July 5th

Folks I'm going to take today to give you another taste of my book....

The minute I entered the woods I felt at home. My eyes had adjusted to see with what little light the sliver of a moon cast. I made my way through a patch of woods. It was fairly easy going because all of the dead stuff we kept picked up for the cooking fire. Once I found the small stream that came down the ridge from the meadow I started up along the creek. I wanted to reach the edge of that meadow so I could get settled before the sun turned the sky gray. I knew that ole buck would water there just at the edge of that meadow. I’d seen his tracks and knew it was him. He used that watering spot a lot because he was almost hidden behind some cedars. He could look out through a hole in the branches across the meadow. I had found a place on an out break of rock that I could get down behind and still have cover in front of me. I‘ve sat there for a long stretches of time and only seen him once. Most of the time I got tired of waiting and would close my eyes for a second and then hear a snort or the click of hooves on stone. I knew I’d missed him. This morning was going to be different, I was going to stay awake. I’d get my shot at that buck. I could just see Pa’s face when I come carrying that monster into the yard. He’d say that was the finest Buck he’d ever seen. Ma would gush and say what a good hunter I was and that with me fetching the meat they would never have to worry about going hungry. Just about that time I stepped into a hole and almost fell on my nose. “ Better keep your mind on what your doing instead of what you hope to do.” I whispered.
Once at the rock I climbed into position and settled down to wait. I could see the sky getting lighter in the east. The sun would be in my face which was a bad thing, however the air currents would be coming up the ridge instead of down it. Little Hawk had taught me to always hunt the tops of the ridges in the morning and the valleys at night. Air currents seemed to move up in the morning and down at night. I figured by the time the sun got high enough to be in my eyes I’d have missed my chance at the buck again. I watched that little place where he come to water and kept moving my eyes just enough to keep them from seeing things that were not there. I knew that if you stared at something long enough your mind starting seeing things. Pa taught me that you see movement out the side of your eyes faster than right in front of you so you should move your eyes around when you were looking for something. Especially British, or Indians and even when your hunting. Pa says that you seeing the other thing first will often save your bacon.
The sky was lightening up and I was beginning to tell the rocks from the trees. I was watching that hole when I seen movement out of the corner of my eye, I moved my eyes real slow to get a good look at the cause. Soon I saw a small fox wandering from tree truck to tree trunk sniffing his way toward the watering hole. I watched him and was learning a lot about how a fox smells around when I heard a hoof click on stone. I knew I’d been had again, that ole deer had his drink while I was watching a dumb fox walk thru the woods. I turned my eyes back towards the creek and there he was. He was standing with his head down, getting him a good mouth of water. I slowly raised my rifle and was about half way to my shoulder with it when I saw his tail flick and up come his head. I froze. He was a looking right at me. He just stared and started bobbing his head up and down like it was attached to a puppets string. I didn’t even breath. He just kept looking at me like he knew I was there, however he could not figure out what I was. I was still as stone. One minute, then two, then five. My arms were aching, I was starting to sweat. I knew I could not hold that position much longer. He then dropped his head into the water and starting drinking again. I set that rifle against my shoulder, that’s when it hit me. I was looking right down the barrel of that rifle at the biggest buck I’d ever seen in my sixteen years on this earth. He was beautiful with a full head of horns, he had at least six points on each side. The muscles in his neck bulged out and I knew he would be over 200 lbs. I began to shake, all over. It was not just a little quiver, it was a full blown freezing’ to the bone shuddering. I tried to keep that deer in my sights, the end of that rifle was acting like it had a case of the shakes all on its own. I seen his tail flick again and I got a good aim and pulled the trigger. CA-Boom, I rocked back from the recoil and was waiting for the gun smoke to clear, when it did there stood that deer looking up at me like I’d lost my mind. He just stood there and after about a minute he just shook his head when he did that antler just fell off his head It was then I seen that the other one was gone as well, or at least part of it was. I hit it just about an inch off his head and the ball must of clipped it. I’d missed. That deer just shook his head again and gave me a look that said just look what you done. He turned and with a big jump was gone. Some hunter I was, I walked over the ground until I found and picked up them horns. I gave a slump of my shoulders and started home.
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There, now don't forget its offical release is August 22, get your order in early!

I wasn't able to get out to do much fishing, the lake was pretty busy with boat traffic and folks having fun. I haven't heard about any accidents except the fella that bought a new jet ski, put it in the water, took off and rode it till it sunk. Yep, right down to the handlebars. Just goes to prove that even new stuff is broken sometimes....but I bet we all knew that......