I have experienced a very satisfying deer hunting season overall, so for the past week I have devoted myself to trying to help my son Mark and friend Doak Harbison kill a deer. In short, my efforts at putting Mark and Doak on whitetails has been spectacularly incompetent.
Yesterday was typical of the week as a whole. I took Mark afield to a Roanoke County woodlot where the landowner has complained about too many deer being present and where on seven previous trips this fall, I have seen deer on five of those visits and killed whitetails on two of them.
A cold front was beginning to pass through the area, so I told my son that he had a very good chance to experience success. The result? We not only did not glimpse any whitetails but we also saw no game animals of any kind - not even a squirrel. The big "thrill" was when I heard footsteps in the leaves behind a row of white pines. I told Mark to prepare himself for a deer emerging from the evergreens, but what did come out was a feral house cat.
The day before we spend almost the entire outing at a Botetourt County farm where I have counted 45 deer sightings over the course of six previous trips, and where I have already killed three deer this fall, two of which were killed with a compound and a third with my Parker Thunderhawk crossbow. Surely, a whitetail would come within gun range?
Nope, none did, although we did at least espy a few gray squirrels.
Mark can't go at all Monday through Friday because of his school schedule, so it is next Saturday or nothing for him. I hope to put Doak on some deer after school this week. Meanwhile, I am glad my job is not as a deer guide.
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