# Against All Odds



## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

I woke before the alarm – a typical regiment, no sleep, having known the night before that in the morning I was to wake up different than previous nights. I would be predator after prey. The knowledge of the coming hunt just like the stoking of hot embers to flame slowly grows through the night from quiet anticipation to sleepless excitement. It was O’dark thirty when I finally woke . . . well in advance of the sun’s wake up call. I would soon be in the stand begging that very sun to rise. The weather was forecasted for another day of cold air with temps starting at 29 degrees but today it would have the addition of cutting winds. It was almost just a week before Christmas and when I stood at the overhead garage looking out I could see the bow hung from our wreath on the brick outside. It was flapping hard – almost like a warning flag telling me that much smarter men were still asleep in bed sheltered from winter’s bite. My mind straddled the fence of decision … the cold wind whipping almost turning me back indoors. Adventure has rarely been had in safe and comfortable dwellings. I ignored the warning. My decision was not resolute but it pushed me out the door and on my way to the woods. What is it in men that drives us forward despite unfavorable conditions - against all odds?

I was on my way to my tree stand…my perch just one amongst several other hunter’s stands in less than 6 acres of land. To call this place pressured would be an understatement. In those small acres of land my stand stood squeezed in by 6 other hunters that frequented here enough that their foot paths nearly look paved as they are so warn. This was my 4th or 5th season hunting here . . . I honestly lost count. I still return here with hopes despite having spent countless hours in the stand watching and waiting having seen very little in the way of game. More than 11 years ago my wife and I had married on these very grounds in a most beautiful outdoor wedding in June. Today – the wind cut through to my skin reminding me this was not June and the snow still hanging around in spots below the trees was gripping tight to winter and holding its cold close leaving my breath fogging in front of me. I never grow tired of the sight of these clever and secretive deer but their sightings here have been far too few in-between. If one were to make itself known today it would be a dream come true to finally harvest here in a place that has so much history to me.

I settled into my stand and waited. It was bonus gun season. I held in hand an 1100 Magnum Remington borrowed from a friend. In these woods it was close quarters in thick pines. Not a place for my scoped Thompson Strike muzzleloader. After waiting sometime in the stand I felt frozen in place gripping the shotgun and most likely incapable of moving on a target if one were to show themselves. It was mere minutes before 8 a.m. I stood up to get my blood flowing and almost immediately after - I catch long legs moving downhill toward me. This was no squirrel – and I’ve jumped at many … far too many. My heart throttled and instantly I was so warm from excitement I felt overdressed like wearing a coat to a warm beach. Not knowing if this were a buck or doe my mind raced quicker yet. As she came to full view I knew it for a doe. She was walking straight for the kill zone and I knew I had her. Then suddenly she turned to her left routing to my right. There were fallen pines and frozen snow on the ground but she made no sound…silent as falling snow. If I had not caught sight of her she could have easily made the slip on me without my knowing, even at closer than 15 yards. But having seen her it mattered not. She was within 15 yards of me but banking to my right where there was not shot….the only area in here where I had no shot! She stopped right in front of some brush. I told myself you have a boom stick in had….its power would not yield to honeysuckle’s twisted twigs. I feared a deflected shot or a wounded deer. I lowered my gun and inside my head I screamed at myself for not taking the shot! She continued on silently past me and out of sight.

I spent the next 15 minutes yelling at myself. I had not had an opportunity at a deer in over 4 seasons hunting here and I let that opportunity get away. In the midst of silently yelling at myself a loud snap quickened my attention elsewhere and my head swiveled back over my right shoulder once more. She was back. Coming from the same route she left on. I am unsure what turned her back. My only thought was she had caught the scent of me from when I entered the woods as she was coming almost directly back from my path in. My luck was in . . . she was deadly silent the 1st time but in her return she snapped a twig in error and I was fully aware. But to my dismay she was coming back from behind me on the same path that previously held no opportunity for a safe shot. My shoulders dropped in disappointment. Then suddenly as she re-appeared she turn to a path that went directly behind me in an open whole where a shot would be most welcomed. My emotions were up and down…. Hope to despair and hope to despair and finally hope again. As she moved down the path behind me I swung all the way around to my left side now aiming directly behind me at the open whole … waiting…. and she slowly walked right into my sights.

The sound clapped off of every pine tree and echoed back at me. The shot was clean and well placed. She kicked hard and bolted. Up high in the stand I tracked her with my eye. I squinted trying to not lose her through the twisted labyrinth of thick woods. I heard her more than I saw her. In these woods 25 yards is like 200 yards in the open. I felt good about my odds. But with my long history here with such a drought I was taking no chances. The cold air was still present but it was not the temperature this time that had my hands quaking. I called my buddy who lent me the shotgun and waited for his arrival. I have since named him the official Deer Emergency Response & Recovery Unit. He showed in record time and we found her just outside of 25-30 yards from my stand. It is truly about the journey and not the destination. If it were only about the destination I would have stopped the journey long ago. To continue to hunt with only seeing a couple glimpses of deer for over 4 seasons you must truly love the hunt. It is a journey, experience and grand adventure to pursue – it is this that drives men from comfort and out of doors - to test themselves against all odds.


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## FAB (May 26, 2013)

Great rendition of a truly great story. Congratulations on an "against all odds" achievement.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice job john! Great story too!


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## G-Patt (Sep 3, 2013)

You're a gifted writer. Congratulations on the doe!


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## Redheads (Jun 9, 2008)

What a great read.......Congratulations !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Great story and Great determination. 
love the pic-- I'm always too quick with the knife work and end up with a bloody deer in my pic. 
Congratulations n Good luck and Good hunting !


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## fastwater (Apr 1, 2014)

Congrat SMB! 
And really enjoyed the story.


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