Soaked

This past fall Uncle Rob and I had headed to camp for the fast weekend in hopes either one of us could fill one of our many tags. I felt that I spent more time in the woods this year than any other, and still I had nothing to show for it. Uncle Rob made the trip to camp from Cincinnati mid-morning Thursday and made it in camp in time for an evening hunt. Meanwhile, I still had to work Friday and wouldn’t be arriving at camp until Friday night.

As I sat in work on Friday morning, all I could think about was getting to camp as I got ready for our Friday morning meeting. As I was getting ready to head in, I read my messages from our group chat and saw that Uncle Rob was out in the woods hunting. I thought that I should text him and say, “I’ll take my tenderloin medium rare when I arrive!” but I held off. Instead, minutes later, I got a text that read “Buck down!! Details to follow.” Dang! now I really wanted to get to camp.

Hours later, I arrived at camp to greet and congratulate Uncle Rob on his biggest buck ever ~ not a small feat considering all the years he has been hunting. He retold the story over cold beers and a warm fire. I was really anticipating getting out into the woods the next morning, despite the rain looming in the forecast.

We woke up about an hour and a half before sunrise as planned, and as predicted, it was pouring. To no surprise, we took our time making coffee and breakfast, as neither one of us was all that eager to go soak in the woods yet. We finished up breakfast and made the drive over to the government road. As we got to the parking spot, we sat there drinking our black coffee for ten minutes or so listening to the rain drops hit the roof of my truck. I can’t remember who, but one of us looked at the other and said, “well I guess we better head in.” We sat there for another 5 minutes, enjoying the last feeling of dryness we would have for hours.

While heading down into the big woods with rain hitting our hoods made it hard for hearing, I was optimistic we may be able to sneak close to some deer. Sure enough, about halfway down the mountain I heard Uncle Rob say, “Deer to our left!” and I snapped around watching their tails bounce away. We debated trying to sneak our way down, but both agreed we would bust down to the creek and then slowly work our way deeper into the woods.

As we came down upon the meadow at the base of the mountain and headed for the creek, I looked to my right and motioned Uncle Rob to stop.

“Is that a deer or a deer stump?” I said.

“Yes” he replied.

“Which one?! a deer or a stump?!” then I saw it move.

“That’s a deer! get down get down!” I said as I dropped to a knee. Uncle Rob stayed behind me, motionless as he glassed the deer feeding just 70 yards away.

“It’s a buck…it’s a legal buck” said Uncle Rob.

I tried to steady my gun, but all I could see was the buck’s head, which was now turned our way.

“I don’t have a shot, I have to stand up.” I stood and tried to place my crosshairs behind the deer’s shoulder. After seemingly minutes, I got steady enough to take a comfortable shot. “POW!” The deer took off running back up the mountain.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I had hit the deer. While I felt confident that I was on the shoulder when I shot, I realized that while shooting off hand any seemingly insignificant movement could cause a seriously significant miss. We spent the next hour searching and re-searching the area in which the deer stood as I shot, and found nothing. Due to Uncle Rob’s initial inclination that I missed coupled with the lack of any sign of a hit, we were comfortable deeming a miss. While it is not a good feeling to miss a deer you took a shot at, it is a much better feeling knowing it was a clean miss rather than non-fatally injuring the animal.

We proceeded across the creek and up the other side. Here we split up in hopes we may push the other some deer (Uncle Rob still had a doe tag, though he made it clear he would have to get a perfect opportunity to take a shot in these conditions with the recent memory of processing a deer alone in his mind). The rest of the day was spent walking through the damp wilderness. I managed to see two more deer but neither allowed for a shot. Uncle Rob however spent most of the day getting soaked trying to push deer my way. While another may have headed home having tagged a buck Friday, especially with a long drive ahead, I was appreciative that he stuck around to try to help me.

As the afternoon was coming to a close and we made our final push, the raindrops turned to thick white flakes. By the time I met up with Uncle Rob an hour later, there was a significant layer of snow covering the forest floor, illuminating everything around us. We made our way out of the winter wonderland with our clothes weighing significantly more than when we started. Although despite feeling a little uncomfortable, I realized that this is what it is all about. I was in a beautiful place, pursuing a beautiful animal that called that place home; It was only right that I got a little uncomfortable. While I always have high anticipation heading into camp, everything always seems to get put into perspective as I make my way out of the Alleghenies.

We spent the evening recounting the weekends successes, failures, ups and downs…but that is what always keeps us coming back for more.