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By Thomas E. Dreher, DVM

This story begins at that particular time of the year that is familiar to us all, April 30, the day turkey season ends. We clean and pack up our hunting equipment in a ritualistic manner and start dreaming about those cool crisp mornings in October when we can climb in our tree stand and scan over the forest with a child-like enthusiasm watching for that big buck, which we have dreamed of shooting since our first deer hunt.

On that day in 1997, I started making some contacts about hunting clubs in the area both less than 100 miles from my home. That evening at supper, I got a phone call from the president of the (XYZ) hunting club and I decided to join it for the bargain price of $1500 plus those mandatory workdays. After I hung up the phone, I started to write the check and put it in the mail, when my wife, who had over- heard the phone conversation, said "Tommy, are you going to join another hunting club like the one last year, where you spent $1400 on that crazy place and only hunted 4 days the whole year? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but lets see what you are getting for the money. Why that's a $350.00/ day deer hunt, and a $25.00 tank of gas each time that you have driven to that place. So, lets add all this up: $1400.00 (dues) + $100.00 (gas for 4 hunting trips) + $75.00 ( 3 mandatory work days)= and a grand total $1575.00.

How many bucks did you say you saw last year?" I said, "One spike". Then she asked, "How many did you kill last year? I reluctantly said, "One doe". She then added, "You're always telling me that the members as well as their guests were hunting the property too much. And, all that hunting pressure made the deer move only at night, which was why you never saw any big deer during the day. Am I right?" I replied, "How right you are." She asked, "Tommy, do you remember that guy that"s your brother"s friend in Tuscaloosa? The one that has the hunting service, Oh you know who I"m talking about, Clay Wiggins! Why don"t you call him about deer hunting on his place this year? The price is about the same, if you count the number of days you really go in a season, and you've told me that your brother said he has been managing the deer on his place since 1978. Besides, you might kill a bigger buck than that 8-point on the wall, which you killed back in high school."

(If you have not guessed by now my wife is a C.P.A.). Well, she was right, I had been investing money in a club yearly with the aim of hunting every weekend but by no means would, plus, I never ever saw anything with large antlers, except the deer head over the fireplace in the cabin of the (XYZ) hunting club. So the next day, I called Black Warrior Hunting Service and scheduled a hunt on the opening day of bow season.

About a month before bow season opened, I called Clay Wiggins and went down to Fosters and ate lunch with him. We talked about the wild and crazy duck hunts and deer hunts that he and my brother experienced back in the 70's together. I also asked him about the type deer which some of his clients have harvested over the past 3-4 years. He had brought a photo album with him and opened it. WOW! These are the type of deer I have only dreamed of seeing. Boy, if I could just get a 20 yard broad side shot at a deer like I saw in that photo album. That would be awesome. We got in his truck and he took me for a look at his property. He eagerly showed me where a few of the bucks in the photo album had been harvested as well as where several 140-150 Boone & Crockett Class bucks were seen the year before and were never harvested. "I kept thinking if I could only get a shot, if I could only get a shot, if I could only get a shot."

Boy, I was really in a state of high excitement while riding back to Birmingham, just thinking about those big deer that had run to safety from the roaring blasts of those high powered rifles the year before. These bucks will be bigger this year and probably still hang around in the general area where they were last seen. I said to my self, "If I could only get a shot". On the way home, for the fun of it I clocked the distance from Black Warrior Hunting Service cabin to the front door at Mark's Outdoor Sports with my GPS II, and it was exactly 64 miles. So, I walked in Mark's Outdoors eager to be prepared for the bow hunting trip I scheduled at Clay Wiggins place, and purchasing a couple of ACC/ 349 arrows and a 3 Pac of Muzzy broad heads to sight in my bow with broad heads so that I could prepared to make that once in a life time shot. I kept thinking to my self, "If I could only get a shot."

The next 4 weeks went by quickly, and my bow was tuned perfectly, my form was consistent, and my arrows were flying straight and true. The day before bow season opened, I finished up at the office early, came home, and got out my hunting clothes and packed up my archery equipment with the same excitement of a child on Christmas Eve. But, there was one thing that was looming in the back of my mind and really bothered me as I began leave for my excursion, the weather. It was terrible, and it had been raining hard all-day long. Now all bow hunters including myself have hunted in the rain, and it 's not my favorite type of weather to be 20 ft. off the ground in a tree, swaying back and forth in the wind. The tree is always very slick and more dangerous to climb. And more importantly, the deer don't move. Anyhow, I hugged and kissed my wife and children and then headed out to the Wiggins' hunting cabin at Fosters. I arrived at 7:00 pm, and a couple of bow hunter's from Tuscaloosa were already here.

We all greeted each other as southern gentlemen do, and as quickly as avid bow hunters like to establish a good conversation, we were disagreeing about who makes the best archery equipment. Clay come in and broke up our heated discussion and invited us to sit down to a home cooked meal that his wife had prepared. We all walked over to the kitchen quickly forgetting our argument and enjoyed a wonderful meal, and as you might have guessed, those hard to believe hunting stories told by three-novice archery know it alls. Well, it was about 10:00 when I got in the bed, and the rain was still coming down. I knew if it was raining in the morning, the deer would not be moving. I kept thinking of those pictures from the photo album, and making that perfect shot on a big buck. I finally feel asleep and at 4:30am Clay came in and asked us if we wanted to hunt in the rain, and if we did we need to get up and he would take us out. Or we could wait until the rain passed to hunt that afternoon when it cleared up and he would schedule us a half-day hunt later in the month to make up for the rained out morning. We all choose to wait until the weather conditions were more favorable.

So the morning passed quickly & Mrs. Wiggins prepared us a sandwich for lunch, then we all loaded in Clay's suburban and headed out to bow hunt. Clay put each hunter out in an area that had been scouted and a large deer had been seen in the past, but not been killed. I was the last hunter to get dropped out at a stand. He gave me directions to walk up to the tree line along the edge of a large soybean field and look for a certain tree that was marked with paint. He told me I was to follow a pre-cut trail into the woods and to set up about 40 yards from the tree line. He instructed me that, "If you don't shoot at a deer then be back at this spot at 10 minutes after legal shooting time. But if you get a shot, stay put and I will come to your tree stand and help you find the deer and drag it out to the truck." I retrieved my bow and tree stand from the Suburban, then Clay wished me good luck and we parted our separate ways.

As I started walking thru the mud towards the marked tree, I could not help but notice the enormous number of tracts in that rain soaked field. This place is covered up with deer. So I moved more quietly than the last Mohican could have ever possibly dreamed, toward that perfect piece of lumber growing out of the ground, where I could set up my tree stand. I kept thinking to myself "If I could only get a shot". So, I got my stand setup and quietly began to climb working myself up to 25 feet. I hoisted up my fanny pack first, and then my bow, but I unexpectedly snagged my bow on a lower limb on an adjacent tree. I gently tugged at the cord until the bow finally broke free from the branch, and carefully pulled it up to the tree stand. I put on my camo head net, used my range finder and mentally marked different distances from 20 out to 50 yards, put my best arrow on the rest, clipped my Carter 3-D KID release onto my loop, hung my bow on a holder that I screwed onto the tree, and retrieved my grunt call from inside my shirt. I was now ready to settle in for the duration of the afternoon hunt. And I thought to myself, " If I could only get a shot."

The thoughts of that big 8-point seen from the previous year dominated my mind. I imagined what it would be like to walk up on that big buck lying motionless and seeing nothing but antlers, right after an Easton ACC/349 penetrated his chest. You know like they do on Buck Masters Whitetail Magazine television show, after Jackie Bushman makes his weekly kill.

As the afternoon slowly began to wind down., I heard a noise of a cracking branch in the distance over my right shoulder after the sun had fallen below the horizon. I closed my eyes to identify where that sound had come from. Then, I heard several more small branches also snap. I was hoping that a deer was walking toward me. So, I adjusted my body position and slowly stood up. I used my binoculars to try to see what might be coming through the woods, but the low light conditions made it difficult to penetrate the foliage. I hung my binoculars and the back of the tree stand and unhooked my bow and positioned myself to be ready for a shot.

I focused my attention in the direction of the approaching deer. What seemed like an hour went by but it was only 15 minutes. The light conditions were getting worst as legal shooting time was coming to a close. I looked at my watch and I had about 5 minutes left. Then something suddenly came to my mind. I thought that after the rain we had received over the past day and a half, the wet leaves and brush shouldn't make that much noise. I thought, what if this is more that one deer but possibly 2 or 3. Hey that's right! Bucks travel in bachelor groups this time of year. This could be several bucks coming toward my stand to feed on those soybeans. Then around a large oak tree came the outline of a deer's body against the wet forest floor. And it was coming toward me and would pass within 20 yards from my stand. Then, another deer appeared from around the tree with a larger frame, walking behind the first deer. I watched the first deer stop and check the field for anything unusual. I saw no antlers yet. It was to late in the evening to harvest a doe because I could not tell if it had antlers or not. I didn't want to shoot a spike by accident, so I let them pass by.

The next deer I saw was walking on the same path as the others but stopped and stood under that large oak tree and turned his head to the side. Oh my gosh! What huge white antlers. It was too dark to count points but the main beams were massive. I adjusted my Sight Master to the 20-yard setting and raised my bow to draw it back. I was trying to calm myself by saying this phrase in my mind "This is just a target, This is just a target." I came to full draw and fixed my eyes on the target. Oh, I was going to get that shot of a lifetime, that I had rehearsed a million times in my mind. As I looked thru the peep site to take aim, I thought where is my fiber optic pin? I opened my left eye to look at my bow sight. It was not there. It must have broken off when I hang the bow on that limb as I pulled the bow up to the stand. So, I let off on my draw, and the deer was still standing in the same place. I was afraid he would move out of my range. I had no sight on my bow just 2 rings a peep site and lexan plastic ring without a pin. I may never get a shot like this again and I can surly shoot him at this range just by instinctive shooting.

All I had been repeating to myself since I scheduled this hunt 4 months ago was "If I could only get a shot!" So I pulled back my bow and lined up the peep site and the Lexan ring and concentrated on the large shadow below me. I remembered that when shooting at alert deer with a bow, they can sometimes jump the string, when the arrow is released. So I aimed slightly downward on the deer. I held my breath and counted 1-2-3. POW and the arrow was free. The deer appeared to jump up when I shot, turned and then ran off. The other deer ran in a different direction and stopped long enough to watch me start climbing down the tree, snort and then disappear. It took several minutes to get down out of the tree and as I was retrieving my flashlight, when I saw Clay drive up and stop. He whistled and I whistled back. I waited for him to walk up and as well as to give the deer time to bleed out.

We both walked over to the spot where the deer was standing to look for blood and the arrow, which if passed clean thru him should be sticking out of the ground at an angle. But there was no arrow visible above the leaves, I saw huge tracks in the mud where the deer stood and then slipped after the shot. Carefully looking for evidence of blood as thoroughly as FBI crime scene detectives. Clay said, "Here is your arrow". He picked it up and it was broken in half. He looked down again and found the other half. The arrow had been broken in half, but there were other nicks and bends in the shaft that had the appearance a hoof mark. I told Clay what happened when I first took aim, so I shined my flashlight under the limb that my bow had been caught on when I was pulling it up into the stand. I found my missing fiber optic pin directly under the branch. We looked around a while longer, and then Clay said, "Tom, I think you missed. It looks as if you shot under him and he stomped your arrow and broke it in half. The next thought that came to my mind was "If I could only get another shot."

Since my first bow hunt with Black Warrior Hunting Service, I have seen 5-racked bucks in the 130-140 class Boone & Crockett class that averages to 1 big deer every 2.5 days hunted. Each time I could not make a clean-clear shot at any of them.

As a final note to this story, less than a year from this bow hunt, I lost part of my direct vision in my right eye, which has brought my bow hunting career to an unfortunate end. I still hunt with a rifle but shoot left-handed. I look forward to hunting the 2002-2003 season and scheduling a 3-day hunt my friend Clay Wiggins at Black Warrior Hunting Service. I still continue to say to myself, "If I could only get another shot."