The following drag out, however, was one of my worse. Loaded down with a tree stand on my back, a full pack on my side, compound bow, and a 50 lb. un-gutted deer hooked to my safety harness. I’d say 80% of my steps for the .43 of a mile of woods was in mud and water almost up to my knees. It was hot, and I was beat. The mile and 1/2 drag on the road was a cake walk compared to the woods. Fortunately it was early, so I had plenty of daylight and time, and still made it to the MBS meeting in time to show her off.
By the beginning of November, I had bagged a couple does, a sika hind, and a wall-hanger buck, so I was having a pretty good season. I had to get back down to the Marsh again. I woke up at 2:00 am one Saturday morning to start my trip east, but it could have been 30 minutes earlier. I got to the marsh in time, but I got screwed up (again) and made it to my stand as it was starting to get light. The area that I am hunting is full of new growth pines that a starting football fullback would have fits with. But, the biggest problem is finding your way.
When I first scouted this area and marked my trail, the new growth pines were below my knees, I guess. Now they are over my head, and my trail has a few turns from going deeper and deeper. Anyway, it’s a walk that gets harder each year. Not long after I finally got set up, I started hearing and seeing sika deer. I saw stags for the most part, and I heard 2, maybe 3 fights. Right after one of the fights, I caught movement 50 yards from me and saw a limping 4 pointer come from where the ruckus was, and bed down. I watched him lick his wounds, and eat grass for about an hour. The buzzards saw him, too. Finally, I lost sight of him, and the buzzards left as well. I had almost nonstop action all morning.
At about 3:00, I started “thinking” about stuff, and the “Mental Game” kicks in.
Keep in mind: I am by myself, and back in far enough in those thick muddy woods so that the walk out will be as tough as it was coming in. Some of you may know what I mean - you start thinking about stuff like bad shots, blood trailing in the dark, getting lost, dragging a deer “while” you are lost, how would I get rescued if something happens, I can’t call my wife or anyone because Nextel has no signal - you know what I mean. I am 3 hours from home, and can’t wait to hit the couch and relax. This is a physical hunt, but there is also a mental side to it.
Anyways, I told myself I wasn’t going to shoot at anything unless it was nice, and “on video”. So, at 4:45 with the sun fading - yep, here comes a nice stag, but it wasn’t the caliber that I was hoping for. Well, he came in and gave me a great shot on video, even the arrow hit the mark, so here I go tracking at the end of the day in the marsh. On the video, you can practically see the “uh-oh” expression on my face. I knew I made a good shot and was confident, but you never know what can happen.
I dropped down the tree as fast as I could, went over, found the arrow, and started tracking. Turns out he only went 50 yards and died. It was a heart shot.
Continued >