The Hunter & the Hunted

Disclaimer: If you're not into deer hunting stories, don't bother to read this post. It's all about JS's filmed hunt.

Back in June, JS won a professionally filmed whitetail deer hunt. We were shocked & delighted. I don't expect we'll ever be able to afford such a luxury. We scheduled the date and I made a camo dress to wear. (It seems I am hooked on accompanying the hunter, thus it is prudent to acquire more feminine attire to wear in fields dominated by men, particularly when I was in danger of appearing on camera.) JS counted the weeks, then days. Finally on Friday the big day arrived!

With the school benefit auction on Saturday, on one hand, it felt like very bad timing. It was such a crazy busy week with doing extra baking and making food for the sale, and trying to make up some gift baskets when I am hopelessly inept at arranging baskets. And having to have all this, along with the regular housework, completed by Thursday. Oh, and throw in a youth committee meeting just to keep things interesting. But, on the other hand, when am I more in need of a day off? Lovely, soul-reviving hours of rest & silence!  

Not being a morning person, the alarm goes off way too soon on hunting days. Somehow it always takes us longer to get bundled up in our gear than we anticipate, so we were running 10 minutes late meeting Mr. W. We opted to go with him to his hunting spots vs. ours. We traveled rural roads I had never been on and hiked totally foreign terrain in the dark with the aid of only a cell phone for light. It was not in the forecast to rain, and reportedly did not rain at our house, but it sprinkled where we were for almost 2 hours. Thanks to my camo dress made of heavy twill, I did not get hung up in the briers a single time or get the slightest bit damp.

Now finding a comfortable place to sit still for hours at a time is always the first challenge. I cannot sit without support for my back. The options are invariable covered with dry leaves that crunch loudly every time you shift your weight. Given the choice of a blind, complete with comfy chair for mom, or a brush pile on the hillside, JS chose the brush pile -with the better potential of seeing a buck. (I don't blame him, and it's part of the experience for me.) The suggested log just wasn't going to cut it, so I scooted down between 2 logs where I would have back support. I was well hidden, out of the way, and fairly comfortable, but my back was to all the action as it turned out.

The first action JS saw was a buck. I could hear, but not see it. It came in to 15 yds. Mr. W had been emphatic about JS waiting to take a shot until he gives the signal. After this episode, he said he was waiting & waiting for the arrow to come into the camera frame but it just never came. JS chose not to take the shot for several reasons- some brush in the way, and it was an unimpressive 4 point rack. In reviewing the footage later, we did notice it was a unique deer in that it had a white face.

We settled back to wait some more. After some time passed, I heard the stomping & blowing of multiple deer quite close by, but again could not see what was happening. I twisted around to see JS draw back, but he did not take the shot this time either. For safety reasons -camera man was in front of him. It was 3 does, including a large dominant that JS would have been happy with. At 10 yds. Mr. W got some great footage before they ran off.

In my experience, there seem to be 2 'handicaps' females experience to a greater degree than males during hunting trips. One is stamina to bear the freezing temperatures, and the other is what to do with a full bladder. The former having some bearing upon the later. Having forgotten gloves, my fingers were getting cold, but the other was on the forefront of my consciousness after 4+ hours. Just when I thought I'd have to embarrass myself by bringing my plight to the males' attention, Mr. W decided I looked cold and it was time to head in. He hunts with his wife frequently, so it was probably his polite way of addressing the issue.

After eating lunch, we went to Mr. W's house to see his trophy mounts, see the morning's footage and warm up. The farm we hunted in the morning was not available in the afternoon, so Mr. W called another of his many contacts and got permission to hunt another property. We are told his hunting skill is legendary in the area -to the extent that he has to hide his vehicle so his rivals can't figure out where he hunts. Not unlike our BIL's secret mushroom hunting spots.

Upon arrival, Mr. W's comment was "It may not look like much, but I've seen world-class bucks in this woods." He sprinkled attractants and made a scrape. We were closer to the highway & traffic noise, so he warned JS that whatever happens will happen without warning as we probably won't hear them coming. We actually had quite comfortable seating and it wasn't as cold, but we waited & waited... and waited... and waited. We saw absolutely no action. Not a thing. Well, ok, he did get some footage of a squirrel. At dusk, he decided we would try creeping out of the woods to see if there was anything in the field or at the edge of the woods. We didn't see anything, but a neighbor driving by stopped to tell us we drove 2 small doe out.

So 'the big hunt' ended with the tag unfilled. However, JS & I have this philosophy- a successful hunt is one on which you get out and enjoy nature, regardless of whether you bag any wildlife or not. Thus we consider it a successful day. Unfortunately, since JS didn't shoot & recover anything, the footage will not be used by Xtreme Outdoors. Mr. W will burn the footage onto a disk for us that we can keep to remember the experience by. We prayed much about this hunt, so I feel certain it turned out the way it was supposed to. I'm proud of my son for putting safety ahead of harvest, and for passing up an unimpressive rack in hopes of better results later. And I hope when he does finally bag a big one that I'm there with camera rolling!