By Dan Infalt
You have anxiously awaited opening day. You climb into your stand two hours early. As you sit in your seat as still as a stone, there is a rage of emotions inside of you. You question all the summer-long planning you have done. Where will the buck come from? Which trail will he use? Where will he be standing when the lethal shot of carbon is sent through his ribs? Will I miss? What if I wound him? Did I make too much noise coming in here? You play it back in your head like the rewind button on your VCR. Over and over you fantasize the buck walking out, and your arrow slicing through his vitals.
Suddenly your daydreaming is slammed to a halt as you hear a branch break from down in the buck's nearby bedding area. You feel your heartrate pick-up. You struggle to hear anything else. Then, after what seems to be an eternity, you hear the rhythmic approach of walking feet in the dry leaves. Is it a squirrel? No it can't be. Snap... Another branch breaks closer to your stand. You feel your heart slamming the walls of your chest. Your breathing is getting so rapid, you are now worrying about the deer hearing the rapid bursts of human exhaust expelling from your lungs.
The buck you have watched all summer, the buck whose sheds you picked up last spring, the very beast of your obsession suddenly walks into view. At first your mind can't comprehend whether this is the 1000th time you fantasized him stepping out, or if it's reality?
As you stand as motionless as possible, staring through the beast's eyes right down into his soul, the hair on the back of your neck stands up and you feel a tingling sensation shooting down your spine. The monster buck finishes his survey of the area, flicks his tail, and starts coming towards your stand. As he walks in your direction, his eyes seem to be staring a hole right through you.
Now as he passes your perch, you ease the bow back. NO!!! Not yet.. Wait... now! suddenly an arrow rips from your string as if the bow shot the buck all by its self. You can't remember the shot.. Sweat runs down your face, in the 45 degree setting sun. You begin to shake. What the hell just happened? I don't know, but it's better than sex. Ain't no needle in the world that can give you that high.
We all get those emotions... We all worry, we all anticipate. If you don't, hang up the bow and go play golf. 100 Bucks on the wall or zero... All any of us are worried about is the next one. It's the predator within.
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