Here's hoping the woods are always filled with this kind of mystery and magic. The day I know everything that's out there is the day I loose interest in trekking afield.
Anyways, I have only one "supernatural" experiance outdoors. It concerns my first deer, and TG member adkmountainken. You see, Ken is my mentor. My guide to all things outdoors. A while back, Ken hung a stand on a northwoods mountainside he named the medicine stand. A stand I've since become quite taken with.
It was November 2009. My seventh year of trying for a deer. Never used a gun, just a longbow. In hopes of accomplishing this task, I hunted harder than ever before. I'd come close, even taken my first shot at a deer. But no cigar. So in desperation, I took four days off work and stayed with Ken's mother, devoting all my time to the nearby deer woods.
It had been a blast, to say the least. Squirrels, turkey, coyotes, and even deer...all gave me lasting impressions to come away with. However, come afternoon of the last day, I still had nothing on the ground. So, it came time to make a decision.
Here is where the smart hunter would have chosen to hunt a nearby property in the southern zone of the state. Flat ground, a short walk from the car, deer were adequately patterned and quite plentiful. Plus, it was still bow season only. On the mountain in the northern zone, the deer were more dispersed, the terrain more aggressive, and a gun season was just kicking off. Poor odds, but there is no more beautiful a view than out of the medicine stand. If I was coming home empty handed again, I may as well enjoy myself. So, I donned my wool clothing and took that mountain trail for all it was worth.
Here is where the mystic experiance takes place. After climbing into the stand and sitting a few hours without game, I began to get ansy. It happens alot, and was always the cause for my lack of bigger game. No action, and stumps and squirrels became very appealing to me. I was about to get down and fling some arrows for a bit, when the hawk cried out above me.
Now, Adkmountainken has always claimed the redtailed hawk as his medicine animal. He's had this connection with them in the most spiritual of ways. So when a hawk suddenly appeared overhead, while I sat in a stand Ken himself had hung, I took it as a sign. More so when the bird began to over over two specific points; one a valley 100 yards in front of me, and the other was a point on the deer trail that ran past my stand. He went from one point to the next, before soaring off with a final cry. It was right then that I decided I would sit still until dark. I didn't care if my butt fell off, cause of that cold metal chair, and if I saw nothing the entire time. I was staying.
Well, about an hour after the experiance, I heard crashing in the woods. Not like a squirrel darting through the leaves. Not even turkey's made this much noise. It was as if the local track team had decided to take a practice run up; that mountain.
Sure enough, out bursts a pair of does, running full bore 100 yards away. Now, I'd only seen 1 deer prior on this mountain, but what's more impressive is that they came from the valley the hawk had circled over. They disappeared down the mountainside, but were soon followed by two more does. Does that wouldn't even stop for a grunt call. I wasn't really surprised when the 6-point came hot on there heels.
I felt a twinge of sadness as I realized they would lead him down the mountain as well, far away from me. That sadness faded, however, when the first two does appeared on the deer trail that led under my stand. Appeared right where the hawk had also circled, and continued toward my stand. They led that buck right into my range, and some hours later, I was having pictures taken with my hands wrapped around those glossy antlers.
Call it what you will. Its that little memory that I take out when I need reminding that there's something bigger pulling the strings out there. And for what it's worth, thank you Ken...
Topic: Supernatural experience (Read 20407 times)
