There wasn't a star in sight as I leaned against a tree waiting for dawn. A glob of snow slipped in my collar and ran down my neck when I looked down at my watch. 6:03. I was freezing. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to kill a deer. I didn't want to dress it out. I wanted to be home in bed with my wife.
Only she was someone else's wife now. My family had rented the little cabin every year for as far back as I could remember. I was the last one left. I was freshly home from Iraq. I somehow felt I had to come. I was miserable. I decided the hell with it, I would go back to the cabin and get warm. No! It would be stupid to be walking through the woods on a hunting lease just at dawn. A damn good way to get yourself shot.
I heard a twig or something snap to my right. I slowly turned my head and saw a pretty little doe stepping gingerly along. Two more followed her. Then a yearling. A small buck with little spike antlers ran up and smelled the does. They paid him no attention. The spike stopped and turned and looked back. He froze and didn't move. I knew there was a buck behind them.
It would be a tough shot. If I moved too soon he would see me. When I brought the rifle up I would have to be quick and swing awkwardly to my right without hitting the tree. It is difficult to swing smoothly from left to right and then track an animal moving from right to left.
The buck appeared, moving slowly. He didn't like something. He was very alert. He swung his head from side to side, smelling low then lifting his head to catch any higher odors. His ears moved as he paused and listened. His eyes would detect the slightest movement. He was magnificent with a twelve point rack of antlers. I needed to wait until he moved further ahead before I could bring my rifle up.
He cautiously took several steps forward then stopped again. His head turned away from me and I brought the rifle half way up before he turned back towards me. He eased ahead a few more steps. He was almost where I wanted him. He turned away and I lowered the rifle. I didn't want to kill him. I had the thrill of watching him move through the woods and not detecting me.
A shot blasted not far in front of me and the buck twirled and ran to thick cover behind me.
I stayed still for a few minutes. Then I heard some one moving through the woods in front of me. I saw a young man move slowly out in front of my position. Then he hurried forward and looked at something on the ground behind a low clump of myrtle.
I walked slowly towards him. I was only about twenty feet away when he heard me and turned and saw me. He was all bundled up wearing a day-glow hat over a ski mask. I looked down and saw the spike buck on the ground. There was a bullet wound just behind the place where the front leg joins the chest. I said, "Beautiful shot, right in the heart."
"Thank you." was the muffled answer.
"Did you see the twelve pointer back behind him?" The guy nodded, "Yes, this is the one I wanted though. He was too big for me to carry."
"Are you over in the "Ranger Bob" cabins?"
"Yeah! Help me drag him over there and I'll share with you on the meat."
"I'll help you. I have a drag harness with me and that will make it easier. I am staying over there too. Is this your first time staying here?"
"No, we hunted here last year. You been coming here long?"
"As long as I can remember, at least twenty five years." I told him as I got the harness from my day pack and put the loop around the deer's neck. I slipped the shoulder harness over my arms and snapped the front strap. I picked up my rifle and leaned into the straps and felt the small buck drag along behind me.
After we got to the main trail it was pretty easy going. Just one low hill then it was down hill to the camp. He pointed to the cabin next to mine and I grunted to him and kept going to the big A frame we used to dress our kills. I looked at him. He was standing holding himself and I could see him shivering. "You got hot coffee in your cabin?"
He shook his head. I figured him for a young boy now.
"I left some by the fire, come on in my cabin and thaw out. We can do the nasty part later. Not too long or it'll be frozen."
" I unlocked my cabin and turned the light on. I pulled off my gloves and fur lined hat and shed my outer coat. I got two big cups out and wrapped a towel around the handle of the coffee pot. I filled the cups and turned and held one out to him. He was the cutest girl I had ever seen. I almost spilled the coffee all over her. She still had her gloves on and she held her hands around the cup. Her eyes half closed as the warmth soaked into her hands.
I said, "Come on get out of that coat and I'll throw an other log on the fire. Move over here in front of the fire. I am too damned cold to bite you."
She smiled and took off her coat and gloves. Long blond hair cascaded over her shoulders. She turned slowly in front of the fire. We stood and sipped coffee staring at each other.
"I think we should sit at the table and finish our coffee. We don't want to get too hot and start to sweat or we will really suffer when we have to go back out."
"Do we have to go back out? I'm just kidding, I know we have to dress the deer. It is going to take me a long time, my Daddy always did that for me. We were supposed to be here together but he is dying with cancer. He insisted I come. My boyfriend was going to come but chickened out at the last minute. Daddy wants raw warm venison liver. He begged me to bring him some."
I saw tears running from her eyes and handed her my clean handkerchief. She wiped her eyes and handed it back.
I told her my father and my mother and brother had been killed in a plane crash while I was in Iraq. I only came up to the camp as a tribute to them, they all loved it so much up here. I needed the hanky myself. "The smoke gets in your eyes." I told her. She smiled gently and said she had the same problem.
I glanced out the window and saw it was snowing again. I walked to the window. It was coming down pretty hard. I told her I would go out and dress the deer for her and told her to just keep the fire going for me. I shrugged back into my coat, hat and gear. I picked up my knifes and headed out. The A frame was rigged and I hung the deer by it's hind legs. I had the intestines out and in the big garbage can provided for that purpose when I turned and saw her wiping out the body cavity with towels. She grinned at me. We dropped the carcass and I cut the lower legs off, tied ropes through the tendons and hauled it back in the air. I quickly skinned it out and then quartered it. We put the meat in large plastic bags and the liver, heart, and tongue in smaller bags. We didn't want the hide or head so we put them in the garbage. She helped me carry the meat back to my cabin. My hands were frozen and I washed them in cold water then warmer water, I looked at her and told her to get over where I was and clean up. Her fingers didn't seem to want to work so I washed her little hands for her. When the luke warm water hit them she jumped as if it were boiling. I rubbed them under the water and she sighed and told me how good it felt. I added some water to the coffee pot and put more coffee in too. I took off all my outer clothing and told her to do the same. I put some more wood on the fire and pulled two old rockers in front of the fire. We sat and thawed out.
I looked over at her and for the first time I saw she was a very attractive woman. I said, "My name is Sean, Sean David Murphy. Who are you?"
She smiled and said, "I am Shirley, Shirley Barton Banks.
I am really very pleased to meet you. You saved my life with that deer. I could never have done that. My hands would have frozen off before I was done. I have to get going soon to get that liver to my Dad."
"No way you are getting out of here today. Not the way it's snowing. I am worried that I won't have enough wood for the fire. I will have to go to the wood pile pretty soon before it is buried. I have seen snow over the doors here.
