Finally

After going the two previous seasons without taking a deer, I have ended the drought.

I was able to take some time off work and hunt this past week. Dave came up on Wednesday to stay the night and hunt with me on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday, the weather forecast was not very favorable for the upcoming days. Rain and wind were supposed to be nailing us pretty hard.

I got up at 5 am on Thursday morning to check the weather and radar. It was pouring and the radar reflected what I could hear hitting the roof here at the house. I naturally went back to bed. At approximately 9 am I was awakened by Dave who had woken up and realized that the meteorologists had somewhat missed the forecast. The rain had subsided and the wind was nowhere to be found. We quickly got up and got things together to head to the hunting club.

At approximately 10:45 am we were in our stands. I realized that I had not called Crystal to let her know that we had gone hunting. About 30 minutes later, my phone started vibrating in my shirt. It was Crystal. As quietly as I could, I answered the phone to let her know that we were hunting. Just as I was telling her that, I caught movement. Low and behold a deer was walking down a 4wheeler trail getting close to me. I quickly let her know that a deer was approaching and quietly closed the phone. After closer examination I could see that though the deer had a decent body size (I was hoping it was a doe), I could make out some small spikes on his head. He walked to within about 50 yards of me and I decided to let him walk, wanting to wait on something bigger.

He proceeded on down the 4wheeler trail and out of my sight. After he left, I began to think about my past 2 deer seasons where I did things very similar and allowed deer to "go". I hadn't killed an animal since the '03 season (which was a 6 point with a bow). 30 minutes passed and I began to regret letting this guy go. Wanting to get some meat in the freezer, I decided that IF the deer did return and offer a good shot that I would take him.

I had no more than made that decision that I heard some noise ruffling the leaves coming down the hill in front of me. To my surprise, here he came again. This time, down the hill, across the 4wheeler trail, and down to the creek not 15 yards from my stand. He took a drink and then just stood there. After watching him basically right under me for at least 5 minutes, I finally decided it was time to take him. He turned and gave me a very good clean shot and I pulled the trigger.

Once the smoke from the muzzle loader cleared I could see him lying exactly where I had shot him. He didn't take the first step. A nice clean kill shot and it was all over inside of 30 seconds.

Now that the "drought" is over it's time to return to being picky and selective about what I take. Bring on the big boys!!! Please?! :-)