The excitement of the early morning rise as you hurry about to leave from home. It is dark out as you take off, your headlights revealing the road ahead of you. An hour later, you ease up to your chosen spot to park. Quietly in the headlight's beam, you gather everything with one last check to make sure that all is well with your bow and arrows.
Now you turn to head to your spot for today, not the hang on stand but a ground blind set up. It is a fallen tee spot where a big pine has fallen beside another big pine. You had found this spot weeks before and had even hid a collapsible chair in a plastic bag under the brush at the spot.
Your headlight guides you thru the thick mess to get eventually to the more open narrow strip of standing timber. You have gone thru a tangled mess of regrowth from a previous clear cutting. The standing timber is a narrow strip that was left between two older clear cuts and therefore a good funnel for game like deer.
But there is also fresh hog sign, well, mud on the trees and everything up as high as they can rub. You are okay with a hog or a deer, this is a meat hunt. Finally, you are in the more open timber as you continue to dodge the saw briars and the blackberries.
You pause for a brief second and make a quick scan around before quietly making your way to the fallen tree. The wind is finally good for this spot as you lay everything thing down on the ground. Seconds later, you have the dry chair out and set up, tucked in just right behind the log and beside the tree.
A quick cleaning of the spot for your feet and you have your quiver set in a good spot as you sit down. An extra arrow is set within easy reach for a second shot if needed. Now it is time for a quick double check on everything.
Your hat has been off and your light camo jacket open as you cool down from your walk in. Your bow is ready and leaned against the tree as you turn off your headlight and set it inside your open pack. Now it is the sit and wait in the darkness for daylight.
As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you hear the distant howl of coyotes and an eighteen wheeler miles away. The stars began to come alive as you quietly look around. An owl sounds off really close to you and it is tempting to owl back to it but you don't.
It is quiet out there and yet it isn't as you strain to see what critter is walking about near you. Is it an armadillo? Or maybe a coon, a possum or maybe a wood rat? Finally you begin to see the hint of a lighter sky and so you quietly ready your bow as you avoid the bowstring with the broadhead.
You double check your ability to draw your bow and shoot in the predawn. The trees are slowly becoming trees before your eyes as you strain to see and to hear everything. The birds like the Wren are coming to life and announcing the world to everything. Now you hear crows as they awake to the new day.
Life is good, the peace and tranquility of nature is unfolding before you and it is just simply awesome. The game trail is roughly ten yards in front of you, a decent shot if everything goes right. You will be able to see the deer maybe fifteen to twenty yards before they are in front of you and so you are on high alert.
It's not even full light when you make out some movement to your left. It has stopped for a moment, is it browsing or what you wonder. Then it slowly begins making its way down the trail towards you.
Your mind is racing as you ready for a shot, is your broadhead sharp enough? Pick a spot, pick a spot! Aim low, aim low! Be quiet and make sure that you do everything right!
It is a small doe, not a little buck but a small doe. Should you wait for a bigger deer or take this one? The doe makes the decision for you as she stops perfectly just ahead of you for a slight quartering shot. You go into careful automatic motion as your draw and shoot. Yeah, life is good!
