True Confessions of a Woman Hunter

I had been falling in love with Joe all summer. He was (still is) the perfect man for me - tall & slender, a young 63 years old, active & personable. We had lots in common, including a love of the great outdoors.

We spent that first summer making almost daily trips to Sodus Point, fishing Sodus Bay & Lake Ontario, and I loved being on the water. We were even discussing marriage already. It had been a whirlwind romance ever since we met that early spring. I had been a widow for 2 1/2 years, and believed that Joe was a gift - straight from God's heart to mine.

Now, in early September, the summer fishing season was drawing to a close. Joe's focus changed from fishing to the approaching hunting season, & I soon realized that he would be away for several days each week, either at his men-only hunting camp in the Catskills, "Wildcat Mountain," or camping on the land a friend owned in the Fingerlakes region of NY, in search of elusive whitetail deer.

Wow. Going from almost constant togetherness to 1 or 2 phone calls a week was NOT appealing! I loved this man, & the thought of being deprived of his companionship made the next few months look very bleak! So I quickly decided to test the waters & see if he would object to me coming along, just as an observer. To my surprise, he was very receptive to the idea!

And that is how I came to be in the predawn woods with Joe one morning in late September, dressed in one of his extra-large camo jackets & a pair of size 12 1/2 hunting boots. The first thing I learned: it is VERY difficult to be quiet in the woods when your feet are the size of Ronald McDonald's!

But there I was, clomping along behind him as quietly as I could while trying to avoid branches & twigs slapping me in the face. My flashlight was trained on his feet and I did my best to step into each footprint as we went along, thinking that I would make less noise that way. All went well, until Joe decided to stop, which is when I piled into him from behind, making a racket as we collided & his bow hit the trunk of a large tree with a loud "thwack!" I'll never forget the visual reprimand he gave me - and that taught me to stay a prudent distance of a couple feet behind him from then on.

Just when I thought we'd probably not stop before lunch, he halted again and pointed up. We were at his treestand. He unlocked his ladder & set it up against the tree, then took me several feet away. It was still dark, but the sky was beginning to lighten & I could just make out the edge of the woods with a large field beyond. "My" treestand was just over there, he said, about 200 yards, along the edge of the field. "You can't miss it," he said. "Just go diagonally to it along this way," he said, pointing towards the field. "You'll come to it at an angle, and if the deer come by, they'll smell your tracks & stop." Sounded good to me, I guess, though I did not understand what me meant - why would I want the deer to stop anyway? But I really wanted to succeed & make him proud of me, so I just nodded & set off in the indicated direction...

There was no path, no trail - just the indicated direction toward "my" stand. Everything was OK until I turned to look behind me once, just to see if I could see Joe in his stand (which, of course, I could not because it was still dark). When I swung forward again, my confidence in my direction was shaken, & I lost my bearings. Not wanting to admit defeat, though, I kept doggedly on until I got to the edge of the woods. My flashlight found no treestand & I was disoriented & not sure of which direction to go! After a few minutes of circling around looking, I was sure of only one thing - I had NO idea as to where that stand was, & it was rapidly getting light! My worst fear was that I would circle back to Joe's stand & (1) ruin his hunt &/or (2) earn his everlasting disdain as a worthless female wannabe!

As I was still very near the edge of the woods, I decided that the best thing to do was to settle somewhere & wait for full light, when I hopefully would be able to find the damn stand before Joe discovered my error! Plus, I was more than a little terrified that I would end up circling around in the dark & ending up right in front of him when it got light! So I found a large pile of downed branches & brush, crawled into the middle of the pile & sat as still as a statue, waiting for the day to lighten up. It seemed like forever, but within about an hour, there was plenty of light so that I was able to see everything clearly. And there, just over my left shoulder, right along the edge of the field, was MY treestand!! I had been within 20 yards of it the whole time!

Quietly and carefully, I climbed the ladder and settled myself on the stand seat. What a beautiful view! I saw no deer that morning, but I was visited by a flock of migrating bluebirds, several robins, a gray squirrel & a couple of inquisitive chipmunks. And as I sat still for minutes on end, I was gradually more & more aware of the woods around me. It was magical, and I felt privileged to be a part of it. A peace settled over me and I felt a new reverence for the marvelous creation that surrounded me. That experience was the beginning of my own addiction to hunting. And though I had much to learn & many errors to make, I was excited to become a sportswoman, even at 53! Joe checked in with me on the walkie-talkie mid-morning, asking if I had any problems finding the stand. Of course, I lied shamelessly, saying "No problems." But just between you & me, I never want to hear the phrase "You can't miss it" again!

As a new hunter, I made many mistakes, & I'm sure there will be many more...after all - that's how we learn, right? But I think that I fairly cornered the market during my first 2 seasons, and in case YOU are new at hunting, maybe by reading about my experiences, you'll avoid some of the pitfalls of a newbie (of course, you'll doubtless make some of your very own anyway...;-).
At the same time, confessing some of my errors does not imply that I was a total screwup. My first day of archery season as a licensed huntress was quite eventful, as you'll see - read on...Looking back now, after 11 years, I remember it as if it were a movie.....
LIGHTS, CAMERA...
We hunt along one of the Fingerlakes in central New York State. It's beautiful country, full of all kinds of wildlife, including lots of whitetail deer. This first morning of archery season, and my first day as a hunter, we went to Joe's favorite spot, called "The Pipeline" because it was a cleared downhill-running ridge where a large water pipe was buried to carry potable water down to summer cottages along the lake shore. There are many of these deep gorges that water has eroded down to the lakeshore, and our stands were on a ridge between 2 of them. Deer travel along the lakeshore daily, crossing these gullies on their way to & from corn fields where they feed. Joe had placed 2 stands there, about 50 yards apart, with one higher on the hill than the other. Running across the hill, about halfway in between the stands, there was a well traveled deer path, or lane.

ACTION!
In the pre-dawn darkness, we made our way stealthily up the steep hill to the stands. We arrived at "mine" first. With a whispered "Be careful - good luck!," Joe immediately left for his stand. In the darkness alone, I climbed the ladder, mounted my stand, secured my safety harness and hung up my hunting pack. Then I picked up my bow and fitted an arrow into the rest, ready for action. Finally, I settled down on the seat to wait for the dawn.

There's nothing, in my opinion, as awe-inspring as watching the world slowly come to life at sunup. Little by little, as the light increased, I could make out vague shapes of bushes & rocks, then leaves & twigs. I heard the first furtive scampering of squirrels through the leaves and the first twitterings of birds. Then, as the day began to brighten in earnest, I could see further, and suddenly made out the dim figure of Joe in his treestand. I didn't realize until that moment that the stands were so close!

"Yikes!," I thought. "If I can see him - then HE CAN SEE ME!!" I suddenly felt totally exposed, intimidated - as if I were naked! All kinds of doubt & worry assailed me. "What if I goof up?" "What if I have to shoot & miss?" "What if I have to shoot with him watching?" And my worst fear, "What if I shoot & only wound it?" It was now light enough to shoot, and deer season had officially begun. I began to pray fervently that no deer would come close enough for me to shoot!!

At just that moment, a movement caught my attention. As I looked towards the noise, I saw the head of a buck emerge out of the bushes on the trail that ran between our stands. Immediately, my heart began to pound loud enough for anthing within 50 yards to hear!! As I watched, a second buck appeared, right behind the first. TWO BUCKS, coming along as if they had an appointment!

I realized (witih no small degree of relief) that the trail they were on put them just a bit too far away for me to shoot, so I relaxed a little but remained ready. As I watched, they came on, crossing the pipeline, and stopped when the leader, a nice 8-pointer, reached Joe's scent where he had crossed the trail on the way to his stand earlier. They stood there for several seconds, while the front buck sniffed the ground. I was so engrossed in watching them, I never thought to look up at Joe. Unknown to me, he was drawing his bow....

THWACK!
Without warning, the lead buck took off, straight through the thicket, away and out of sight, though I could hear him crashing through the underbrush. The other buck, startled by the noise, took 2 giant hops and stopped, directly off my shoulder & slightly below my stand - WITHIN SHOOTING RANGE of me!! Now this is where it all became surreal. A great calmness came over me, while I drew my bow & looked through my site at his side. I imagined him made of plexiglass & concentrated my aim on the spot where the arrow needed to enter to pierce heart or lungs, and squeezed my release.

THWACK!
He jumped up in the air, whirled and ran - I saw my arrow had gone to the right place & was sticking out of his side - and then he just stopped & fell over, never going further than about 30 yards. All this happened in only about 20 seconds, but it felt like it was all in slow motion to me!

Joe told me later that he never saw me shoot. He was concentrating on watching his buck, so that he could find it later. The noise of my shot caused him to look back in my direction, where he was shocked to see the second buck teetter & fall!!

Now I know that this all seems too far fetched to be true, but I testify that every word is factual & without exaggeration! It was a TWO BUCK hunt - both of us filling our tags barely 20 minutes into the season, and both were 8-point bucks! Talk about beginner's luck - what a way to begin a hunting career! I was hooked, and that is the story of how I became (almost) as addicted to hunting as my husband!!

THE END

Thank you to professional wildlife photographer BRIAN TANG, aka "Hard-Rain" on Flickr. Brian graciously granted me permission to use his excellent photo of 2 bucks in this story! If you'd like a little eye candy as relief from the stress of your day, check out his wonderful wildlife photographs on Flickr. You'll feel as if you've been on a short vacation!