Today's hunt

Since Brian had the day off, we goofed off a little in the morning - go figure - and then we drove to Leesburg for an afternoon hunt on some property that belongs to a retired doctor.  Brian has had permission to hunt this place for a long time, but since it is so far & until recently, he had lots of hunting land, he had not been going often.

Someone else has set up tree stands all over the property, but they are pretty steep for me to negotiate.  Every time we go, I think it will be the time I manage to get up in one & then I look up the long ladder & say, "Not today!"

After taking the wind in consideration, Brian & I go our separate ways.  He will use a tree stand that is set up across the creek & I will set up in the bottom where we saw a doe last time we were here.  There's a tree stand set up about where I want to be but it is one of the tallest ones that I have come across while hunting here.  Four aluminum ladders are strung together to get to the platform.  No thanks.

Since I left my chair at home, Brian gave me his cushion to sit on.  After choosing a spot, cutting out some brush & settling down, I realize that I am not happy with the spot at all.  As I am getting ready to move, I hear a shot off in the distance.  I sit tight with my gun ready just in case.  When nothing comes through, I call Brian on the walkie-talkie, & sure enough, he is pretty certain he has killed a doe.

After relocating to a new spot, not far from my first one, but with a better view, Brian confirms that he has indeed killed a doe.  He was getting ready to climb into the stand when he saw her, had to get his gun off his back & everything.  Way to go hubby!

It's a nice afternoon, somewhere in the mid-60's, perfect weather for me ... Brian is probably too warm.  Suddenly there are are shots to my left & they are close.  I double check that my orange is very visible & get my gun ready in case anything comes my way.  More shots.  Then one more.  I sure hope they killed whatever it was!  Brian checks in with me as he knows the shots must be close to me.

After a bit, the shots start up again.  Maybe someone is target shooting, I cannot be sure.  All I know is that whoever it is has probably ruined my chance of getting a deer this afternoon.

As daylight is fading, Brian lets me know that he is coming down from his stand & will walk towards me in an effort to push a deer my way.  Sure enough, in about 15 minutes he lets me know that there is a small doe coming my way along the creek.  I have my gun up & ready & then I see her, a small doe just as Brian said.  She sees me & stops but does not spook.  She walk a little closer & I wait for her to clear some brush.  She stops to take another look at me & I pull the trigger.

The doe doubles back on the trail that she just came through & I can't tell if she is hit or not.  I hear a little noise in the brush & am hoping that maybe I did hit her & that she has crashed there.  I see an orange hat bobbing through the woods & I know it's Brian coming to see what has happened.

Going to the spot where the doe had last stood, I found some white hair, but no blood.  We looked for a while but never found any sign of the doe being hurt.  Apparently I just shaved some belly hair off her.

Ah well.  The deer are really taunting me this year.

The best part of the hunt came afterwards when we stopped for a bite to eat at Roy Rogers.  Yes!  They still exist (I thought they had all gone the way of the pony express).  A lady there asked me if I was wearing *real* hunting clothes.  Biting back the urge to tell her I was just making a fashion statement in my head-to-toe camo, I said yes & she got a big kick from meeting a *real* hunter in *real* camo. 

Glad I could help.

PS: I am not a fast food fan, but that was yummy roast beef sammich from Roy's.