Patience
Patience: The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset
Big Ol’ Buck: Prone to cause men and women of all ages to not think correctly and lose all logic.
Its August 14th and I am driving down to Moncks Corner, SC for the opening of deer season in South Carolina. My father in law, Robbie, and I wake up at roughly 4am and head to the Huddle House for breakfast. We are pleasantly surprised to see my wife's uncle, Kurt, and his daughter waiting in the parking lot, not sure if they were coming or not. We enjoyed our meal and headed to sit that first morning. I was busted right off the bat as a deer wheezed at me constantly for what felt like a solid 60 seconds. Robbie and Kurt saw some does and overall it was nice to spend some time in nature.
This year we know there are roughly 5 decent bucks on the property and for now they are still traveling in bachelor groups before they split up for the rest of the season. It is known that if you see one buck, you are very likely to see all of them if you just wait. In particular, there is one buck we all want on our walls. It’s a solid 8, but his center tines are nearly 12 inches long. A true wall hanger as we would say. However, this deer doesn’t come out in the day time often and they don’t get that big by being stupid.
This particular story practically wrote itself as we had a fun group chat via text that we use typically to make sure everyone reached their stand safely and or to discuss what we have seen. We have myself and Robbie. Paul who is a 70-year-old man who has not shot a deer in the last 2 or so years and Kurt who is in the group chat, but not physically in the woods with us.
Its around 5 in the afternoon and we are having terrible flooding and thunderstorms. We get to the property and meet Paul. We discussed which stand we wanted to hunt and if we needed umbrellas to get there. Robbie was to sit in the “corner field”, Paul in the ‘long field’ and I was to sit in the cemetery field. It is known that the long field has had a lot of movement and the cemetery field camera has been messing up, but is only 150 yards from the long field.
We made our way to our stands in what I can only compare to when Forest Gump explains the rain in Vietnam. It was one of those strange storms where it was still light out, but the rain was thick and the thunder rolled. When I finally reached my stand I quickly settled in to enjoy the rain. The thunder was so treacherous that the stand itself would shake and in complete honesty it sounded like canons were going off just in the distance.
After about 2 hours of sitting in the rain, we start to have hope.
Robbie: 6:24pm “Get ready boys!! Y'all feel that temperature just drop 10 degrees?! Its on now!”
Me: 6:25 “I hope so. Just stopped raining hard and sun is slowly coming through”
Kurt: 6:27 “Could be the perfect storm”
Robbie:6:54 “Wind is now south, perfect for y'all. Should be coming in your face. Not but 1mph”
Paul:7:07 “Doe and 2 fawns at the equipment”
Me:7:08 “Finally something!”
*Gun shot goes off.
Me:7:11 “Jesus Paul scared the shit out of me”
Paul:7:11 “Big buck in corn”
Me: 7:12 “Good for you”
Robbie:7:12 ”Did you kill him?”
7:13 “Doe in field”
Paul:7:14 “Don't Know”
Kurt:7:14 “holy shit”
I chuckled to myself as Kurt easily could have come and sat this afternoon, but decided not too.
Robbie:7:14 “That didn't sound like a kill shot to me! Did he run off or what?”
Me: 7:15 “I didn't hear much run my way. Just a cannon blast.”
Robbie:7:15 “I usually hear a thump and didnt.”
7:16 “That doe hauled ass when that gun went off”
Kurt: 7:16 “I was 12 hours too early”
Robbie:7:17 “Its too early to get down.
Talk to me Paul. Where did it go?
I didnt bring my head lamp either. Left the damn thing on the charger.
You messed up Kurt”
Kurt:7:19 “Thanks bro”
Paul:7:20 “I don't think I hit him”
Me: 7:21 “Lord”
Robbie:7:22 “Paul doesn't communicate well. Paul don't go walking all over the place now.
It didn't sound like you hit him. Was he the long brow tined buck? Which way did he go?”
Kurt:”7:22 “I thought you or John were sitting there tonight?”
Robbie:7:23 “I would have, but Paul came so I sent him there. He is a piece of work. He can’t even buy a deer.”
Me:7:24 “I must smell like a donkey's ass. Can't get a squirrel to come by me.”
Kurt:7:25 “He should have practiced yesterday wih us.”
Robbie:7:27 “It would not have helped!! Lol he gets too damn nervous, blind, old, something!!”
Kurt:7:30 “You people are better than watching any TV show! A glass of wine and this banter is hilarious! Love Kim”
Robbie: 7:30 “Say something Paul. Maybe he shot himself!! He might could hit himself.”
Me: 7:32 “Might as well sit on a golf course and use a bow”
Kurt:7:34 “Any chance he comes back to nibble on some corn by 7 in the morning?”
Robbie:7:35 “That mofo is in Jamestown by now.”
Kurt:7:36 “That deer is gone”
Paul:7:40 “Back in stand, no way I hit it”
Robbie:7:43 “you have any idea where he went?”
Kurt:7:43 “Kansas”
Robbie: 7:44 “how bowcha paul?
John, he won't speak so I guess i'm going to get down and go look before dark.”
Kurt:7:48 “So why did you put Paul in the hotspot?”
Robbie:7:51 “Hes gonna sit in the truck from now on lol”
I also got down and walked in what was left of the evening. We had about 15 minutes left of light and I could already hear Robbie getting on Paul through the timber. When I finally got to where they were we had less than 5 minutes of light and began looking for blood. Paul said he could not see where the deer went because of the smoke and we also found out that he had shot him facing forward which is also a dumb idea when shooting at this range. See Paul has missed deer a few times in recent years. He should have waited one, for it to turn broad side and two, if you remember my earlier comment on early season bucks, he should have waited for the others to become comfortable and come out. In general this was a cluster, but somehow Robbie got on the trail and followed the deers path down into a hollow by a river. No sign of blood.
We left that night agitated. Not angry, but just kind of felt annoyed. Paul said he thought the deer was the big buck we all wanted, but then would say something that would totally contradict what he already had said. Like, “I think it was an 8 point, but not sure”. We all know if it was the big buck that Paul would have been able to confirm more confidently. After all, this deer is drastically larger than your average typical buck. The cherry on top was later that night when Robbie was able to see what was on the deer camera…..it was a small six point. So all of this was over nothing.
The good news is that the bucks are still out there and we have plenty of days to get out and enjoy mother nature. If you have ever hunted for whitetaile deer, then you know the feeling of excitement Paul felt. You wait months for deer season to come. You watch it on TV and read about it in magazines. So to physically be infront of a deer and possibly harvest that deer, its an adrenaline rush.
Until next time. Take a deep breath and access the situation.
Looking Forward: North Carolina bow season is right around the corner and dove season is too.
