I grabbed him by the horns, got back to my tree, and got ready to start dragging without gutting. I didn’t want that stinky water getting inside of him. I figured I had about 30 minutes of light left, so I wanted to get him half ways out of the woods to a place where I could follow my bright eyes out.
Remember, I have a tree stand on my back, which is weighted down with boots, clothes, a heavy pack with camera gear, then a bow in one hand, and a flashlight in the other. On top of all that, I have two bad shoulders. That all adds up to a tough drag. One I will gladly do again. I got him to the first road, and fell on my back, looked up at all the stars, and thanked God for one AWESOME experience.
The rest of the mile drag on the road was easy at that point, especially since I just gutted it at the road, and it was lighter now. The stars were so bright, and I heard plenty of bugling to keep me smiling on the way to my truck. Over the day, I’ll bet I heard at least 30 bugles, all around me. Some were pretty close, too. Sika deer hunting can be tough, about as tough as you want to make it, I guess. But, at the end of a successful season, that juice is definitely worth the squeeze.