Saturday was my most frustrating hunt ever

[draconis]

Saturday morning, I got out of bed around 5:00 and had breakfast with my father. We discussed which of us would be hunting in which locations, pulled on our camouflage gear, and headed into the woods just as false dawn was starting to lighten the skies. I made my way to the stand I'd chosen, climbed into it, and settled down to watch the sunrise and listen to the woods come alive around me.

Between then and 10:00, I saw a total of 7 deer. In fact, for a solid hour I had deer playing all around me, completely oblivious to my presence. I had clear shots at just about all of them, and could have taken one as early as 7:15 that morning.

Why was this so frustrating?

Because of the ones I saw, only one of them was really suitable to take. Several of them were far too young (2 of them hadn't even lost their spots yet!) or were obviously the mother of one of these babies. Sorry, but no. I like venison, but it is not in my best interests to damage the herd, and taking one of those would have done so.

Then there was the seventh deer -- the one that just plain pissed me off. ::G::

She was a mature doe, and was in fact the largest one I saw all day. She also clearly was not the mother of one of the youngsters that played around my stand for an hour. I know this because she arrived at about the same time as they did, but from a slightly different direction, had no interactions whatsoever with any of them, and did not leave when they did.

Instead, she managed to get in between me and my exit route, found a cozy spot in between two trees, positioned herself so that all I could see was her hindquarters... and laid down for a nap. All the other deer are gone by this time, I can't budge from my stand without spooking her, and I also can't get a shot.

Finally, I hear my father coming along the road on the ATV he rode to get to his stand. Since she is between me and the road, I decide that if she hears this and cranes her neck around so that I can get a shot, I'll take it, but otherwise I'll just head on in anyway, and be content with having seen so many even if I didn't "bag" one.

My father heard me shoot just after he'd passed my location, continued on to the cabin where my stepmother and gryphonrhi were, said hello to them, then immediately pulled out the other ATV and told them he'd be right back, he needed to go help me get my deer out of the woods. When my stepmother asked him how he knew I had one "down," he apparently just looked at her like it was the dumbest question in the world, and said, "Because that boy doesn't miss."

I am glad my father has such a high opinion of me, even if I often think it is a little higher than I feel it should be. However, in this case he was correct, and the meat is even now being processed into steaks, hamburger, and sausage. 8-)

We spent the rest of the weekend helping my stepmother get things ready for the minor plague of locusts that will be descending upon her in a few days. This involved everything from rearranging furniture to spending 7 hours cooking country ham to discussing and arranging holiday decorations.

We came home, I watched part of a new martial arts DVD I picked up at the seminar last weekend... then for some reason decided to go rake the yard. Don't ask me why, I don't know. It just seemed like the thing to do. ::G::

So now, I'm tired, and sore, and thinking it's getting close to bedtime. ::S::