THIS AIN'T FUCKING HOLLYWOOD

Let me get it out right off the bat. I either totally missed or gut shot a buck this morning. Go ahead, I'll wait while you laugh.......

Are you done?

Ok, that's enough. Now let me give you the story. Last night I hunted the Cider House property off Rt. 209. It's 100 acres, about 6 of which are flat. 94 acres are straight up. Nonetheless I love hitting new ground. So I scampered up the ridge, setting up behind a blow down, surveying the Bashakill and the pines below. I saw nothing. Yet I felt really good. Hell, my legs could still take me up the mountain and   with that view, who could be dissatisfied? Still feeling my oats when i got home I called Buddy Budde and asked if he wanted to hunt Mupp's for a 3M doe? "Do you have a license?" I asked. Silence. I didn't need to ask if he had a doe tag. He promised to get legal if we could hunt Mupp's tomorrow afternoon. Done and done.
   My plan for the morning was to hunt Majestic. I don't have a cell phone or a watch, so i put an old alarm clock in my pocket and hit the woods. Around 8:30 am i heard "beep-beep-beep".  Was somebody's phone going off? Then i remembered the alarm clock. The fucking thing wouldn't shut off. i had to remove the back and reset the alarm for noon, if I could stand the cold. I settled back down and about a half an hour later I heard crunching in front of me. My breathing automatically quickened as i scanned the woods for movement. Then I saw brown. A deer was passing in front of me about 50 yards out. Immediately I saw horns. It was a nice buck- a six or an eight. I couldn't see brow tines. As he went behind a boulder i raised the gun. When he stepped out I put the cross hairs behind his shoulder and fired. He hunched, ran about 20 yards and stopped. I tried to get on him for a follow up but all i had was hind quarters. Then he disappeared. I figured he went down. I was elated.
   I waited about 10 mins. before getting down and recovering my dead deer- or so i thought. I saw where he jumped. There was snow on the ground, but no blood nor hair. I shoot a .243 which is notorious for no exit wound. Plenty of times i've not found blood, only to find a dead deer 50 yards away. This wasn't my first rodeo. So I methodically scanned the woods, hoping to see a white belly or brown back. Yeah, i know, I was in the same spot about a month ago with the bow. At least then I had blood to track. All I need was a speck. This time- nothing.
   The rest of the morning I searched for that deer. My early confidence, that I would just see him laying there, caused me to traipse through the crime scene, screwing the evidence, and losing the track. I took a short break to go home and confer with Savage. His take was that I'd gut shot it and if I could get on the right track I'd find him piled up. It gave me hope. Thankfully Buddy blew me off, so i went right back to Majestic and spent the rest of the afternoon searching for any sign that I'd hit that buck. I found nothing- no bile, no shit, no blood spray. I feel unworthy to even be carrying a weapon in the woods. You can't imagine the feeling of frustration and defeat I'm am feeling right now. I got back in the tree about 3 pm, hoping I'd just fall out and end my misery. No such luck. I looked through the scope and saw what I had originally thought was a clear shot was filled with little branches.  .243s are also notorious for deflecting bullets on the slightest twig. I can only hope and pray that I missed him clean. Tomorrow i'll go back and listen for crows. No happy ending here. This ain't fucking Hollywood.