Let Me Tell You

[tripnchip]

Let me tell you a story about this bow hunter. He awoke to a buitiful Oct. morning that was just a touch on the crisp side. He buisied himself making coffee and chated with his wife as she got ready for work and he got things ready to spend the day in the woods.Around 6:15 he was ready and went out started the truck and let the windows defrost wondering which stand he should go to. As he is driving along debating on stands he realizes he just drove past the first one, no big deal just go to the next one. He gets parked and puts on his camo and readies his bow  and heads for the stand. No sense trying to be real quit as the leaves and grass a cunchy from the frost and thin ice on them.Finaly getting settled in the stand around 7 he enjoy's watching and listening to the woods come alive to greet the new day. At 8 he hears a couple twigs snap behind him and turns just enough to see a deer coming through the woods in his direction. As the deer passes on his right side at 10 yrds he sees the little spikes so makes no atempt to take it. Instead he just sets back and watches the little guy go about his way. For the next 2 hrs. he just sets and listens too and watches the littles critters and birds of the woods. The red squirles a buisy stocking food, the little sparows and other birds a flutering around the bushes and trees and a rabbit hopes a long taking a nipple off bushes here and there.
  No he never got a dear this morning but he did have the chance to watch one and enjoyed a morning of watching the outdoors come alive for the day. In his mind his morning hunt was very succsesful and complete.
   Have a good day guys and gals enjoy the hunt as much as the harvest.

[tripnchip]

Now the rest of the story. After leaving the archery stand he spent the rest of the morning and most the afternoon checking the stands for his hunting party and scouting the area at the same time. He then went to his bros. field and hung a new stand there in the area he had observed deer coming out a couple nights before. he used the atv to hual every thing into place because the deer a re use to his bors. grand kids ridding there. He hung the stand in a narrow strip of woods between the field and a power line. The stand was placed more to the field side so he would have some cover from the deer as they moved acrosse the power line into the field. With a little triming he was able to cover three differnet trails coming into the field.  By the time he gets the atv reloaded in the truck, puts his camo on and back to the stand, setting a decoy out in the field on the way, it is a little after 5:00. After being in the stand just a few min. he decides it is to oncomfortable because of a knob on the treethat is hitting him in the back.Just a matter of standing on the climing steps and spining the stand a little. After securing his bow he steps off the stand onto the steps looking down the power line in the process. Hmm theres a deer ont he power line already so no taking a chance of making noise moving the stand. After several min. the deer feeds away from him down the power but angeling acrosse to the field. Shortly after the deer disapears another one comes out and looks like it may come in on the furthes of the three trails being covered. Looking to his other side he see's 2 more deer on the power line slowly feeding their way toward him and the trail to his right. He checks on the deer to his left and it is still feeding away from him and it appears nothing new has come out on that side to worry about. He looks back to the right and the deer are still feeding in the middle of the power line so he slowly stands and turns for a better position to shoot down the small shooting lane he had opened. After what seemed like forever he starts will the deer to move on down the trail but about then a squirle starts acrry on making the deer freeze up and take a good close look at the wood line and what they can see of the field. Finaly they start moving accrose the power  ine again and just as the first one hit the wood line a grouse jumps from where the squirel had been., Which is only feet from the deer and it jumps like any hunter would and tenses up. The hunter also tenses up and the heart is going way to fast and the breathing is getting funny and the bow is getting heavy.The deer is 15 yrds away, quarting toward him and realy looking things over now. After a eternity she takes a step, stops and looks another enterity another step and stop. Then it starts moving and he gets ready to draw when it's head goes behin the little spruce. The deer stops behind the spruce and then softly taps it's foot on the ground a couple times and just stands there. The bow is realy heavy at arms length so he eases it back down against his leg. and just watchs as the der taps it's foot on the ground and watches for several min. Finaly it takes a couple steps backwards and turns down a trail taht runs infront of the stand. This makes for a nice off the left shoulder shot but he has to find a whole throgh the tagelders. It moves a few steps and stops,  but no shot,the light is fading fast in the trees. Oh man not now he thinks as the mucels in his side start to cramp and knote up. It takes 2 more steps and stops at maybe 10 yrds. and the opening is there perfectly centered of the vitals. The draw and line up in one motion but darn it is hard to see through the peep sight. There, thats it, touch the trigger, the sound of the bow and then the sound of the arrow hitting a tagelder and then the ground. The deer is on it's way back accrose the power line just a blowing at that pesky thing that scared it. Because of fading light the hunter only waits a few min to quitly get out of his stand to check for blood and look for his arrow to make sure of his judgement on the sounds he heard. Upon finding his arrow he is reliefed to see no blood or hair on it because a miss is better then a bad hit any day.
  It has been a great day in the woods but wait it's not over.

[tripnchip]

Promis this will be the end of my babling.
   After finding his arrow the hunter moves slowly to the edge of the field to go home but there is a deer standing on the other side and he doesn't want to give away his position so he will watch it a while. Hmm that is a funny colored deer,it is big enough to be a yearling but funny color. So he diggs out the field glasses and takes a closer look. Black back, cream colored lower half and long bushy tail, man thats a timber wolf.Now he will set and watch for sure because the first 2 deer are most likely on the other end of the field were the wolf is watching. The wolf makes 3 or 4 quick steps toward the end of the field and croaches  down waits a while and does it a gain. He moves one more time and drops over a little rise where the hunter can't see him. A few secounds later the 2 deer are making tracks across the field but no wolf in chase. The deer stop short of going in the woods and then one of them spots the decoy and comes back out into the field and keeps walking back and forth a few yards from it trying to figure it out. It is realy getting late by now and the hunter has no choice but to expose himself so bent over he walks out into the field and takes a zig-zag coarse toward the decoy. the deer finaly notices him and slowly moves off the field into the woods.
   All this in one day and people wonder why we enjoy the outdoors and hunting so much.

[deadeye]

Sounds like a good day of hunting.  It's always great to recount the days events. 

[GirlGuide]

Pops, Sounds like you had a great day out in the woods!!  I love to hear your stories, and no one can tell them the way you can!!  Hope today's hunt is just as eventful for you!!    ::cheers::

gg  ::

[Outdoors Junkie]

What a day Trip!  thanks for sharing it with us.