Patrick,
Hi!! OT big time: Deer story :o)
So there I sit through my Thanksgiving vacation posted overlooking the irrigation ponds and swampy area on the border of my property...Ohhh, the rubs in this area are amazin'...He's really a nasty one that is hitting the same rubs from the last three years...Hours upon hours go by and nothing is seen...Then Friday afternoon I grunted in an 8 pter. but he wasn't the one...Weekend ends and back to school on Monday...
Tuesday morning I get edgy again since wrestling has kept me from even hunting afternoons...So, out I go in school clothes and my coaching jacket with gun in hand...Only have twenty minutes before I have to leave for school...I'll sit on a rock at the bottom of the hill in sight of the house and won't walk the other 45' and climb my 25' high tree stand...The leaves are blown to the stand but I'll pass on climbing and getting dirty...Gotta be there just because I know if I don't he'll finally show up...Three minutes go by and lo and behold I can hear that "big squirrel"... :o) Yep, it's definitely something heavy...And it's got that cocky walk...Bingo, out he pops...Ohhh, he's biggggg...Ohhh he's got some huge rack....Ohhh, he's heading for the pines...Oooh, there's one chance...Bang!...Bolt, he's gone...Search time but no time...So I call my buddy and mark the spot he went in...Off to school...Phone call at school two hours later..."Got a lot of blood Kemble..." Sneak home on lunch hour and trace his trail...Mucho...So, he's dead somewhere...But, where...Ten hours later with flash light and daughter/her boyfriend/ and Deer Search dog we can't get past the two spots that are the ends of the possible trail he left...At 1AM we called off the search...He's gone and I've lost the second deer in thirty years of hunting...It' bothers me...Hoping he's dead because if he's alive he'll breed with the multitude and my gardens will be devastated... :o)
Going out Saturday after a scrimmage...Must be persistently stubborn... :o)
Best, Kemble |
