THE DEER
HUNTER
He had hiked
in the area all summer and into the fall looking for deer in the area that were
supposed to be bigger than anywhere else in the state. And planned on being
back there in the Fall when the special hunt was on.
He had hunted
all his life but now he was just a trophy hunter and only looked for animals
with a trophy rack. He looked for six pointers, but would settle for a five if
it was spectacular in some way.
Twice during
the Summer and Fall he had seen a buck with a giant six point rack, in a grove
of pine and aspen trees, just a short distance below a ridge line and decided
that looked like a good place to watch. There were always a lot of deer sign
when he walked through that grove of trees. He saw beds, antler rubbings and of
course droppings. Just the week before when he was there it had snowed just
enough to make a light covering of snow and yes, there were hoof prints on the
trail leading in and out of the grove of trees.
So today he
had got up early and hiked to an outcropping of rock that were just below the
ridge line, where he could watch the ridge and the grove of trees.
As the sun
broke over the horizon he felt a light tingle go through him as he had many
times before. He had positioned himself between two large rocks, in the snow,
which was no longer a sprinkling but was about ten inches deep. He could see
the trail well but the rocks hid him somewhat from the deer’s vision on the
trail.
Just after
the sun had broken the horizon he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye.
He tried to look more in that direction, without turning his head. He saw a
Bull Elk with massive antlers coming slowly up the trail toward him. What To
Do?
He realized
if he did something to scare the elk, he would also scare any deer in the area
and all his preparations would be for naught. Then he almost gave a big sigh of
relief as the big Bull left the trail and headed up toward the ridge.
He settled
back in the snow, growing more cold and damp (not wet, because of the water
repellant pants and coat he wore), but never the less, every minute was more cold
and uncomfortable.
A short while
later he caught a glimpse of movement right at the edge of the trees. YES, YES
it was his magnificent six point Buck. He had just stepped out of the grove of
trees and had stopped to look around and smell the air.
The hunter
tried to push himself down deeper in the snow but of course he was already as
close to the ground as he could get.
He was wet,
but now he actually felt warm just from the excitement, or perhaps at this
point he was not thinking about wet and cold? He made sure his scope was
positioned where he could use it with almost no movement.
He watched as
the Buck started very slowly, up the trail towards him. He would take a few
steps, and then stop and look and listen, then do the same thing again. When he
was about fifty yards away, the hunter gently put his finger on the trigger,
but he thought perhaps he should wait a little longer. Just then he saw two
Does coming up the trail. When they caught up with the big Buck, they all three
stopped and looked up the trail, which gave the hunter the feeling they were
looking straight at him.
What a sight!
The green pines, the white aspen trunks, the white snow and there right in the
middle of it all was the family of deer. He looked through his spotting scope
and right in the center, was the deer. It was a sight to behold.
He put his
finger gently back on the trigger and gently pressed. The click on the shutter
of his 35 mm camera seemed as loud as a rifle shot to him. (Of course it was
not.)
The deer
become nervous but they did not break and run. He took a couple of more shots
just to make sure he got at least one good one.
He could not
stand laying in that one position any longer. He was wet and cold and his
joints ached. He just stood up and of course the deer covered the distance back
to the grove of trees in just a few bounds and disappeared.
Well that was
the end of another successful adventure for THE DEER HUNTER.
W.R. Baldwin
August 2015
(The picture on this blog came off the internet at (flicker.com)
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