This past week I again joined my son-in-law, Darrell Evans, and his father, Robert, on a deer-hunting excursion to West Virginia.
We met some friends at a cabin in the mountains of eastern West Virginia. Dave Barnes and company had arrived a few days earlier to try their hand at archery hunting before the firearms opener. They suffered through temperatures in the teens, and saw deer, including the antlered variety, but no one had scored.
We were all looking forward to getting into the mountains, rifles in hand.
The opening day was wet, to say the least. It rained all day, but there were numerous shots fired in our vicinity, and I figured someone in camp had scored. Shortly after daybreak, I had a spike (3-inch spikes are legal in that area) walk by me. The spikes looked to be right around the legal size, but I wasn’t taking any chances and let him walk.
A little while after he walked over the ridge, a shot sounded out and Lou, one of the hunters from the next cabin, took home a legal buck. I thought I heard shots from Darrell’s direction and sure enough, he had missed a 4-pointer. I got back to the cabin at dark and, much to my surprise, no bucks were taken.
The next day we had a combination of snow and gale-force winds. It was a brutal day outside, but everyone stuck it out and saw deer. I was late getting to my spot. (It was my turn to cook, and I had to backtrack to plug my crockpot in.)
I was double-timing it, and by the time I got to my stand, I was sweating and out of breath. It was already daylight and I was standing there with my coat and rifle laying on the ground, trying to get cooled down before settling in.
I heard the crunch-crunch of deer coming, so I picked up my rifle and tried to get ready. Two doe came over the knoll and headed straight for me. The lead doe spotted me at 15 yards and stopped. I could hear more deer coming behind her, but I couldn’t see them.
The lead doe spun around and headed back, out of sight. Then, I could hear them going up the mountain. By the time I could see them, they were about 80 yards out, angling up through the trees. They finally stopped and I was able to scope them.
Sure enough there was a rack in the crew, but they were in a tight group, offering no shot. They put more distance between us, and finally the buck separated. I had a small opening and tried to steady the crosshairs. I missed. Over the ridge they went.
I trudged up to check for sure and could find no sign of a hit. I tracked them for a while anyway, just to make sure. That same morning, Dave managed a successful stalk on a rack buck, only to have a temporarily fogged scope foul the deal. The snow was blowing sideways most of the day, making for some tough conditions. Darrell filled his doe tag Wednesday morning, and we headed home in the afternoon.
Everyone saw deer and we had opportunities at bucks. It was a good hunt in some tough conditions. Kind of like it used to be 20 years ago in Pennsylvania.
n Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to the Outdoors section. Contact at kenrose@tds.net
Sports
Missing, in action, in West Virginia
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