Early this morning I decided to hunt for the first time this season ... I had done enough practice to be confident of a 20+yd shot which is typical for bow hunting around here.  So up just at day break ... camo clothes on ... about 55 degrees F ... perfect weather, I climb up in the tripod and wait for the sunrise ... not too long after ... two 4 point "smallish" bucks are eating at the feed block and I decide one of them is small but "ok" ... I stand up, bring the bow to full draw and %^&*(*&^&*(* what the hell??? I can't see my sighting ring!!!! I had practiced over several weeks and KNOW the bow is properly sighted but for some damn reason ... I can't see the ring ... meaning I'm not on target! ... I hunch my shoulders shift my weight ... and finally "see" the ring ... and put the pin on the buck's shoulder and release ... only to see my arrow cleanly miss the deer (too low) by almost a foot ... again I think ... $%^&*(*&^%^&*(* what the hell????

OK off the stand ... deer have vanished of course ... I pick up the arrow ... walk over to my target range ... draw the bow at the target and STILL can't see the sight ring ... CLEARLY something has caused the bow to be knocked out of "sighted" ... crap ... ok ... it's a pain to sight this bow so I'll do it later ... into the house and off on regular Saturday errands we go ...

time passes ... it's late afternoon ... still plenty of daylight ... I've done several other things ... I'll see if I can sight in the bow ...

Out to the target range ... draw the bow on the target and ... there JUST LIKE IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE is my sight ring ... I release on the target and hit dead on! ... nock another arrow ... draw ... sight ring is good .. release ... two arrows in a 1 inch group ... what the hell???

The three deer that have been feeding at the block all this while have been observing my skill with a jaundiced eye ... "... he ain't bothering us ..." ... I draw a third arrow on the target ... release and now have three arrows in a 1 inch group ... so what was the problem this morning???   I mean ... what the hell ????

I walk over to the target, extract the three arrows, look up and not 15 yards away the three deer have now split off a bit ... two have "moseyed" about 10 steps from the block and one doe is still holding her ground at the block and eying me with a bit of what I considered a haughty attitude ...

Ok ... I set two of the arrows in the quiver and knock the third ... I walk all the way around to the front of the big deck ... up on the deck ... walk across 30 or 40 feet of acorns crunching like snap crackle pop cereal all the way watching the doe ... she's still at the block and now proceeding to munch away clearly not concerned by me and my bow (and it's very fickle at this point sight ring) ... I think to myself ... what the hell! ... I'm NOT in camo, I'm NOT on my tripod 15 feet in the air I'm NOT up wind ... and I have clearly been seen by this animal ... if she's that damn dumb or indifferent ... what the hell!!  I'm taking a shot ... so ... once again I draw my bow to full draw and the sight ring at first isn't anywhere to be seen then as I relax a bit... it settles into place ... I release the arrow and see a clean kill shot on the animal ... naturally she jumps and runs into the brush away from me as expected ... I wait ... go into the house change into old clothes and start to run the blood trail ... easy sign all looks to be a good shot with easy to follow trail ... and then ... it happens ....

I hear kids ... LOT'S OF KIDS ... and other people .... LOT'S OF OTHER PEOPLE ... all laughing CLEARLY having a party ... and as it turns out ... sure enough there is some sort of birthday party in full swing in the back yard of my neighbor (the Bakers) ... understand we rarely ever hear or see the Bakers ... like maybe once in the last 5 years ... and NEVER small children ... their property is separated from ours by dense heavy cedar and brush ... there is easily 100 yards from the deck in my yard across my property of dense cedar brush to where the Bakers have their yard and tennis court ... so .... here I am hot on a fresh blood trail when I come up right at the property line and smack into some sort of birthday party ... with maybe 30 people all tolled ... bunches of small (4-5 yr old) kids playing on the tennis court ... people laughing ... having a fine time ...

I stop and think to myself ... "What the hell?????" .....

So as quietly and stealthily as I can I back track to the our house ... cursing my luck that on THIS DAY of ALL DAYS ... the Bakers are having a damn party in the back yard ... and I KNOW right there close by is a dead deer I REALLY need to collect and get to the processor ... Carolyn is sympathetic but wants to go look for the deer now ... I'm of a mind that I really don't want a bunch of little kids crying because I shot Bambi and their mother's and father's telling me they are sure I have broken some ordinance or other and they are gonna have my ass thrown in jail .... so I tell Carolyn we will wait until the party is over ... maybe even tomorrow ...

About 7:45PM .... I walk outside and listen ... it's dark and I don't hear any revelry from the Bakers' backyard ... so I tell Carolyn the party is over and she wants to go look for the deer ... (btw when I first made the shot I advised Carolyn to call and see when the processor over in New Braunfels closed for the day ... they accept deer for processing until 9PM ... ) ... so with flashlights in hand we begin Ninja Deer Stalking in the dark ... always a fun evening ... I found the blood trail pretty quick and we started following it ... remember we are in THICK cedar brush at night with flashlights and basically right up against my neighbor's back fence ... when ...

.... there's another flashlight ... this one over at the Bakers' ... what the hell?? ... Dan Baker calls out "... hello who's there ..." and I reply "hey Dan ... it's Bade ..." (now Dan is a nice guy but I don't think he's a real fan of bow hunting in his back yard .. or in my back yard for that matter ...) ... Dan calls back "... are ya'll looking for a deer?" ... crap! ... "Yeah we are ... " ... "he's over there ..." and Dan helpfully shines his light about 10 yards from where we were standing ... "geeze Dan ... I was tracking that deer earlier when I came up to this point and ran into your party ... I'm REALLY sorry ... I hope the kids weren't freaked out ..." .... "no ... they didn't see it ... some of the adults did ... " ... "well ... I'm really sorry I didn't know there was a party going on ..." ... "yeah it was a surprise birthday party for me today is my 70th birthday ... " ... "well ... uh .... Happy Birthday!!! ... I'll get this deer outta here right away and again I'm really sorry it interrupted your party ... " ... "no problem ... I was sent out to look for a GameBoy ... " ... "ok well good luck and Happy Birthday again ... "

So ... I go over and pick up the deer and carry it about 50 yards back on my property ... field dress it as fast as I possibly can ... get it into the pickup ... it is now 8:24PM ... it's typically ... 40 minutes at best to New Braunfels ... gonna be tight ...

But Carolyn makes all of the lights but one and we pull into the processor at 8:59PM ... I'm not sure they were real glad to see me pull up at the last second .. but they took the deer and my deposit ... looking forward to some good dried sausage ... it wasn't a big doe but will make plenty of sausage ...

What the hell!!!

--
Bade
Like an old desperado ... painting the town beige