The wait
January 26, 2023 Uncategorized 1 comment ewaltz23
“The wait” is a story about patience. “The wait” takes place 4 years ago when I had to si through the harsh cold in order to shoot the biggest buck in my hunting career, it was my second year hunting ever and my first year hunting with my 30-30. The buck weighed in at 175 pounds and 8pts, it was 12 degrees outside with a windchill that made it feel like 5 degrees in the sunny spots, and 3 in the shade.
It was the Saturday before the last 2 weeks of the 2018 hunting season. I woke up my father bright and early that morning because the Saturday before he had shot a doe. So I was itching to shoot something, we started up the old truck and headed to the store for some breakfast before we went out hunting. We grabbed some breakfast sandwiches, coffee, then started the journey to our hunting spot. On our journey, we saw eyeballs but they were in a posted field so we kept moving to our spot. Upon arrival at our spot, we see a car where we normally park, so we drive down the road a little ways and decide to sit in a different spot. we get out of the truck and start walking toward our spot to sit and wait, I decide to sit in between 2 rocks so my movement would be concealed because i was not great at sitting still. My father decides to sit behind me over the ridge. We wait 2 hours in the freezing temperatures and I’m bored as a hog in a desert, and we have seen nothing. I was ready to get up when all of a sudden a massive buck stepped out not 5 yards away. He looks directly at me so I wait and don’t move a single muscle, and do my best to control my breathing. He lowers his head, I cock the hammer on my 30-30, he starts to walk away so I quickly pull my gun up to my shoulder, get him in my scope and pull the trigger. This scared my father so bad he dropped his phone and his cigarette. Once my father gets to me I’m still shaking from the adrenaline, I get up and we start tracking the buck, but this was short-lived because not 20 yards from where I shot him, he was laying there dead. So I gut him out and start the long drag back to the truck.
“The wait” is a story about patients for the simple fact I had to wait for the right moment to shoot my buck and the patients it took to get there in the freezing temperatures.
“Deer” by Martin Svedén is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
1 Comment
Talk about finding truth in the saying “good things come to those who wait”, as you said you were “bored as a hog” and waited 2 hours in freezing temperatures, all for the end result to be getting the biggest buck in your hunting career.
Honestly, I could never do that. I myself am not one who cares to be hunting or see animals getting shot and killed, but I respect it as something people do, but not excessively. As for what you did to get the buck, I honestly could never deal with those frigid temperatures, and wouldn’t have the patience to sit there that long before deciding to just go home. I also just wouldn’t have the heart to raise a gun and pull the trigger to shoot a bullet to shoot an animal. However, I admire and respect the perseverance to sit through that to ultimately get the end result you got, shooting the biggest buck of your hunting career.
I can’t imagine sitting between a couple rocks for 2 hours in the cold, just watching a single area, not tremble pick up the gun and pulling the trigger, silence my breathing to not alert the animal, or have the strength to drag it back to the truck. I personally could never imagine doing that, nor have I ever cared about being involved in hunting in any way. However, I am almost curious what it would be like having the patience and perseverance to go through what you did.
My broader reaction is still a hard pass on hunting in general, albeit still respecting hunting overall. I myself wouldn’t do it, but have a great deal of respect for people who can and will hunt animals. As a person who is sensitive, has always had a soft spot for animals, never cared for hunting, and used to cry seeing an animal die in a movie, I have even further solidified the fact I would never be able to do that in my mind. A movie involving hunting that I used to cry watching was Bambie. While the mother’s death was off screen, hearing the gunshot still made me sad. Or another one could be The Fox And The Hound, specifically the scene where Tod’s mother dies after leaving Tod on the widow’s farm, and the birds hear the gunshot. Another off screen death, but still just as sad. Or another scene from The Fox And The Hound could be when Tod sees Amos’s animal skins collection in his shed. Nightmare-inducing to me as a child. I was terrified seeing that as a kid.
Were there any points in which you wanted to just get up and go home before you saw the buck? Would you say that entire ordeal would be worth going through again on another hunting trip? Is there anything different you would have done looking at the situation in hindsight?
How much skill do you think it takes to hunt? Would you say people who hunt have any certain things in common, are similar types of people, or could hunters be anyone from any walk of life?