11/18/2025
I’ve just got to tell this story. It’s too good not to share. Tracking deer can be dangerous, obviously- sometimes they are gonna choose fight. It’s happened to me numerous times and as Jinx gets older it has become even more of a worry in the back of my mind. That definitely played a part in how today went down.
I used to be one of the biggest hunters I know. You probably dont know this but I’ve got a 163” buck, turkey and coyote- (not mention lots of does) all with my bow. That takes some precision, time and skill to accomplish. When I started tracking I almost completely quit hunting, it was more fun to work my dog and help other hunters recover their trophies. This year I decided I would try to get back into hunting.
It didn’t go so well. It was so hard to sit still, so BORING.
My man and I took some time off to hunt last week and I was the biggest whiner with the worst attitude bc I “didn’t see anything shootable or it wasnt in range”. I was such a BRAT!!! I was rude and ungrateful bc i just wanted a deer for my dog and granddaughter to track…Fast forward to Sunday morning. I was freezing cold, I was in agony- my fingers and toes were dead. I text Ron that I was heading in at like 7:30, I was soooo OVER it. I leave everything in the blind except my r***e which I strapped on my back and headed out.
I was probably a quarter of a mile in when a buck to my right ran in front of me, stopped in the woods and stared at me before running off with another deer that I hadn’t previously noticed. As I’m standing there with my hands in my pockets I hear a loud STOMP, look up and there’s a massive buck 30 yards in front of me. My living nightmare. I’m being challenged by this giant. There’s no cover, I’m in the middle of the trail, he is gonna hit me before I can take two steps- things are clicking in my mind. I don’t really have a panic button, it’s odd but I don’t panic in the moment but I don’t reason either.
So this buck is stomping at me and takes a step toward me. I froze, pulled my gun around and just stand still. He starts to turn away but changed his mind. Another stomp, another step towards me when the thought enters my mind to take this deer, he’s mature, I’m hunting and he’s challenging me. I dropped to one knee and shot.
I immediately call Ron. “I shot a big buck” Ron knows I’m not going to chance a shot while walking in, that’s not controlled enough for me- I’m a cautious hunter. Everything starts settling in on me as to what just happened and I half cry “he SCARED ME” (more whining lol) He says he’s on his way and I decide to head back towards him. I don’t walk up to the deer, I’m still feeling uneasy and as I look up the road at him I see this LITTLE deer. Like I don’t even see antlers!!! It’s my mind seeing whatever it is seeing… usually you see BIGGER but for some reason i was seeing a scrub buck—- I start laughing hysterically as I walk back to the SXS and go get Ron. I’m still laughing when I get to him and tell him how in my mind this was a huge buck thinking to kill me -but it was really just a little guy. I dont shoot antlers. I shoot big bodies. I only shoot big mature bucks but somehow I had just harvested myself a tiny.
🤷🏻♀️
AS we pull up Ron’s like what the HELL??!! Oh-This is a giant! (See photo of him hanging) Which puts me back into “he was trying to KILL Me!!!!” After the fact I realized that he was probably coming around the bend to fight that buck that just ran off and encountered me instead- if I had yelled he most probably would’ve bolted off but due to my previous experiences and fear of this exact thing happening- I chose violence. lol but really.
Anyway- Ron says let me take a photo then we will set a fake track for Jinx and go get her to have some fun. He hands me my phone and it’s not until I’m looking at the photo that I’m like …”OMG, WHAT??? I’m just omg, omg, (more drama) I throw my phone down like a hot potato and run over to my deer. Rons yelling WHAT??? Whats wrong because im literally losing it…DROP TINE!! What the what??!! Like this is my ultimate!! ULTIMATE
Anyway, Ron had shot a great deer the evening before but that smile in the photos is because after nine years he finally got his hunting buddy back. That morning was definitely the excitement I needed and I’m now looking forward to bow hunting again next week!! Jinx was thrilled to chew on a few deer this weekend too!! Thank you God for giving me exactly what I needed, exactly in the way I needed it. I had so much FUN!
As always thank you to Brianna Love and Ian Love for the hospitality! Especially Ian for helping load these two brutes out of there.
