A Hunter's Nightmare

The right of the Box Stand

To the left front field of the Box Stand

The Box Stand

My husband, Bob and I were invited by Rex to the family's Christmas Place Hunting Club on the edge of the Mississippi Delta on the first day of 2009....

On most of the stands I hunted I had seen deer but waited for the right time to shoot. Yesterday morning I went with Mark (The Mailman) on the 4-wheeler to The Box Stand and he hunted down from me. Around 7:15 I had a doe to walk out in front of me. When she finally turned broadside, I shot and she just stood there...reloaded and shot again and she took off to the edge of the field and just stood there and walked back into the woods. I'm thinking...this is the PITS! I knew I had put the cross hairs behind the shoulder, but it was a free handed shot because the rest was too low. I only had 3 bullets in my gun to start with and reach for my pack and loaded two more in my .270 rifle. So now I was back up to 3 bullets in my gun. About 30 minutes later another doe walks out to my far right. This time I braced it on the back of the stand and I knew this one was going to be it. I shot, she stood there, I reloaded and shot again, she stood there, reloaded and shot again, she stood there...3 shots and I'm out of bullets...she walks back into the woods. I'm so disgusted and the only thing I could figure out was that I had knocked my scope off. I have never had this to happen. Most of the time one bullet is all I need to drop a deer. So I pulled my camera out of my hunting pack and decided all I can do now is take pictures. Finally, another deer walks out and snapped a couple of shots. After the hunt, I met up with Mark and he said that when I first shot he was thinking how he was going to get my deer on the 4-wheeler and all and then when he heard 3 more shots later he did not know what to think. He was watching a spike at the time and he had an ear itch and he said it was so comical watching him stand on three legs. When I shot the first time the spike jumped up in the air and when I shot again he started running in circles...I shot again and he took off! Mark was in stitches. This is a deer hunt that will go done in history for me. Bob went with Rex on the 4-wheeler and Bob did shoot at a doe but they looked and looked in the field but could not find it. From our standpoint, the quality time spent being at the deer camp and visiting with the Howell family/friends was worth more than all the deer in the woods.

Deer I shot at with my camera in our great wild outdoors!