Finding Hope

The deer walked under my tree and didn’t seem to have any idea that I was perched sixteen feet above her. I watched her back trail closely hoping to get a glimpse, daring not to think about a shot, at the big buck that I was after. It was getting late in the afternoon and a few more does skittered about the area. It was late season and the rut had been done for a month.

All a hunter can do is find a food source and enjoy his time in a tree. That is what I was doing on this particular afternoon. I was hunting on a piece of private land and I was positive I was the only hunter with permission. You see, I was armed with a bit of nice information that I picked up last February. I had found a shed antler of a big, mature buck!

This time of year I find myself really just recovering from the long hunting season. I try to spend extra time with my family and get all of the little issues that have been begging for my attention for two months taken care of. In my house it always seem like I manage to buy the only light bulbs that last for two weeks. I don’t know if it is the boys playing and running around the house or the lights on and off so often, but I need an entire weekend to find and replace light bulbs. It is also usually the time that my wife starts choosing paint colors and visiting the hardware stores. Actually, I just painted swatches of three colors on two different walls in my house for her to choose the one that she likes the best. I swear to you that I can’t see the difference in any of them.

They all look the same to me. I just paint whatever she wants in the color that she wants. Sorry, got off on a tangent there. So after I take care of some house and family stuff, I always try to spend some days in the woods looking for shed antlers. It is a fun day to get out and follow the deer trails and see what you can find. I have a lot of luck looking at fence crossings. It seems the deer either jump the fences and jar the antler off or try to squeeze through or under the fence and the antlers get pulled off. If there is a fence line on the property I walk this first and have had good luck doing this.

After I walk the fence line, I find any streams or creeks on the property. Much like the fence line, deer will jump over the streams and creeks and this will jar the antlers off. So I just walk the banks of the water and see what I can find. After these two areas, I follow deer trails into and out of bedding areas. These areas are usually thick and you can get lucky when antlers get caught on limbs and branches. I also like to do post season scouting this time of year while I am shed hunting. You can find scrapes and rubs that you might have missed during the season and might even be lucky enough to find a great turkey hunting area for the spring.

As the light got low, the big buck walked silently past my tree. I drew my bow and let the arrow fly. Thirty minutes later I was thanking God for my success and holding a familiar pair of antlers in my hands. By the way, the sheds that I found the past February belonged to this buck. Until next week, stay safe and get a kid outdoors.

Mike Cox covers the outdoor scene for the News & Messenger. He can be reached at outdoorspw@gmail.com.