The Journey Begins

An short story by member "doublelunger"

He had always dreamed as a boy of hunting whitetail deer. Most of the boys at school would come in each fall with their stories and pictures of deer hunting camps and adventures, but he had no one to take him. Multiple Sclerosis had left his father disabled, and Lung cancer had taken his grandfather’s life prior to him being of age to hunt.

This is how his adventure would start. With hopes and dreams of someday being able to trek into the great whitetail world himself, at the age of Seventeen, he saved his money and bought a used Bear Whitetail II bow at a local pawn shop. With a little help from some newly acquired friends he soon had it set up and archery practice would begin. Over the summer months many a evening would be spent training with that bow. Trial and error was the only way he would learn to be confident with his weapon of choice. Even though he attempted many a shots at distances farther than this in practice, he felt confident that he could harvest a deer at no more than 20 yards.

The same friends that had helped him set up the bow were now nice enough to let him tag along in some preseason scouting and to show him first hand some ins and outs of reading and interpreting deer sign. One of them even loaned him a stand and pre hung it for him in a travel corridor between a feeding a bedding area. As fall approached, he could not manage to think about anything else than that the first sunrise of October and seeing that sunrise from the deer woods.
The day had finally arrived. The camo had been purchased, the bow was tuned to the best of his abilities and the anticipation was intense. The first morning hunt did not go as planned, but still changed the young man forever.

While heading to the stand for the first time in the dark he became disorientated and could not find it. Remembering back to all the stories he had heard and the videos he had watched, he did his best not to panic. He found a small tree and sat down beside until it was light enough to see. Although it was not as he had envisioned it, that first sunrise seen in the deer woods was a majestic sight. One that still causes his heart to skip a beat to this very day.

He was now mad at himself and somewhat embarrassed for getting lost in the woods. How was he ever going to be the great whitetail hunter he had envisioned in his dreams if he could not even find his way to the stand? Frustrated at himself, he decided to head home for the morning. Back at home he relived the events of the morning, the feelings of fear, embarrassment, but also the feelings of awe as he watched the sunrise and the woods awake. Now with a stronger than ever desire to succeed, he made up his mind to head back to that stand that evening.

With the light of the afternoon he had no trouble finding the stand. He had read all the magazine articles that had talked about stand safety and was prepared to take his perch in the deer woods. He soon learned that climbing into a stand that some one almost a foot taller than yourself hung is not an easy task. After several minutes, that seemed like hours, he had made it. He was finally on stand in the deer woods.

With Bow in hand, he sat patiently and ever so intently watching and listening to all the sounds of the woods that he had so longed to be in. As he watched two squirrels play in the distance, he almost did not notice the doe and her fawns making their way toward his location. It seemed like they moved at a turtles pace, the doe browsing along the way and the twin fawns playing. It was almost more than he had hoped for. The deer were so majestic and peaceful. They had made their way 10 yards from the tree before he had even thought about how he was going to draw his bow or by chance take a shot. He tried to stand but the watchful eye of the momma doe caught his movement. She did not spook, but he could tell that she knew something was up. With his adrenalin running full tilt and his nerves on edge, he was at a loss for the second time that day in the woods.

What to do? Do I try to stand and draw? Do I stay where I am at and wait her out? So many thought running through his head that he had trouble sorting them out. As he tried to work the thoughts out in his head, the doe made her way out of shooting range. The decision had been made for him, no shot today. The does fed their way down the draw and out of site. He sat there in total amazement. How did they slip in so quietly, when he couldn’t take a step in the woods with out sounding like a freight train. How did she pick out his movement so fast. How
would he ever get this all put together and ever harvest a deer.

Stay tuned for more adventures from the great deer woods!!!