LOST, FOUND, LOST AGAIN

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's age. But I seem to lose a lot of stuff these days. And it's not like I just misplace shit. It's like it vanishes. Last year it was my favorite (bright blue) butcher knife. It was gone for weeks. Then miraculously it reappeared on the picnic table. The explanation was simple: I'd left it outside during a snowstorm. When the snow melted, there it was. Then there was the doe I shot just before that snow hit. I found blood, but for the life of me could not find the deer. Just by blind luck, after searching all morning and giving up, I stumbled across the doe almost buried in fresh snow. You get the picture.

More recently it was a half a pastrami sandwich whose absence I blamed on the strange girl in my driveway. Turned out it must have been a cold day when I ate half that sandwich. Weeks later it turned up in my winter coat pocket. The point of all this brings us to this past week, and more specifically today. After seeing plenty of deer opening day (but no shots) my stands have gone silent. I'm lucky to see Bambi far off in the field, prancing around without a care in the world. So, after some rain and snow last night I decided to switch it up. 

I went in the woods at 10 am determined to still hunt from the ground. The conditions were perfect. Feeling my oats, I headed straight up GNJohn's mountain.  I walked up on four does and could've shot any of them. But I'm still looking for a good buck, so no shots. After that good encounter I found a spot looking down the north ridge. It was then that I discovered a stand that I lost and hadn't been able to find for years. It was literally 20 yards from my perch. What luck! Because I didn't have my harness I stayed on the ground. I wasn't there more than 20 mins. when I spotted a buck moving about 70 yards below me to the right.  It was a nice six. Fuck brow tines. I was gonna shoot this deer.

I swung the gun to a small tree, clicked off the safety, settled the crosshairs behind the shoulder and fired. He ran - tail up - like I had missed. WTF? I went in search of blood and was elated when I found red spots on the leaves. The elation was short lived. After following a spotty blood trail for about 300 yards I found a small piece of splintered bone and the blood trail dried up. I'd shot the buck at 1:30 pm and spent the rest of the afternoon criss crossing the ridge until dark looking for blood or a body. Nothing.

This is the worst case scenario for a hunter, to wound and not be able to find a deer. The gun is on. I'm off. After conferring with Savage Lynch, we decided I most likely hit jaw bone (not leg). Somehow I had screwed the shot and hit the jaw while he was feeding. I'm sick with regret and loss of confidence. Savage said he'll go to water. Tomorrow I'll give it one more try to find him either in the swamp or river.  It's a long shot. No pun intended. Fuck me.