10/01/2023
The Wisest Opponent
It’s opening day and the times finally here
to get out in the woods to chase some whitetail deer.
Walking through the woods with the stealth of what I seek, a big buck bedded on the other side of the creek.
I’m all settled in, I’ve made it to the tree,
15 feet up it’s just Mother Nature and me.
My bow in my hand, the old stick and string, my arrows all fletched with a right turkey wing.
I’ve done the work, with boots on the ground, sharpened my broadheads so plenty of blood is found.
The birds begin to chirp and the squirrels run around, the woods are waking up and it’s a beautiful sound.
My senses are tuned, all I need is some luck, then I look to my left and see a drop tine buck!
He’s walking down the trail that goes right past my stand, stops at the scrape just as I’d planned.
That old buck fever makes my body start to shake, and adrenaline rush that’s impossible to fake.
I calm my nerves and ready my shot, aim small miss small, I pick the perfect spot.
A flawless release, the arrow flys true.
Right in the heart, the arrow passes through.
The beast takes off, down the hill in a flash, but he didn’t go fifty and I watched him crash.
Climb down from my stand, still shaking at the knees, i follow the blood past the white oak trees.
I make it down the hill and there lyes my buck, on the edge of the swamp he crashed in the muck.
Fully mature, what a marvelous deer. Excellent mass he is top of his tier.
He gave his life and he gave me meat, thankful for the backstraps that I now get to eat.
I sit down next to him to remember this moment, when l fooled the mature buck, the wisest opponent.
By: Cameron Hubel
