Most deer are seen from the other side of a car window, but late Sunday afternoon I had the privilege of seeing 4 from the vantage point of 10' off the ground sitting in a tree. It was 4:20 p.m. and I'd been there for about an hour and a half. It was 2 days away from the close of Missouri's 2013 modern gun season and I'd yet to see a deer. At one time I was an avid deer hunter with both gun and bow, but hadn't hunted much in recent years, due more to my lack of patience than anything. Deer hunting the Missouri hard woods is actually more like "deer waiting", as having success in this environment typically requires sitting quietly for typically long periods of time while waiting for a deer to come to you (once you've scouted a good spot to sit and wait).
I caught movement in the brush off the my right. At first I couldn't see it well enough to tell what it was but it ended up being a deer and had apparently been bedded down, waiting for the protection of darkness before beginning it's nightly routine of foraging food. It very cautiously began walking south along a well worn path that ran perpendicular to the ridge on which I was perched. I soon noticed another set of legs just behind the first deer and then another a few yards down the hill and then a 4th. All 4 deer were walking in the same direction, browsing for acorns and occasionally pausing to look around-as they instinctively know to do-before continuing on their way. My heart pounded as each deer came into full view. I slowly raised my gun to get a good look at each deer, as darkness closed in making it difficult to see clearly down the hillside. After seeing that all 4 deer were doe (or at minimum antler-less), I lined up the last deer in my scope's crosshairs and considered pulling the trigger for what I believed would be a 100% certain clean and ethical kill. Then I realized something: I had already experienced success. I had managed to slip quietly into the woods into the very center of my quarry's habitat and observe it doing what it does naturally when completely undisturbed. I had been the only person on the planet to observe this specific act of nature in this exact place, which gave me so much satisfaction that I decided there wasn't a personal need to actually harvest the animal. Perhaps an awakening of sorts for me personally.
As I watched the 4 deer walk off into the cover of thick brush, I was satisfied knowing I could enjoy deer hunting while not having to mess with the aftermath. Also, these deer got to live another day and I was able to go home a satisfied sportsman and enjoy a big fat juicy hamburger--which in reality, I like much more than venison to start with!
Note: This picture was taken on our place the winter before last, about 50 yards up the hill and east of the tree I was sitting in this past Sunday. The deer feeder you see in the background hasn't had corn in it since last February, when this picture was captured on a game camera at 8:37 p.m.
