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By Susan Lagazo
That was exactly what had been happening to me. In some cases though we commit the same mistake even after learning from one, which was aptly demonstrated the night of the coyotes' visit! These mistakes did not deter my buddy and I from hunting. We were stubborn hopeful adventurers!! The aftermath of a sleepless night dealing with a pack of coyotes left us tired. But we wanted to be on the tree stand before the sun rose. I settled down in my own tree stand that was 15 feet above the ground. The sun slowly came to me like a myriad of laser beams through the open spaces left by the thickened leaves of the trees. The lovely orchestra of bird's singing slowly faded out. As the sun came out, silence gripped the atmosphere with the occasional off pitch squawk of crows. The stillness was deafening, I could hear the squirrels & chipmunks teeter. The now familiar staccato noises made by the little critters while they went about their business of searching for food had become part of the scenario of waiting for the main player?.the deer?any deer?.."zzzzzzzzzzzzz" The pack of coyotes wildly tore my feet dangling above the tree stand. I stared with horror at my feetless legs. Somehow under the cloak of silence the coyotes were able to attack me! Fangs were savagely biting me! "How could I have lowered my guard and fallen asleep!" The ferociousness of the animal could not be abated!!!! I screamed at my hunting buddy about 50 yards away from me when I saw he himself was being gorged upon viciously by the coyotes!!! I was falling from a pit of darkness until ???. "Chomp, chomp, chomp, pause (6 seconds), Chomp, chomp, chomp, pause? ZZZZZZ? Hmmmp! Huh?" The sound of hoof steps woke me up from a horrible nightmare!! It was a dream!!!! Between the dream about the coyotes attacking and awakening to a much anticipated deer, my mind couldn't quickly process what to do next. My body, not my mind, was ready to do what should be done in situations that had been practiced over and over in my mind. My eyes were blurry and it took me a while to focus and bring my mind to understand where on earth I was! The sound of the deer came from my right and some how I knew that the sounds of hooves followed by a pause could only come from a deer. I was unprepared, it happened so fast. First the nose appeared behind the bushes, then the entire head , then the entire body could be seen. I gazed upon the reluctant deer, always pausing to look up and gasped a whiff of my suspicious scent. He could smell me, I remained motionless, my left hand holding the bow and my right hand no where near the bow string. He continued his steady approach into my sight but his continuous suspicion grow and his cautious sniffing became longer than his approach toward me. When he was near my shooting range, I slowly moved to prepare my bow for a shot. The onset of my movement confirmed his suspicion that something was in the air. He bolted, vanishing in a flash of white!!!! "What an idiot!" I muttered to myself! How could I let all the hard work slipped my fingers? I lowered myself from the tree stand and waited for my buddy to come out of the woods still contemplating my ordeal!! The flashes of glory that have been occupying my mind all year long melted away and once again leaving me with the bitter taste of failure! While rationalizing, sorting and talking to myself to look at the positive side of everything, I have decided to recognize the fact that I am actually nearer to be a real hunter. I have experienced a deer approaching my tree stand. It was like a holy apparition of a ghost taunting me to do justice to my hunting attire! Down on the ground, I saw Armen approaching and I knew at an instant that he had a rough experience himself. "Susan, I just made a big unforgiveable mistake"? I looked at him," Don't tell me you lost your deer"? I heard a low mumbling answer "Yes, a 7 pointer". He looked inconsolable. I set aside my own woes and listened to him. " I was ready, alert and waiting for the 7 pointer deer . He came just 15 feet below me, stopped and decided to nibble on the berry leaves. I had a perfect shot." He said, " I drew my bow, sure of my target. The bow that I could draw with ease on the ground felt like tons as I struggled to pull it back. The fact that I was sitting down and drawing a downward, slanting angle made the difference between shooting from the ground versus shooting from a tree stand! As I struggled to reach my anchor, my jaw caught the trigger of my thumb release before I could anchor causing my bow to go off prematurely!" Looking down, " The funny thing was, the deer just looked uninterestingly toward where the arrow hit and kept on grazing. Once again I strained to draw my bow carefully. But then excitement came between my struggle, the trigger touched my camo jacket! The arrow hit the ground a few inches away from the deer's nose and this time, the deer exploded in to the woods! It was an easy shot and I blew it". I sympathized with his failure while nursing mine. After a while I started to unburdened the heavy load of frustration to my partner. After we went over our stories until we got tired of it we both shrugged our shoulders and walked away from the hunting spot to forget all the blunders we made that day!! Heck!!! There is tomorrow!!!! P.S. I actually started a list of lessons learned that read: "Things to Do" to avoid blunders!"
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