So, our most recent tale of triumph comes from reader Wilma Heinowski. She'd been hunting for 5 or 6 seasons without a deer. But this time was different. -K.H.
This is the year I was going to get the illusive deer, and day one
of hunting season, my hopes were
high. I had hiked into the forest
approximately one mile to a location where two weeks prior I had found
a set of sheds, and then had seen the buck I believed they
belonged to.
I'm in place as the sun comes up, and in the distance, I hear
shots. I still haven't seen any deer. I'm determined that I will stay
all day until a deer comes along. It was one really long day (no deer
at all).
Day two, I'm in the forest at the break of day, and only see two
does coming off the ridge in the very far distance the entire day. Day
three, I'm tired and I just want to stay in bed -- Let me sleep, I'm
not going to see any deer anyway. My husband is up getting dressed, and
I remember he'd rather be fishing, and is only there because I want to
hunt! Oh well, I'll go and enjoy the sunrise. My husband drops me off
at a new spot and I walk along a ridge. The place I'd planned on
sitting in already has a hunter there, so I try to quietly move on. I
get to the next ridge and find a nice place to watch this little valley
-- only to discover when it starts getting light that I have sat in a
large patch of poison ivy. Oh great!! So I get up and move to a small draw.
I have only been sitting there a few minutes when something
appears that hadn't been there just seconds before. It's a deer, and not only a deer, but one with horns. I promptly get
the shakes. I didn't know that one could get the shakes quite that bad.
Okay, take a breath, get the deer in your sights, and pull the rigger.
I must have blinked because when I look again the deer is gone. And all
I can think is that I have to go back and tell everyone another one of
my hard luck, deer-that-got-away stories. I keep thinking, But I know I
had him in my sights, but I don't see anything on the ground. Long
story short, I finally talk myself into going to look. And I find my
deer, and oh, what a deer! A nice 5 by 5!
My husband keeps telling me it's a nice deer, and some guys who
help us drag the deer out say it's a nice deer. But it doesn't really
sink in that it's a nice deer until we get to the processor and all
these hunters gather around and say, "Nice deer!" Someone even asks if he
can take a picture.
This deer was worth sitting in the poison ivy for. -W.H.