As everyone knows, Terry Green had shipped a huge cooler filled with most of his hunting gear, and the cooler had gone AWOL. After much anguish and waiting to hear good news, all appeared to be lost, so Terry loaded up a new set of gear and arrived ready to go. Then, shortly after arriving at the ranch, the cooler appeared unannounced. With great joy, all of us congratulated Terry on the return of the prodigal cooler and marveled at all the extra gear that he would have at his disposal, especially all the heavy woolen clothing that would keep him warm.
On to the hunting. I was teamed with three other gentlemen in Robert's truck. They were Jeff Berberick, Carlton Carter (both of whom I already knew), and Bob McMahan who is a Helle of a guy (pardon the pun, but Bob used to be a distributor for Helle knives). I was one of the last ones dropped off on the first morning hunt. Almost immediately, I saw a bunch of small bucks -- four forkhorns, a spike, and one small eight point. They came in, left, and then came back as the early morning passed. Not too long before pickup time, I heard some noise behind me and looked over my shoulder to see a doe coming in to feed. I had determined to shoot the first decent doe who presented herself for a shot, so I started getting myself positioned for the opportunity to loose an arrow at this female or one of her companions whom I could hear but not yet see. Shortly, I heard another deer coming in and looked through a shooting lane to see a big seven point who was definitely worthy of receiving the pointy end of one of my arrows. Unfortunately, there were two of the forkhorns only feet from the base of my tree who would sound the alarm at my slightest movement or noise, so I resisted the urge to swivel my seat and draw on the big seven point. Seconds later, I heard the snort of a doe behind me where she had inhaled the scent of my disgustingly humanoid body. The white flags all rose at their rears as the deer below me trotted away in alarm. So much for the first hunt. I climbed down weakly from my stand feeling chilled to the bone through my seemingly ample clothing. It was a good morning, except that I wasn't feeling as well as I thought I would. I told myself I just needed another layer of warm clothing and would be fine.
It is always great to get back to the comradery of camp, especially when a delicious, hot meal awaits me. That's exactly what I found as Robert and my three fellow hunters pulled into camp. We ate hardy and spent the early afternoon enjoying one another's company and fellowship. The time passed quickly and soon the call came to load up for the evening hunt. I went to the same stand as that morning and quickly saw some of my small, male visitors from that morning coming in to feed. Unfortunately, although they stayed for long enough to shoot any one of them, none of them made me even begin to think of shooting because of their diminutive size. I did see a LARGE ten point pass quickly through an opening about a third of a mile north of my stand, but he never gave a thought to passing near me. I was miserable from the cold air, even though I had put on a second pair of long underwear and another button up shirt, in addition to all the other clothing I had worn in the morning. It seemed I couldn't stay warm. As the truck pulled up, I was already out of my stand and was not feeling well. I was the first one back in the truck with Robert as we headed over to pick up the other guys. When we reached Jeff Berberick, we found out he had taken a shot at a nice buck and had connected. However, when the arrow was located, it had a distinctly disgusting smell, indicating a hit too far towards the back end of the animal. You've all read Jeff's account, so I'll leave my story here. After picking up the others, we went "home" for a hearty dinner.
It was hard to nod off that night, and I was already a bit sleep deprived and not feeling well. I was still taking medication and getting worse. As sleep was just about upon me, I was concerned about how I would feel in the morning.
Allan
Topic: OFFICIAL 2013 SOLANA RANCH HUNT THREAD (Read 26690 times)
