Hunting scorns me yet again

As the weekend came and went, there were thousands of hunters that hit the woods to try to bag that trophy deer. I was one of those hunters this year and I had my shot at said trophy deer.

My dad, brothers and I traveled to Trempealeau County for the gun deer season as we do every year. My dad is from that area so he still has plenty of friends and we’ve got family that still reside in the area. The beautiful thing about hunting down there is all the hills and the ability to perform drives with ease as opposed to this area where the terrain is relatively flat.

We set out on a chilly Sunday morning with temperatures in the single digits. We were at my uncle’s farm near Galesville which is about 100 acres of mixed woods and fields overlayed on bluffs that overlook the coulee region.

I was on stand where I would be waiting for the deer to come my way as a mixture of my family members drove the deer my way. I sat for probably an hour, waiting for them to not only set up the drive but then perform the first part of the drive. I didn’t see a thing. All of a sudden, I saw one of my brothers pop over the ridge in front of me which was a sign that the drive was pretty much over. We still had a little patch of woods behind me that needed to be pushed to other people that were on stand so I started walking up the hill that I had previously had my back to.

I heard my other brother’s fiance tell me there were two deer coming back my way. She said, “One of them might be a buck.” I instantly got excited because while I have shot bucks before, nothing can really compare to getting an opportunity to harvest a big buck.

I heard some rustling coming up on the other side of the hill. I watched as a beautiful buck crested the hill and ran past me and my cousin who were both three quarters of the way up the hill. The deer ran down the hill and my cousin and I both fired shots at it as it sped through the woods. We both missed. As I loaded another cartridge, the deer took a turn and headed towards where my brother was when he came over the hill from the drive.

He didn’t get a shot off. My cousin and I looked at each other in disbelief as the biggest deer we had seen in recent memory had just eluded us. Getting a nice buck is why we all do it but this weekend was a reminder that nothing is guaranteed when out in the woods.

The true trophy however, is getting to spend time with my brothers, dad, uncles and cousins while in the woods. These are people I don’t get to see more than two or three times a year so it’s nice to visit with them while doing something we all enjoy doing.

Speeding

Through

L

ife