I had a lot of hope going into this deer season. I had gotten pulled for a turkey tag and harvested my first turkey in the spring, maybe I would get to harvest a deer this fall. Perhaps this was my hunting year. Unfortunately I didn’t get a doe tag, but my hunting guide and I found a new hunting spot and there was plenty of deer sign. It was close quarters, pretty much bow hunting distances, with my possible shots being anywhere from 40-70 yards at most. I was a little worried about this at first, but when you don’t own land those 100+ yard shots in open fields just don’t exist. My hunting guide put in a lot of work finding this spot for me and it was starting to feel right.

On deer opener I saw the northern lights. I know it sounds crazy but this too gave me hope for a good hunting season. I can’t explain why. Maybe it’s because I rarely actually see them. Maybe I was just looking for any sort of hopeful sign. I needed something to hope for after last deer season, my first deer season. Last year was a terrible year for deer. It was cold. Brutally cold. It was windy. You wouldn’t have been able to hear a deer if it sat down right next to you. I barely saw any deer. I really just wanted to see some deer this year even if I couldn’t take a shot.

Walking to my stand I saw a shooting star. I thought, this is it. This is my year. I’m going to harvest a deer. I was sitting in my stand and it was about 15 minutes before shooting light and what do I hear? Not a deer. It’s some bozo that was walking through the woods waving a flashlight. He was literally stumbling and charging his way through the trees. I’m sure he lost his path but what concerned me most was where he was going. He walked by and I found out he was hunting about 50 yards away from me. I couldn’t believe it. He then had the audacity to say, “good luck” to me. I was horribly discouraged. This isn’t the cities where people hunt on top of each other. How could this be? I tried to tell myself it would be OK. Then I saw another shooting star. Maybe it would be OK.

At about 8:30AM a spike buck was walking towards where I would actually be able to take a shot. I’m watching him come down the trail that leads to a perfect shooting lane for me. I couldn’t believe it. Was I going to tag out my first morning? My heart was beating through my chest. Then he stopped, turned, and took off in the other direction. Of course. He wasn’t downwind from me but he was directly downwind from the bozo 50 yards off of me. I didn’t see any more deer that day or the next. I also found out that the guy who was hunting off of me had built a permanent stand on state land and was driving down a 4-wheeler trail to get to our hunting area. Not only that, he was smoking in his stand because there were cigarette butts all underneath it. No wonder we weren’t seeing deer. I was just hoping he wasn’t a local or that he was just a weekend hunter.

I’m lucky enough that I can hunt during the week. One of the benefits about where I live is that I can hunt in the morning or afternoon and adjust my work schedule accordingly. I went out Monday morning and about 15 minutes before shooting light I heard a good sound. Instead of some guy crashing through the woods it was a deer. I don’t know if it was a doe or a buck because I couldn’t see anything, but I it walked by me by probably only 30 yards. I was once again hopeful.

Tuesday afternoon we went out to see if there was more activity during that time. I saw two deer. One was a doe for sure and I think one was a buck but it was too far away to be sure. I was so relieved to actually be seeing deer. The weather looked like it was about to change on Thursday. The temperature was dropping and it looked like snow was possible. My guide said that Wednesday afternoon might be a really good day to hunt due to the weather moving through.

Walking to my stand on Wednesday afternoon I could smell a doe. It smelled like the drag we had been using but obviously more fresh and a bit more skunky in my opinion. I was hoping that a buck would also be in the area. I got to my stand and felt really hopeful. It was November 11th. Eleven eleven, make a wish. As I was sitting there I kept thinking that this was it, this would be the day. I could hear a deer all over the place. It was over here and then it was over there. I thought I was going crazy. Was this one deer or a few deer?

My guide then whispered to me that there was a deer. I looked straight ahead and saw a doe at the edge of the thick woods. I looked at him and said, “It’s just a doe.” He then looked at me and said there was a buck behind her. I looked back at where she was standing and she was still staring at me. Assessing the situation, so I thought. She then darted out and I saw a buck coming out after her. Initially I tried to bring my gun up quietly because I’m thinking I don’t want him to hear me and turn back. So silly. I could have had bells on and he wouldn’t have cared. He just wanted one thing. I was shaking like a leaf as I tried to bring my gun up to look through my scope. At first I couldn’t see through it but I shifted, I got my sight on him, and found what I like to call the deer square. I call it that cause we have a deer target for shooting our bows at in the yard and there is a square where you aim at. I locked in on his deer square and moved my rifle along with him as he walked. My guide said he was going to try and stop him. I didn’t respond. I just stayed locked on his square. My guide yelled at the buck but he kept moving. There was a moment where I thought about taking a shot when he was still walking but I didn’t. My guide then yelled again. The buck stopped dead in his tracks, he looked right at me, and I pulled the trigger.

What happened next was almost like a cartoon. I swear it looked like his legs got kicked out from underneath him and he hit the ground hard. I quickly ejected my shell and put in another round thinking he was going to get up and run. I took a breath and exhaled. I was shaking. I couldn’t believe it. It all happened so fast. It was a matter of 2 minutes at most that all this happened in. It was like the hunting shows on TV. My buck didn’t get up. He tried, but I had essentially spined him and he couldn’t get up. I went over to him after a few minutes. He looked at me as I stood by him and then he layed his head down. I think he knew what was about to happen. I fired the finishing shot and then he stopped moving. My guide went to grab some things so we could field dress him and I thanked my deer. I thanked him for his life, for this experience, & for the food that I would get from him. I felt terrible. I felt exhilarated. It’s a very weird feeling to take another life. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up hunting. I never got desensitized to it. Maybe you never do get used to it.

This year has been a good year for many things. It has especially been a good year for hunting.