This week's Student Spotlight is a three-part short story from Southern Crescent student Jeremy Cato. Keep your eye on the blog over the next week for the next installments!
A-Hunting We Will Go: Part 1
by Jeremy Cato
My friend Ryan and I decided it would be a
good morning to hunt. We had rented this particular hunting land a few years
back and had good success killing some major size deer. We arrived at the hunt site around five o-clocks
in the morning. A little early, but what the hell, the freezer was empty and
funds were running low. I myself had nothing to stay home for, so I hunted. Ryan
on the other hand had a sweet wife and two beautiful little girls, so I figured
whoever killed one there would be supper on the table for us all.
We
pulled up where I normally park and got out. Filling my fanny pack with the essentials
I would need for sitting in a deer stand for hours on end, I looked at Ryan and
asked him where he wanted to hunt that morning.
“Doesn’t matter to me,”
he replied
“Ok,” I said, “why don’t you hunt in the stand
just down the hill from me?”
“That sounds good,” he
replied.
We began walking down the small road that
went toward the south of where we parked the truck. As we walked, we conversed
a little on this and that - nothing too important, just getting in the mood to
hunt. Killing “the big one” has been a conversation we have had on the way to
our stands for years. I knew where we were going to hunt this morning, had big
signs of some nice size bucks. We talked
a little of how nice it would be to kill one before we got to the stand. I reckon
we were just hoping we wouldn’t have to sit in a stand for hours on end. I do
not know about him but when I am in my stand I sit there and pray for a deer or
just for it to be time to get down for lunch or whatever. I am not really the
diehard hunting fan like some people are but I like to get out on cold mornings
and try my luck. You know, the way some
people do the lottery. It gives me something to look forward to as well as some
way to hang out with my friends. I do
think that Ryan felt the same way but I was not sure.
The road came to a dead end and a trail to
the left would lead us the rest of the way. A quarter of a mile and it was time
for Ryan to head his way. “Go straight
to the right, down the hill a little and look up, you will see the stand that
you’re hunting in this morning,” I told him.
“Just be careful. I am not able to tell you how the land looks at this
particular time but it shouldn’t be that bad,” I finished. “I know how to get there,” he replied. “You
act like I’ve never hunted it before,” he bulged. “Ok,” I said, “if you have any problems, just
shoot one time and I’ll be there,” I instructed.
We got to the point of our departure. “I‘ll
see you in a bit,” I told him.
“Ok,” he murmured. He
disappeared in the darkness and I began climbing the tree to my sit in my deer
stand. Muttering to myself on how cold it was, I checked my watch. It wasn’t
too long until the sun would peek over the horizon. I thought to myself and hoped
that Ryan would find his stand.
The sun began to light up the far horizon,
when gunshots rang out in the quiet forest. I knew it was from Ryan’s gun. I
climbed out of my tree stand but it was still too dark to see fully. I had to
wait. There was no way I was going in his direction knowing he may have been
shooting at a potential meal. Besides, he might mistake me for a deer and shoot
me. As I waited for the sun to rise a little more I fired up a cigarette. As I
stood there, I began to wonder why Ryan hadn’t come to get me yet. If he shot a
deer, surely he would be here by now. So, I began walking toward his hunting
area. His hunting area was on a hill that equaled out at a creek bed at the
bottom. A perfect spot to shoot a big deer.
