Had to be atleast ten years ago.................

I was sitting up in a treestand I had propped up against about a 25 foot spruce. Although when we made camp a few days earlier it wasn' t all together cold, some very frigid weather had moved in and the temps dropped like a spine-shot buck!
I had carefully cut and embedded my stand into this spruce and used all the trimmings to " close me in" up in my stand. All with the intention of protecting myself from the wind and cold.

I was sitting on a small pond behind one of the apple and pear orchards. Where I could see down over a very small valley and creekline, and in front of me was the pond.

Right after first light set in I made out some motion in the transition grasses between the orchards and the pond. It was a pair of does, coming in for a drink. It was a very nice view, almost touching the heart, as I watched their reflections in the pond, these two were obliviously enjoying a drink and each others companionship. When they finished drinking, each licked the others mouth as if a napkin. I continued to watch their reflections in the pond as the sunlight added a beautiful golden hue to the picture before me. They both started walking down the fencerow adjacent to the orchard they had emerged from.

As I continued to watch their images fade I realized that their images hadn' t faded so much because of them slowly walking away, but that the entire pond had just started to freeze over and had turned to a surface of a giant slurpee.

I felt really close to nature that morning. I expressed my heartfelt thanks to the Lord late that same day, as my Dad and I prayed over the buck I had shot as it too came to the pond.

Over the years the orchards treated us and many fellow guest hunters wonderfully. Producing excellent examples of great southern Illinois whitetails.

The orchards are no longer owned by my Grandfather who passed away many years ago, or our family. We no longer hunt there. But I do go by every year just to keep my memories of those years fresh. I will stop and talk to the farmer who now owns the place, and his son and others who now hunt there. The deer still come to the pond. And the hunters are still in the stand on the spruce, taking offspring of animals we harvested years ago. They never knew who put that stand there until we were talking about it one day. The son told me to take that stand if I wanted it, it was mine he said. That wasn' t why I spoke of it though. I think that particular stand BELONGS right there. For all to hunt, for all to look out over that little pond, unknowingly awaiting another magic moment' s arrival.

I like being there, among the spirits of both my own Father and Grandfather who will always be hunting the orchards.



P.S.-I think I' m going to ask if I can hunt that stand one more time. I just have to! If I should get the opportunity, I will leave my slug gun in the truck. I' d be hunting with the old Higgins pump my father left me, the one he had harvested so many deer with.........anything else just wouldn' t do!