Going to the place as often as we like has put a toll on our budget. Lodging and food took a considerable portion of our budget. While we are at our land, answering the call of nature had been cumbersome. Digging was not my cup of tea and going back to the hotel was a 20 minutes drive. “ We are building our cabin!” my partner announced one day. My smile was from ear to ear and no further comment was heard from me regarding the building of our very own cabin; a dream come true, “Hooray!”

 
It took a while to plan and build the cabin. My husband who is an architect like myself approached planning the small cabin like a million dollar project although the projected budget was $50,000.00.  At the same time we were building, our cabin Terry and Rose Sneider across the road joined the “build a cabin frenzy”. 

Terry named his place “Thorn Apple” because of the thorn apple trees that dotted his 22 acres property. The sound of building occupied the atmosphere of that little area. After the dust had settled a total of 6 cabins were built. Our cabin was perched on the side of a small hill overlooking the creek. The back and the front of the small cabin had an observation deck. All the windows were literally picture perfect framing the volatile winding creek with wild flowers, green shrubs and trees as its backdrop. All these expenses pushed our plans to retire further down the years. Was it worth it? “ YES!”

 
Hunting season 2004 came with a bang! The noise discouraged the deer to go near our area. At the end of our road before turning left to the next mile road, Terry Rivers, a veteran hunter spent most of the hunting season in his hunting area looking for the elusive buck. Winter was tickling fall that year, the ground was thinly filmed with white powder dust. The food for the deer was dwindling. Terry’s ground around his cabin had a crew cut appearance and new grass blended with the dark mature cut grass. The deer consider grass buds as dessert and once in a while, the deer couldn’t resist  venturing into man’s pasture.

One early morning before the sun was up, Terry was roused from a deep slumber by a loud grunt of a buck. “ I must be dreaming”.  He thought. Terry buried his head on the pillow but the persistent noise got the better of him and he woke up, his mind forcing his squinting eyelid to open. Shaking off the hang over from last night’s drinking around the campfire, he dragged himself toward the door. Framed by the door, nipping at the grass, unmindful of danger was colossal buck 15 yards away! Terry’s mind was racing fast.

“Who is the best Taxidermist in town?”  “Ha, the gang will all envy me!”  He did not panic (so he said), took his time aiming and “wham!” , his royal highness fell on the ground! “

I’d probably serve deer steak tonight”, Terry thought with a big smile across his face Terry opened the door and abandoned his warm cozy cabin, approached the vanquished deer lying motionless on the ground. Terry’s eyes bulged, his mind kept running through the menu for the night’s bonfire party when suddenly the deer bolted like lightning, scaring Terry and shaking him up to this dream like scenario!

His hunter mind returned to him. His mind sharp now, he followed the deer that trampled through the woods. The crisp cold morning nudged Terry’s instinct to kick in. Just a hundred yards away from where the deer fell, Terry stopped the futile attempt to track the animal. He noticed that the deer was not injured and no red droppings on the ground were evident to encourage Terry to follow the spooked deer. Terry suddenly felt the chill ran through his body. On the empty field, a lone figure stood, in his shorts, shoeless feet and no shirt. Terry stood shivering with no buck in sight.

He doggedly traced his steps toward where the deer laid a while ago and noticed just a slight tinge of pink on the ground (positively a sign that he just grazed the deer). Disappointed, he entered his cabin ejected from the state of what might have been almost tasting venison.

Now, Terry is the kind of a person that bounces back quickly to his fun self. He wasted no time and invited all his neighbors that night and served barbecue chicken and corn. Terry made us all laugh with his tale and showed us the hole on his screen door that deflected his shot!!! We all had our own theories why the deer fell. In the end, we all concluded that the shot the deer took gave him a knock out punch just enough for him to recover and run when Terry approached him. We all had a blast that night!

Terry and April Rivers

The wind was in our favor. Foliage was in full autumn color and the ground was wet. Our rehearsed hunting strategy was in place. We entered the woods parallel to each other at about 120 yards apart. Trees of different species separated us. Patches of dense pines where ideally spaced in the animals favor for bedding. The pines were located on a saddle, which was higher than the ground. The deer had a view of whoever was approaching their territory.

I gave my partner a 15 minutes lead-time so he could settle in his tree stand and proceeded to enter the woods with no intention of being in any tree stand. Stalking is one of the ancient means of hunting and today I will use this tested tradition. In case the deer spots me first and walks away from me, Armen who is waiting in his tree stand and with any luck might intercept his path.

Slowly and stealthily I entered the realm of competition. Trading wits with this animal I consider sharper, keener than self honed senses. I have learned to respect the deer and probably vice versa. I have had countless close encounters with deer and always if I know I cannot deliver a clean shot, I put my bow down.

It was a snail pace; moving 3 yards at a time and pausing 15 minutes each time to see any movements. The key here is to see the deer before he sees you. I needed to travel about a 100 yards and turn toward Armen’s tree stand to drive the deer toward his direction.

It was 10:00 am, the sun was bright but the cold weather sent chills down my spine leaving my body tense. The morning dew left the ground wet and the leaves that settled on the ground did not cause my choreograph steps to rustle. I buried my heel first and slowly lower the front of my feet ever so gently.

I saw three deer approaching and about 50 yards away!  Armen must have driven the deer out of their bedding. The thought quickly entered my mind. I held my breath, my pulsating heart was on over drive, and my eyes jumped out of my sockets, unblinking and afraid that if I blinked the apparition might disappear.

A big tree hid my silhouette from the deer's sight. They sauntered closer to my direction. At about 25 yards, like an oiled machine, I drew my bow, waiting for the deer to turn sideways. The three deer traveled in unison and they were still coming toward me.

Suddenly the lead deer saw my drawn image in front of her. I was not moving; I was at a pause in time, muscles in place except the finger on the trigger. I saw her eyes realizing I was danger and in a second I released my arrow before she could react!

Everything happened so fast, pandemonium broke loose, twigs were snapping, the thundering hoofs of the three deer reverberated, cutting the silence of the woods. Each deer took it’s own escape route.

I was glued to my place, not believing that my arrow hit a home run. It took a few seconds before I got out of my mesmerized condition. “ I need to wait 45 minutes before tracking the deer”, I thought to myself, not too confident of what to do next.

I quickly crossed the distance toward my husband. “Armen, come quick, get down from your tree stand, I think I hit a deer,!” I shouted. He did and then waited for me to calm down. Together we tracked my deer.

Tracking the deer through the drops of blood was work by itself. Fall colors of the leaves made it hard to see them. The yellow maple leaves with splatter of red made it difficult to track the deer’s trail. But I saw my deer lying on the ground, 60 yards from where I got her. She was at least 200 lbs, an impeccable catch!

“At last after all those years of trying, I finally got my deer!”  I reflected to myself and uttered  “ Thank you dear God”. The long drought of my hunting years was finally broken. What will be next? I have no time frame. Join me onward to more adventures on my quest for my first buck!

 
P.S. Terry Rivers took his 6-pointer buck this 2005 hunting season.