to where she had been standing when I shot her but didn’t see any blood or hair. I went to the edge of the cedars where she had gone in and didn’t see any blood but I was confident she was down. I moved to the trail I had come in on and walked back down the hill looking into and under the cedars.
Then I spotted her. She had piled up under a cedar on a well used deer trail. I went into where she laid and back tracked the blood. There wasn’t much but I could follow it the 40 yards back out to the plot. I looked for the arrow but couldn’t find it.
I went back to where she laid and tagged her. The best news was it would be a short downhill drag to an easy place to gut her and get her into a truck. I had just got her pulled out and Winterkill pulled up. He went to look for my arrow as I got ready to gut her. I had lost two other arrows in the same food plot turkey hunting. Neither Winterkill nor I liked the idea of a broadhead in a tractor tire. It took him about 2 minutes to find the arrow. I still can’t figure how it got to where he found it. Those crossbow arrows take funny paths through game.
Anyhow, to finish up the incredibly long telling of a very short story here is the obligatory and official contest picture complete with the foil, Bonkerflauge and the extremely rare IW stocking hat.
Go team Tinfoil!