Larry A. Smail's Blog

This past Friday after I came home from deer hunting inner thigh leg pains began surfacing again. By early evening the pain became intense to the point I had to walk around on all fours. Pain pills eventually soften the pain. I wish I knew what causes this issue on occasion! Saturday, I was still hurting enough I felt I should refrain from pushing myself. Later that afternoon we had supper here for my mother’s 85th birthday. (Ruth Smail Miller) Today, the 8th, I went deer hunting with my flintlock rifle, Old Jacob. My plan was to hunt for buck only until around 9:30 A.M. before opening up the possibility for harvesting an antlerless deer. The first deer I saw was of unknown gender. The dense brush prevented identification. I set down and the next deer to see was a doe and her young fawn of the year. These two came within thirty-five yards of me, but I held to my personal agreement. The third deer too was let go. I saw two more around 10:00 o’clock, but they were too far to see well. I continued still hunting when I spotted the back of a feeding deer. I saw a second doe too. I had some great potential shots, but I couldn’t take them because of the angle and a road and houses in the distance.  I waited and watched as the two fed behind a screen of brush. Eventually, they moved to a safe zone, but the brush obscured them. At one point I believed the shot was a doable one and I missed! I hurried the seventy yard site and watched the two deer go farther along. I spent almost two hours zigzagging around ;looking for a down deer or signs of a hit. What happened? Was the miss due to brush? I remember bending over to shoot. Was I off balanced because of this? Or did I just misjudge the distance and miss?  Regardless, I am happy to have had missed instead of wounding the deer. The leg pains were not very bad this morning. They were intermittent. I am happy to say since I came home from hunting the pains hasn’t become prominent. I am keeping my fingers crossed.