Indiana Crossroads...
A Hunt Of A Lifetime
By Lisa McNeil
W
here do I begin? This whole
event happened suddenly
and planned on a spur of
the moment. I was not really sure that it was going to take place but
after 2 ½ months it did.
WOW! And WOW! This was an experience of a lifetime and one that will
never be forgotten. My first deer and
better yet flew to Indiana to TC Outdoors
lodge with Becky Wood, OWU and Rex
Reames. This is where I harvested a 9
pt, scored 149 ½ and it was awesome.
I must say sitting in that shooting house
was mighty boring but when we got out
and about on foot and that is when the
fun began.
From the beginning...Flew to Indiana
and arrived at the lodge around 1:30pm
Got settled and then changed in to my
camouflage and loaded
up and got in the tracker
with my guide, Shawn
Taylor and owner of the
lodge. We proceeded to
drive through mud,
huge holes and
water up to my
ankles
yee
haw!
Finally got to
the shooting
house
and
got our chairs
and settled
in and sat and
sat and sat.
Then I saw some movement about
100 yards and we got out the binoculars but they were only does. Darn!
So we sat and sat and sat. After about
almost 2 hours he said lets go to the other
side of property and see what is going on
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there. Mind you it was getting close to
dark so I did not feel too confident about
getting a deer that day. Assumed I would
be in the woods all the next day. Off we
went in the tracker and went about ½
miles and then there they were…about
3 bucks…OMG big bucks. We stopped,
jumped out and started towards them.
That is when I started to get excited but
then they started running the other way
so then we did also (try running in camo
and you’re not that fast). I got behind a
tree and propped my gun up and waited.
The deer was about 25 yards away but
to my left so I could not see when he
was coming then all of a sudden thru
my scope I
saw the tip of his
rack….my heart started pounding, then
his nose, head and he turned and was
looking right my way as if he knew I was
there. I couldn’t believe it! But I still did
not have a good shot but then he just
walked right out and was standing there
(it seemed like he was staring right at
me but he wasn’t) and I just kept my eye
on him and centered my shot right dead
center in the middle of his lower chest.
That is when the adrenaline started…this
was it…what I had been waiting for….a
big buck 25 yards away, a perfect shot
and now it was time to pull the trigger.
In just those 2 seconds (which seemed
like a minute) my mind was racing as
fast as my heart. I have never hunted
and shot anything before so this was my
big moment and I mean big moment.
I pressed the safety and as my finger
was on the trigger it trembled for just a
second but then I completely relaxed
and pulled…bang! I did it and I dropped
the gun down, smoke and all still in the
air and he ran/jumped to the left…he
was gone…I thought did I not get him…I
saw him jump…where did he go???? I
had tears in my eyes and they started
down my face but was not sure if it was
because I had shot him or because tears
of joy. I ran towards where he took off
and low and behold there he was I got
him. He was huge and so was his rack
and I just stood there for a minute with
mascara running down my face and just
stared. Well now I knew what those tears
were and it was jo 䄁Q