ANOTHER XMAS MIRACLE

It's been happening for quite a few years now. At some point near the end of deer season and just before Xmas I come home to find a toy or decoration in a bag on my door. The first time they left a plastic shopping bag with a little fake tree. It was just what I was hoping for. I thought it was Mupp. But he swore up and down that he didn't leave it. Carlito? Naw, he's too busy to fuck around with this kind of thing. Al? GNJohn? Slick? No one owned up. My money was on the little Jewish boy Slick but he said it wasn't he. So, this year after going to Ct., to tie one on with my mom and Duke and Mupp and Becky, I come home to find a nice plastic train set on my doorstep. Another miracle.

Then the day after our old hunters venison stew and egg nog party we drove over to Slick's to check out Beek's angora bunny bikini farm and we drove by a xmas tree off the side of the road. Damn! I couldn't believe my luck. A FREE xmas tree. Must've dropped off the truck. I went home got the pick up and loaded 'er up. Next to the tree was a kid's plastic Indian motorcycle half buried in the leaves and snow. I took that too. Now I have a train set, a tree and a toy motorcycle. Another miracle.

After shooting that big buck I've been basking in the moment and have only hunted a little. OldBobR and Mupp came up on Sat. and we put on drives. Mupp and I had doe permits and OldBobR wanted to wait for a buck. Of course he saw all the does. Mupp and I came up empty. This afternoon I went back in the hut at Majestic. I'd moved it and yesterday took a long crack at a lame doe. I missed. Today I went back. I saw nothing all afternoon, so I decided to leave a little early. When I got up I just so happened to look down in the snow. I caught something shiny. It was a little silver skull I wear on my wrist. Shewho gave it to me and I really like it. I picked it up and put it in my coat pocket. I can't believe I didn't lose that bracelet.

I made my way back to the car slowly. I crested a hill and spotted a deer with it's head down. I pulled up the scope and the deer raised it's head and limped off. It was the same one from yesterday. I stopped, back tracked and slowly got above her. She was a little over 150 yards and gimping away. I got a good rest, held on her back and squeezed. She ran but I caught a glimpse of her through some pines and heard her go down. Then silence. That moon was coming up over my left shoulder. There's an eclipse tonight. And a meteor shower. The deer never made the stone wall. She turned out to be a button buck. His back left foot was nearly ripped off- probably a car hit him. It feels really good to shoot an injured deer that will either starve or more likely be taken down by coyotes. I think I'll give it to Buddy Buddy and Sarah Berka. Another Xmas miracle.