After taking a year off from hunting, I decided to give it another try this season. I’ve spent many a fall morning over the last forty years shivering in a deer stand waiting for the sun to rise, and while this may not sound like fun to many, for me it doesn’t get much better. Listening to the woods wake up while you sit unnoticed is a religious experience. After my brother died my daughter shared it with me for a few years, and although puberty has her currently riding the bench, I think she will be back. I hope she will be back.
My daughter looks and acts so much like my late brother that she has made my heart skip when I glanced at her profile in the early morning light. And she seems to have his luck. I always dressed in layers when I hunted with my brother because I knew that it was just a matter of time after the sun came up that I would be helping him drag a deer out of the woods. I didn’t mind; at least I got to warm up and we shared the proceeds.
But this morning I went alone. I went to the old reliable hunting grounds that my brother secured permission for us to hunt twenty five years ago. As luck would have it, there ended up being a truck parked in my spot even though I was supposed to be the only one there. I got out and talked to the other hunter and realized that the landowner had misunderstood my choice of locations and put us in the same area. Bummer. The stranger was really nice, and after discovering that he and his buddy had driven over 100 miles to get here, I offered to go home and let them hunt. He thanked me and said he didn’t think that would be necessary, we should all stay. He told me where his buddy was and where he was going to be (my lucky spot!), so I chose a new area and took a seat on my stool.
Well to say that it was a little cool is an understatement! I guess I had forgotten just how cold it is when you sit still in the dark in 25 degree weather, but when it started to get light and the birds began to rustle, I forgot all about it. I sat in an area that neither I nor my brother had ever hunted, but it looked like a decent spot. As it continued to get light, I told him how much I had missed him over the years and how coming here made me miss him even more. I thanked him for providing us this location and smoothing things over with the other hunters. I told him that I didn’t care if I saw any deer; I just loved spending the morning with him. Now I was warm.
The beautiful morning slipped by uneventfully, and I started to get restless knowing that the other hunters would be getting ready to leave soon. It was at that moment that I saw a buck appear at the edge of the field fifty yards in front of me. I appeared to him as well and he turned to run back in the woods. I called him a few times and he came back out in the field. After I got a chance to get a good look at him I realized that although he would certainly never make the Boone and Crockett scoreboard, he was respectable and some cubed steak would be delicious on a chilly Sunday evening. Well he didn’t go down in the middle of the field as I had hoped, and my heart sank as I saw him disappear into some very thick brush surrounding the open area.
Well I did find the deer; he had not gone too far into the woods, but he was in some very thick stuff. Let the work begin! After I said my goodbyes to the other hunters and headed home, I replayed the morning’s events. I thought again of my brother and the luck he had sent my way on an unusually crowded morning. I thought of the prayers we shared that morning and realized I had left one out. Thank you for sending those strangers to help me drag and load OUR deer! Once again my brother, you think of everything.
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