I’m sitting here in front of the computer just browsing the web and I began to think about one of the deer I had harvested a quite few seasons ago. Let me tell you the story of a adult doe that I harvested with my maverick 88 model 12 gauge pump slug gun.

It was November and I was hunting my favorite piece of state land in Connecticut and just happen to be the day after Thanksgiving. If I remember correctly the weather forcast for the day was suppose to be clear, sunny and cold. I awoke thinking I hope I score today because I only had one more day left of the shotgun season. I got dressed and gave my wife a kiss goodbye and as I left she awoke and said be careful and good luck. I remember walking outside and looking up to the stars with one of the clearest skies that I can remember seeing and feeling the bite of the cold air and thinking to myself this could be a great morning.

I placed all my gear in the truck and headed for the local conveniance store where I was suppose to meet a buddy that was going out hunting with me. I pulled into the parking lot of the store where my friend was standing there waiting for me. As I got out of my truck I remember him saying that one of us was going to tag today, he said he felt it in his bones. Jokingly I said the only thing you feel in your bones is your arthritis. We went in and bought our coffee and snacks for the morning and headed for where we parked our trucks.

We are always early so we sat there and drank coffee and talked about past hunts and the deer we either saw or harvested. We like to be in our stands usually a half hour before even the hint of daybreak so we headed out. We had to walk probably a mile in before my friend would drop off the trail to his place to sit. As he walked away we both said good luck to each other and then I continued on for about 300 yards where my stand was located.

As I got to the base of the tree where my stand was I can vividly remember the anxious feeling I got before I started to climb. The reason I could remember the feeling is because I got it every time just before I climbed a tree to get into a tree stand. I climbed up and put on my safety belt then I took off my pack and hung it on the side of the tree. As I sat down I heard steps in the leaves so I carefully grabbed the rope that my gun was hanging on and quietly pulled it up. I unhooked the rope and secured it to the stand and very carefully I placed a round in the chamber and closed the breach. Then I slowly and quietly put two more rounds in the tube.

I could still here steps but could not see anything because it was still dark so I just sat there and tried to be quiet. I looked down at my watch and figured I had about a half hour before it started to get light which was about the average time for me to sit and wait. This is where it get me pumped up. I am sitting with an old grown over field behind me which I know the deer frequent and for the next half hour all I heard was steps in the cold crisp bed of leaves. I know it had to be deer because they were coming from the overgrown field, the steps sounded to heavy for say fox or coyotes and to heavy and to often for say other hunters so I just sat there and listened to the crunch, crunch, crunch of leaves.

By the time I got my first glimpse of light I was so pumped up from listening to them walk by that I could have blown a top. I had to calm myself down somehow so I did the only thing I knew at the time, I lit a cigarette. I know what your thinking, this guy just ruined what was probably going to be a successful morning but I had to do something. I took a couple of drags and closed my eyes and immediately started to calm down even with the hoof steps in the background.

I opened my eyes and started to scan the forest floor watching the distance that I could see get longer and longer. I finished the cigarette and put it out as I scanned to my left I spotted the flicker of something. I intensified my attention and saw it flicker again, it was a tail. The tail of an adult doe and she was about ready to walk broadside of my position at what I figured to be 30 yards. I carefully looked around and there was no other deer in sight so I raised up my shotgun and thought I was lucky because I had just put out a cigarette.

I made sure one last time that there was not any more deer coming in and turned my attention to the doe. She was about to walk into a shooting lane so I took the gun off safety and line her shoulder up with the iron sights on my shotgun and when she was open I bleated with my mouth and she stopped, I squeezed and she dropped in her tracks.

I sat down and just looked at her laying there and thought to myself “now this is why I sit out here every autumn”. To this day I can remember that whole mornings event from getting dressed at home and giving my wife a kiss goodbye to sitting in the truck and having coffee with a buddy to sitting in my stand before day break and listening to nothing but hoof steps in the dark.

My buddy saw two deer that morning one he was about to shoot just as I had shot so you know what happened to that deer, after I shot his deer boogered out of there like a scolded dog. The second deer he saw was one that we jumped as we were dragging mine out of the woods, by the time he got his gun up it was gone. Not to worry though, he did not get one that day but the next day he did.

It really is kind of funny, I can remember just about every deer that I have harvested in the past seventeen years but I can barely remember what I did two weeks ago. Back then I use to use iron sights only and now I have every gun scoped because I can’t even see the end of the barrels. I used to smoke back then and didn’t think or care about my health and now I don’t smoke and try to do everything I can to better my health.

The only thing that has not changed in all these years is my passion for whitetail Deer Hunting and my time in the autumn woods.

If you enjoyed this article you may enjoy these:

• Crickets and Peepers are good for more than just noise
• Winter time blues
• The Pond or the Thicket that is the Question.
• Birth of a Whitetail Deer
• Hunting deer is not just for Guys anymore
• Thoughts of Spring and what it offers.
• Deer Liver Advisory in Connecticut
• An Opening Day to Remember
• Tree stand placement
• Hoyt one of history’s best archers