11/11

  I don’t know what it is about this date. Some of my favorite people were born on this day: Ray Gilkey, my godson Iman, Emma Voegelin and her cousin Lara Wray Rowe. I’m sure there’s more. Of course it commemorates the signing of the Armistice between Germany and Allied forces that took effect at 11:00 am on November 11. 1918. We call it Veteran’s Day. Most of the veterans in my family are dead. The exception is my cousin Steve Suydam (wounded in Vietnam) and my second “father” Vic Voegelin (WWII). The other reason I like 11/11 is it falls during the peak of the rut. Bill Voegelin swears by 11/13 as peak, but I like the 11th. I shot my first buck with the bow on Nov. 11th. This morning I had another chance.

    The second person I called with the news of my hunt (after Samm) was Vic Voegelin. After some preliminary talk of family feuds and the importance of mending fences, I wished Vic a happy Veteran’s Day and got down to the business at hand: relaying a good deer story. These rare times of telling good stories in the deer woods I sure miss my old man, but Vic is the next best thing.

   I’ve been hunting above South Fallsburg. The place is loaded with oaks and finally this year we have a good mast crop. I’ve been seeing does consistently and a few spikes, but no shooters. The action has been hit and miss. There’s a big weather front coming in and I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in the sleet and snow on Tues. and Wed., as the temps drop into the teens. So today I vowed to get in the stand early and stay until noon while the temps are mild. The plan was to go home at noon, get some wood in, cover the pile and get right back in the woods.

    Around 6:45 am I spotted a little four pointer in front of me feeding and milling about. He wandered off and I could see other bodies through a patch of small hemlocks. I pulled the binocs up and spotted another buck. This one was bigger and possibly a shooter. After about 15 minutes the woods exploded. The four pointer chased a doe in front of me while the bigger buck (right on a doe’s ass) went bounding towards town. I had no shots, but was encouraged by the action. Then everything went silent.

    At about 7:45 am I caught movement off to my left. I saw a large bodied deer coming at me full tilt. I didn’t even look for antlers. I stood up, nocked an arrow and “bleated.” A bleat sounds like a sheep. “Baaaaaa.” The deer came to a dead stop about twenty yards broadside. It was a good buck. I had him. I settled the pin on his vitals and released the arrow….just as he turned. I saw the arrow hit the dirt and heard the sickening “whoosh” of defeat. Automatically I nocked a second arrow and pulled back. To my surprise the buck had not spooked, but stood there staring up at me. No shot. I had all I could to keep from shaking with the bow at full draw. Then as he slowly turned I let the arrow fly.  I drilled him. He ran thirty yards and piled up dead. 

    Only another bow hunter can fully appreciate how unusual it is to stop a running deer, miss it on the first shot and kill it on the second. As I walked up on the deer I spotted another eight point buck that was following the one I shot. I’d seen four bucks and shot a bruiser of a busted up ten pointer before 8:00 am. 

    I immediately thanked the LGM and that deer for giving up his life. I was so grateful that I had made a good kill shot and the buck did not suffer. I also was spared a long track and possible loss of the deer. Vic listened intently and warmly congratulated me. He and his wife Georgia are in their 90’s, facing various health issues. They are my second parents. Vic knows my pacifist views, yet told me he’d be proud to have me as a “fox hole buddy” any day. He knows from experience the futility of war and how important it is to love one another. He said his next call was going to be to my brother Ross to try to patch up things between Ross and my sister Susan. Good luck Vic. I love Vic and Georgia and feel so blessed that I can get in the woods, make a good shot on a buck and call Vic up with the story. As I look through the bloody face of my watch it reads 11:00 am.  Not a bad 11/11/19.