An hour or so after that, the call of nature beckoned - with great insistence. I climbed out of the stand and managed to get just about to where I'd parked my new-to-me ATV before I found a spot in the woods and answered the call. Then I went to the four-wheeler and swapped my backpack and some layers of clothes for the folding chair I use when I'm hunting on the ground.
It was only a little past 9:00, still plenty of time to hunt, so I started walking slowly down the red clay road to see what I could see. I hadn't gone far when I spotted some deery movement straight ahead, so I lifted the Savage Sierra rifle and peered through the Sightron scope. It was a doe, and she had somewhere to be. She walked directly towards me in the road (never saw me) for a short ways before turning and going into the woods.
She never did give me a perfect shot (though I'm sure I could have taken her cleanly), so I let her go. My thoughts were largely on the reason she was in a hurry and I hoped a buck was pushing her, so I just unfolded my chair and plunked down right there, and waited for a buck to follow her.
Within the next few minutes, I heard some movement in the thick, brushy woods where she had gone. I said to myself, "If she comes back out, I'm gonna bust her." Not two minutes later, she stepped right back into the road from where she had gone.
As she stepped, broadside, into the dirt road, I greeted her with "Hey." She stopped; I put the crosshairs just behind the shoulder and squeezed the trigger, unleashing a handloaded Remington 150-grain bullet from its small brass 308 Win package. Down she went.
I chambered another round and kept my eyes on the prize. Though she was down and I knew I had hit her well, she moved a leg and raised her head repeatedly. Hating to see this - and recalling another hunter's experience the night before when a well-hit doe had gotten up and left the premises (he later recovered the deer), I timed the raising of her noggin and put one in her head. Thus ended the suspense.
Results
After examining the beautiful doe, I stepped off the distance at which I'd shot it. Sixty-five yards. Then I strolled back to the Wampus Cat (the Arctic Cat ATV) and drove it up to her. I had a heck of a time alone, but I finally got her onto the high front rack and headed back to camp. She weighed in at 107 lbs, a nice healthy deer, with plenty of great-tasting meat to help fill the freezer.
The layers of enjoyment and success I experienced on this hunt were too many to count. During the first 24 hours I was on the property, I saw seven deer, and most of them were legal. Several days later I passed up another eight-point buck, which in hindsight I do regret. But I have to trust my judgement, though I am only beginning to learn how to judge a buck before squeezing the trigger. Where I grew up, we were lucky to even see a buck, so examining its head to determine shootability vs. legality was out of the question.
All in all, it was one of the best hunts I've ever had. I only brought the one deer home, but I did get to see a good many of them, and my friends brought deer back to camp, and that was good too. The layers of success were uncountable, as were the pleasant moments and happy memories.
Now that's what I call success.
- Russ Chastain
