There have been many trials and tribulations throughout our relationship but none so much as when I missed a trophy buck.

The second to last Saturday of season, we had gone out around 3 PM to drop something off at a friends house (who lives in the woods) and on the way, looked for deer, just in case. He said he didn't have any good feelings about seeing something but we were giving it a shot. I told him, "Really? Cause I have a great feeling about this. I think we'll see something" But maybe thats because I had just taken an awesome 2 hour nap after our earlier hunt and I was actually able to keep my eyes open this time. Not two minutes later does he slam on the breaks, grab his Monarch X's (that I so graciously supplied him with) and goes wholly S*%$ that's a huge buck! He had so awesomely noticed something very white in a bunch of green shrubbery (He's such an awesome hunter) and that white object was the nose of a ginormous buck... a wall-hanger as Chris would say. We quickly parked and hiked in. 

At this point, I'm really nervous and thinking holly crap.. I have to kill a deer? Actually, I think I even asked Chris as we got out of the truck if I had to kill it, but he was in deer zone already. Chris' eyes instantly have focussed and narrowed, his Cherokee nostrils are flaring and his feet are so quite I can tell the slow elephant behind him is killing him. And then... we step out and there's a beautiful buck beaded down. The wind is in our favor and now I'm thinking, holly S*%$ myself. I start to freak out and grab chris, "What's the plan... I'll draw back and wait for him to stand?" Yes, he says. So I step out draw back and look at the buck. I'm waiting for the buck to slowly stand but he doesn't. He looks at me and 10 seconds later puts his ears forward, then all of a sudden chris lets out a bleep. But sadly the buck doesn't stand, he instead bolts through a whole in the shrubs we didn't account for and he is gone. I'm so stoked that I got that far I'm more excited then anything.. and then I realize I'm standing there while chris is chasing after the deer. Shit, I'm the one with the bow, as I see him hollering at me to follow, but the bucks gone. 

This is when the trials and tribulations of dating a hunter begin, when the 4 winds combine, that I have to understand his frustration only stems from the joy he wants bring me. As I catch up to him I realize he is so frustrated he looks like he's about to cry. He's cursing at the wind saying how huge it was and asking me what happened. I said, "What do you mean what happened, he ran off?" We get in the truck and a long heated discussion of how he can't believe I didn't shoot that buck, occurs. That that would of been a buck of a lifetime for me and my first one no less. He finally mentions something about how I need to draw back right away and focus on the deer and I look at him confused.  I said "Chris, I was drawn back. I was just waiting for him to stand." And thats the day I learned that you can shoot a buck that's bedded down. :)