From: jcrowder@morse.cns.vt.edu (Jeff Crowder)
Subject: I need a shot... or a bib...
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Date: 27 Jul 92 10:24:08 CDT
Originator: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu

I've been hit this year with an unusually painful case of bowhunting
fever.  Yesterday, it got bad enough to begin to interfere with my
work, (a relative statement).  On the verge of covering this
DECstation with camo tape, I ran up to the closest bow shop and placed
an order for some XX75s (which I don't really need) in a desperate
attempt to alleviate the symptoms.

I felt somewhat better.

Then...  rue the luck (no allusion to Leonard Lee intended) ... I went
for an after-work drive with my son to further settle my nerves.  We
were enjoying a pleasant ride through a pastoral country setting and
my thoughts were consumed with our conversation (understandable to
those of you with a 2 1/2 year old child; it takes a lot of careful
listening).

My attention was urgently diverted to defensive driving as we rounded
a blind curve because another pickup was stopped right in the middle
of the narrow path.  I braked hard and stopped just in time.  I was
just about to leap out of the cab with a tire iron to instruct the
other driver a bit when I noticed what he was looking at.  In the
field scarcely 50 yards away was one of the most magnificent racks
I've seen in the wild with a none too shabby whitetail holding it up.
Standing next to this stag was a decent 4 point buck which would have
grabbed my attention under other circumstances.  I quickly forgave the
driver of the other truck and set about blocking the road myself for a
spell.  Even my 2 year old son seemed genuinely impressed.

Eventually the two bucks decided the place was getting a little
crowded and leaped the barbed wire separating the oats from the
forest.  The driver of the other truck leaped out of his vehicle
gesturing wildly and speaking in tongues.  He ran crazily across the
field, leapt the barbed wire as gracefully as the deer, and
disappeared into the underbrush.  I said a few words in memorial and
drove my truck around the deserted vehicle to continue on our way.

I was shaking a little but I felt I still had things under control
well enough to make it home.  We had driven scarcely two hundred yards
further when I crested a knoll and had to stomp on the brake pedal
again.  Socializing right in the middle of the road were TWO MORE sets
of velveted antlers.  I was too stunned for quantitative assessment
but I'd guess they both were at least six pointers and both definitely
had nicely girthed baskets.  Exhibiting typical out-of-season
behavior, these two lethargically swiveled their heads to give us a
contempted stare before casually strolling across the gravel and into
the woods.

Eventually, I felt my son pulling on my tongue and I knew for his sake
I had to pull myself together and get us home.  With rocky
determination I put the truck in gear (thank God its an automatic) and
resigned to keep it in the road.

I was trying hard not to look but twice more before we could get out
of this dreamscape and back to the main highway I caught glimpses of
that familiar summer redcoat tint and was compelled to focus.  In BOTH
cases there were two does accompanied by a RACKed buck standing at the
edge of a field.

That was six nice bucks and four does altogether.

My God.  How can I make it to October now?  *&*$$^#^ ...(*E( treestand
)&* PSE 9*&^*%% ... rut (*& big BIG............

- Jeff Crowder (I think)
- in the mountains of Virginia (but I ain't sayin exactly where)
- jcrowder@morse.cns.vt.edu
	


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