Deer Season Update

I seem to have run out of things to say about the Middle East, so I'll take this opportunity to catch you up on deer hunting stories.

The season started out unseasonably warm, which most hunters don't like, but the last few days have been close to ideal, nights in the 20s and days in the 30s, with an inch or so of snow on the ground. On the third day, when it was still warm, I had a spike horn buck walking straight towards me at 9:00 AM. This is not perfect presentation, but I successfully made the same shot four years ago on a big 10 point, so I didn't see how I could screw this one up.....but I did. I was aiming for the center of his chest, but the shot must have went low and clipped his brisket. I could tell because there was only a few drops of blood, nothing that would help me track him down. I spent two hours combing the brush around where I had last seen him, but he was not to be found. Even if there had been tracking snow, I doubt that I would have been able to catch up with him. All the experts say that a hit like that doesn't even slow a deer down, and he usually recovers and survives. You may remember that I lost a doe like that two years ago, and it ruined my whole season. I took the next three days off to recuperate from the ordeal. That's how it is when you're old, it takes you longer to rest up than it took you to get tired.

I felt better by the seventh day, so I decided it was time to get back in the game. It's like riding a horse or a bicycle, once you fall off you never forget. Around 10:00 AM this doe came walking straight towards me just like that spike horn had. I don't have a doe permit this year, so I thought I would try to take her picture but, by the time I got the camera out, she had already walked past me. Then I coughed, and she came back and posed for me real nice. I'll have to remember that and do it on purpose if the need should ever arise. She stood there for the longest time trying to figure out what I was, but I don't think she ever did. Deer can't see me in that blind because it's darker on the inside than it is on the outside. She finally bounded off, back from whence she had come, but she didn't seem to be in a panic, just didn't want to fool around with me anymore. The picture didn't come out so good, probably because the camera didn't know if it was supposed to focus on the dark interior or the bright snow outside, but a trophy is a trophy, especially when you don't have to clean it.