Stories

My first deer...at Clarko
Steve M. Moore

January 2002

It was three days before the season ended and as usual I really wasn't too up for hunting, especially when it's so damned cold, but decided it was time to get out there and see if I couldn't get a deer. I'd been hunting twice that year and hadn't seen a thing. To make matters worse, Lowry and Brian had been hunting at the farm all year and hadn't killed a thing, so I felt like I was pretty much assured not to see a damn thing but for the occasional bug, bird or squirrel.

It was pretty cold and overcast but it wasn't too bad once I got to the stand. I was hunting the field near the swamp in the shoot house, which Lowry had had the good sense to rearrange the view from the box by moving the box a little bit. I had brought a good book and settled down to enjoy the peace and quiet.

After getting comfortable, I decided that I might as well smoke a cigarette as dark was a long way away. I started to read the book and was taking a glance around the field every so often. Next thing I know the sun is down, it's getting colder, and my book is getting really intense--so I smoke another cigarette. I figured what the hell...it won't matter I wasn't planning on seeing anything anyway. Just about then I glanced up and saw a doe standing right next to tree just inside of the field.

I slowly drew my gun up when she had her back turned and as I started to put the scope on her I was amazed that she turned broadside while my scope luckily found her shoulder at that very instant. Lucky Lowry had changed the shoot house around or I wouldn't have had a shot. I didn't even have time for my heart to jump in my throat which was great and so I just pulled the trigger. I didn't even have enough time for the adrenaline to actually kick in and it was over. She jumped 10 feet in the air straight up and then hauled ass out of the field heading to the swamp. I could hear something blazing through the woods and thought that I had missed her for sure. As I slowly got up and walked to the path to the swamp I heard something splashing through the water a long way a way and I thought "damn, I'm gonna have to wade through some cold ass water to find her".

But as I walked further there she was just to the right...Perhaps I should have waited a little longer as the other deer leaving the scene may have been a buck...but a bird in the hand, deer in the scope...same thing, right?

I was hoping to be the only person to shoot a deer that year, but I'm not that lucky Lowry AND Brian killed one each in the next two days.

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