It started before sunrise. I stood in the early morning gloom. The temperature was 38 degrees and the only thing I could see was the steam of my breath. I put on my ASAT 3D Pro Vanish suit and my sneaking shoes(new balance cross trainers with a thick pair of berber fleece socks pulled over top of them. I strung my Crooked Stic Longbow and attached my Great Northern bow quiver. I put on my Skookum glove and shut the door on the truck as quietly as possible. Then it was time to make the big loop around the bedding area I know is just 200 yards away. I've parked up wind of the bedding area and now I need to circle wide around as quietly and carefully as possible before the deer leave the bean field and cut cornfields near by for this sanctuary. It's a oak grove profusely grown over with honeysuckle and blackberry briars, both so thick you'd be lucky to see 5 yards in any direction. Last year I found an ambush spot, a micro funnel that leads into the bedding area fortress of tangle foot cover. There is a large blow down here at the ambush spot now that makes the small funnel even narrower. The blow down must have happened when Ike made it's way all the here to Southern Indiana. The blowdown is definately a Godsend. It will offer cover for a 12 yard maximum shot across the wind and on the side of the trail that I feel is best for the way the deer approach the bedding area. I find a spot I think will offer me good cover while not hindering a shot and settle down and wait. The sun is just peeking over the horizon and I see shadows in the distance heading my way. I nock an arrow, a Goldtip 5575 with 560 grains up front, a 160 grain Snuffer on a 100 grain adpater with a brass insert and added weights. These arrows, even though grossly front heavy, fly like darts out of this 64# longbow. I watch and wait as the shadows grow larger and the sky get just a bit brighter. I'm pretty sure the second deer in the line is a buck. As he gets closer I even think I have seen him before. I feel my heart pounding like a jackhammer and so I look at the ground and take several cleansing breaths. I slightly regain my composure when the first deer steps into my shooting lane just 8 yards away, he's a really old buck thick gnarly spikes for antlers. He's really old by the look of him and past his prime. He's really sway backed and potbellied. I can just now make out the grey and white hairs on his snout and see that he drags his feet when he walks. Then I remember I was waiting for number two and it's now good shooting light and he is about to step into the shooting lane. My heart is racing, my mouth is dry and a feel a trickle of sweat going down my back because he has just stopped dead, just outside my shooting lane. His ears are twisting and twitching and he is scanning left and right with his eyes. He looks right at me three times but always turns away. He never locks onto me,Thank you ASAT. I force myself to be calm and think of something else and stop staring at him. I do recognise him. It's the same buck I missed last year and he is even bigger this year, both in body and in antlers. His rack is at least a couple inches wider and his mass has maybe doubled. The bases of his antlers look as thick as my wrists. This is beyond incredible. I almost come unglued when he take a step. He's entering my shooting lane. Two more steps and I'll have a slightly quartering away shot at about 10 yards. One step, then another, I slowly raise my bow and draw in one smooth motion. I pick a spot and focus my full will on it. My index finger meets the corner of my lips and it pull through creating full back tension as I set a rock solid anchor. Then just before I release the arrow I hear a voice and wake up. The meter reader is talking to himself as he looks for and reads the gas meter. I think you may have some inkling of how it felt to be awakened now that you know it was just a dream and you won't be seeing a pic of me with a big stupid grin on my homely face knealing beside massive buck at the end of this tale. Maybe you can sympathize with me a bit. It was truly the most realistic dream I have ever had. So maybe it was a vision of things to come. God I pray so.
Topic: What a Saturday (Read 564 times)
