MISSED

Yeah, yeah. I can hear all the groans. So, let me just tell you right now, you can't make me feel any worse than i already feel. Here's the thumbnail:

I got up early- 5:30am. I knew this storm was supposed to hit by 7am, so I decided to go right behind the house. I followed the chainlink fence, my scumbag neighbors had erected and sat down behind their scuzzy bungalows. They live in Queens and it being Thursday, and a snowstorm on the way, I knew they wouldn't be around. The ground was crunchy. Once I sat down i didn't move. Then, just as the first sparse flakes began to fall, i heard crunch- crunch. This time it wasn't Carlito. Off to my left I saw a mature doe coming my way. This was it. She was about fifty yards out and crossing. Perfect. I put the gun on a small opening. The woods were thick, but I had room. As she stepped into the cut, I put the sights right behind her front leg and squeezed. Black smoke. Ears ringing. She hunches, spins and stops, head up. I wait for her to drop. And wait. And wait. Then I fumble for another bullet and primer. And as I do she bounds off. How the fuck could I have missed that deer?
Well , it will take the rest of the day trudging through increasingly deep snow to answer that one. After 20 mins. I get up, check for blood and wander in circles. It's now snowing hard. I never touched her. The air smells of sulfur, so I decide to walk. The wind is coming out of the SE and the snow is piling up fast. I keep my nose to the wind and do the loop behind Elijah's and the cemetery. Then I cross another neighbor's land, heading into Carlito's. I jump one doe and two turkeys. The snow is coming down so hard, if you see an indentation it's a fresh track. I check my traps, and come home from behind the schoolhouse.
At home I put a log on the fire, and a dry coat and gloves and go back out. In order to keep the wind to my favor I walk all the way down Denniston's hill. Just above Ray Gilkey's, by the Hassidic truck container I duck in the woods. Deer like to bed in this spot in shitty weather. Just before I head back to the road my hat hits a bunch of snow covered beech leaves and I hear a snort. I turn and a big bunch of deer go out. Fuck!
I know I said this was going to be a thumbnail....but hey, I was the one out in this shit. So I looped around, back up the hill, trying to get in front of these deer. It didn't work. I continued down past the bridge and went back in the woods over by the sewer plant. Then it was straight up in 10 inches of snow. It took me the rest of the afternoon to get home. (I just took a vic.) I had to keep scraping the frozen snow off the sights. Not that it would've mattered much. I saw tracks, but they were going out too far ahead of me to even see a flag. My neck and back were burning and my legs had just stopped working when I hit the road again.
While there was still light I went home, and push pinned a post card to a pice of 4X4 plywood. I paced off 30 yards and got a good rest. I squeezed the trigger. Much to my surprise the gun went off. After all the snow I figured the powder would've been fouled. I saw the hole. Low and 8, yes 8, inches to the right. Did I sight in the gun? No. Did I even have bullets? Well....no. I borrowed three off Savage Lynch on Sunday. Yeah, yeah. I hear all the groans.