Ghost in the Woods

Fifty yards ahead of me, moving in and out of cover, was some kind of large ...something. It was moving pretty fast, and quiet...man it was quiet. It moved like a phantom...at first I thought it was a big cat. (Honestly, from where I was all I could tell was something huge and graceful was in front of me, and a big cat was the first thing that came to mind). There were two more breaks in the cover it was moving through. Asking myself  "What IS that"?, I scoped in on the next break in cover. That's when I saw the antlers. It was moving fast, snout to the ground, looking for a hot doe.With my heart beating so loud I was sure it would hear me , I took a deep breath and scoped in on the last break. My prayers were answered when he passed through my scope one last time, I exhaled, and let my shot fly. A moment I had been waiting for all season passed in less than thirty seconds.

Last Season

I remember it like it was yesterday...

My first season hunting had been spent fruitless. The closest I came to even seeing any whitetail was hearing my buddy's shots ring out from the stand a hundred yards to my left. It was October 31st, and it was a beautifully crisp fall morning. There was a perfectly good stand not 30 yards from where I lay, but there was something about this log on a hill that spoke to me. Lots of visibility, natural cover, and even a place to rest my rifle. The spot was just comfy. At this point I had been in the bush for about 40 hours or so total for the year, but the 30 seconds that were about to happen would be worth the wait.