Fall is my favorite time of year and part of it is because of the deer hunt. Usually it is a huge Stuart family ordeal. All of my dad's brothers and my cousins get together and go up to my Grandpas homestead for a run. This year was a little different. I was the only one with a tag in my family, so Dad and I went. As for the rest of the Stuarts, we all went our various directions except for my cousin Dean. He came with dad and I for a "hike" and so Dad, Dean and I went to the Homestead.
Dean started over in Doan Holler (Hollow doesn't look right) and hiked over to were dad and I were waiting in the Pusey Basin. While we were waiting for him we had the binoculars out and were trying to spot some deer. Dad finally saw one and then I found his two companion. We went to get a little closer to see how big they were and then over on the next little hill (closer to us) we saw some more. One of those was a buck, so we decided that since it was closer I would take a shot. I shot but didn't know if I had hit it or not because he took off. Anyway I hiked over to it with dad yelling directions to me because I could not see it when I went down the hill and back to the top. When I got close to where I thought it was I could not see it and was afraid that a buck was going to jump up from its hiding spot and attack at any moment(I was a little freaked out)anyway I got about 5 feet from it before I saw it and it was just laying there. In my mind I thought it was going to attack but it didn't and was dead, just doing the dead twitch thing(Still a little freaky). I waited til I knew it wasn't breathing before I got close.
I started dragging it down the hill to a two track dad could get to with the truck and about half way down I rolled my "good" ankle. In the mean time Dad made it over to the road and backed the truck into a spot that we could throw the deer in then came and drug the deer to a spot to gut it. He was my hero and gutted it for me. That is what dad's are for right, anyway I helped and got all bloody. We threw it in the truck and went and found Dean.
When we got back to Woodruff we had to show Gramps and Grams so we stopped there before going to hang my deer. Lauree was on her way home so I called her and told her about my deer and my ankle and she was a life saver and stopped and got me a brace for my ankle. Anyway, I ran home to tell mom while Dad, Dean, Gramps, and Grams where talking. Anyway, we finally got the deer hung and I got some pictures. They are kind of gross, but what can you do.
Well, after that we all decided to go up to Dairy. It was beautiful!!!
We decided to do a little fishing and some target practice with the .22 and the plinker. It's a wonderful little toy. (Ours doesn't have the targets on it, you can buy stickers, but they usually just fall off)
So after we had our fun, we were headed out and about half way to the main road on Monte, there were two Fish and Game wardens. They stopped us and asked us if we had been hunting, as they looked in the back of the truck (with the blood my deer in there from that morning. We said yes and they went through the questions. f&g"Who's hunting?"
me"Me"
f&g"Did you get anything?"
me"Yeah, a four point"
f&g(Putting two fingers up on each hand on the sides of his head)"A four point?"
me (kind of peeved-Putting four fingers up on each hand of the side of my head)"NO A FOUR POINT!"
f&g"Can I see your tag?"
me"yeah"
f&g"Where is it?"
dad"In Woodruff"
f&g"Where did you get it?
dad"On my dad's homestead, on Middle Ridge"
f&g"Where's that?"
dad"Down towards Woodruff on the south side of the Monte highway"
Oh I have had allergies, and one of my eyes has been red and swollen, and the jerk then asks:
f&g"Did you get hit in the eye with a scope?"
me(REALLY, REALLY, REALLY PEEVED)"NO, I HAVE ALLERGIES!"
f&g"oh"
Anyway it was about twenty questions, and they wonder why people think they are idiots??!!!!!!
So that's pretty much how my Deer Hunt went this year.
I'm not a very good story teller, but hopefully you get the gist of my day.
