MESSIN’ UP – Vol. I (2006) No. 4
“Friday the 13th”
By Mike Faulk

October 13, 2006

Friday the 13th couldn’t possibly be my lucky day deer hunting. It wasn’t.

Brother Loy and I arrived at the cabin about 1pm. We turned on the propane stove, hot water heater and space heaters. We filled the firewood box. We stowed the food for the weekend in the refrigerator. We made the beds. We did everything necessary while there was good daylight. We were ready to hunt by 3pm.

I choose the stand I’d hunted from last Sunday. It’s good especially in the afternoon because the descending western sunlight illuminates everything behind me. One can stand with the tree shielding him from anything coming onto the island from the river – a favorite course of direction for deer just before sunset.

My boots were clean. I had used scent abatement. I fired three practice arrows to double-check the pins on my bow-sight. All my arrows were the same length and weight.

When Rick and I erected this stand, we used his new laser range finder to mark 30-yard and 40-yard trees. We tried to find 30-yard and 40-yard trees that lined up with one another so we could easily gauge the distance on approaching deer without having to re-shoot the distance with the range finder. Plus, knowing a deer is within this arc adds a great deal of confidence in distancing deer.

Around 6pm I noticed two deer moving northward in the thicket that was in front of the stand to the west. Keeping my cap bill down so the sun wouldn’t illuminate my face, I watched the deer take the same 90-degree turn down the trail to the stand where I had missed the deer last weekend.

The bigger doe was in front and meandered down the trail past the 25-yard hole I’d shot through previously. I was calm, the bow was drawn, and all was ready when the deer stepped into a clean lane where the trail doglegs back underneath the tree holding my stand. She took a step off the trail toward the river. I knew she wouldn’t be coming directly under the stand.

It was now or never. I could see the 30-yard marker on a tree behind her. She was almost exactly half way between that 30-yard marker and me. I centered the 15-yard pin and fired. The deer jumped but ran only 10 yards away. She stood there! I waited for her to fall over. The other deer had taken off.

Then to my chagrin, the targeted deer started walking slowing away toward the tree with the thirty-yard marker. I had time to knock a second arrow. When she was about 5 yards from the tree with the red surveyor’s tape, I cut the second arrow loose.

My stomach fell as I watched the arrow fly just underneath her. This second intrusion was too much for the doe as she sped away.

“What this time?” I thought. I found the closer arrow right away. There was no apparent defect. “Surely it could not have been operator error”, I thought. Then as I looked for the second arrow, I saw the most recent error in my ways - the latest example of "messin' up."

The ribbon I used to distance my shot was masquerading as the 30-yard marker. As a little breeze kicked up, I saw through its well-conceived disguise. You see the true 30-yard ribbon waived at me from behind and to my left as I looked with disgust at what in reality was the 40-yard ribbon.

Note to self: If relying on markers rather than instinct, make sure you know what distance a ribbon marks.