Mighty, Mighty Hunters

It started with a yard sale. Seriously.

Sometime in early June, Christina and I stopped by a yard sale in our neighborhood. We went for a dresser, and left with a bow and a dozen arrows. It was a used PSE F2. A couple years old, and very definitely used, but we couldn’t pass. Christina had been asking for a bow for a while, so how could I say no?

Of course, the bow was for me. It was way too big for her – and there is no way she could pull that monster back. It fit me so well.

Christina came out better, anyway. As usual. She got a brand new bow: A left-handed Parker Buckshot that only weighed about 2 ½ pounds. Then came the arrows, the sight pins, the release aids and what must have been $10 million worth of stuff to pack in a backpack. Oh, yeah. And two archery deer tags.

What were we thinking? I’m guess I’m still not sure either. I had never bow hunted, and Christina had never hunted for anything – except a lost sock, maybe.

After a month of chasing deer around, all the stuff we bought is still in the pack, and in mint condition. Everything except one broadhead. It’s in a tree. Deep.

Seriously, though, we had a great time, even though we didn’t kill anything. Christina is actually a fairly effective hunter, as long as she was back in the truck before it was dark. (That’s when the bears come out. It’s true. She swears.) Christina and her little Buckshot fired off arrows at two different bucks, and both times she just barely missed. Deer dodge well. Don’t believe me? Ever shot one with a bow? Me neither. I also saw two arrows sail past their intended target. But I didn’t miss that tree. (Yep. The one with the broadhead in it.) Of course, trees can’t dodge.

Our hunt started slow, and we trudged through some frustrating evenings when nothing went right. But we kept going. And going. The action did pick up toward the end of the season, when I got looks at several pretty good bucks, but those durn things didn’t care to stick around and chat, and the season closed with Christina and my father watching a juggernaut buck and his quorum walk peacefully into the trees about 100 yards behind where I was sitting.

If you want all the details, I’d be happy to fill you in. Just give me a call. Seriously. I can talk deer all night.