//------------------------------// // The Hunt // Story: A Hunt to Remember // by REDMAMBA //------------------------------// BEEP BEEP BEEP … BEEP BEEP BEEP … BEEP BEEP BE- CLICK You reach over and click off the alarm on your clock and sit up, you let out a long nice stretch to loosen your muscles. You relax and give your eyes a good squeeze to try to remove the glaze that has gathered in your slumber. Generally you are used to getting up early, but most days you don’t get up at 5:30 a.m. … on a Sunday. But today is a special day, it’s the last day of hunting season, and you are gung-ho to fill your deer tag. You toss the sheets to the side and slowly step out of bed. As you stand up you can feel the cold of the early morning air biting at your skin. As a chill rolls up your spine as you say, “Boy its cold, I’m defiantly going to put my long johns on.” You walk over to the table you have set up in your room. You laid out you clothing last night so that you could get dressed quickly. You grab your long underwear and slip them on over your bare legs. Once those are in place, you grab your nylon pants and slip them over your long underwear; you pull up your zipper and snap the button tight. You then grab your belt and slip it through the loops on your pants, after taking a few seconds here and there to place your rifle clip pouch and pistol magazine holder in your hip, you get your belt tightened and in place, you take off the shirt you slept in last night and slip on a polyester long sleeve t-shirt. Then you grab your wool socks and leave your room and head down the hallway. You walk into your living room and take a seat on the couch. You unravel your socks and slip them on with ease. After you’ve gotten your socks hiked up nice and high you begin to look around for the television remote. “Okay, who’s the shmuck that stole my remote,” you say sarcastically. After taking a minute you finally find your prize. You point the device toward the TV and hit the power button. The TV glows as it begins to power on, after cruising through the channels you finally find the channel you are looking for, the weather channel. You rise to your feet and walk into the kitchen to get breakfast started. You open the fridge and grab two eggs and a bag of cheese. You close the door and walk over to one of your many cupboards; you grab a bowl and a plate and head over to the counter and place all of the contents in your hands on the counter top. You grab one egg and hit it against the bowl, the weak shell of the egg breaks upon impact; you bring the egg over the bowl and dump the golden and white contents into the bowl. You do the same thing with the second egg and turn to grab the milk from the fridge. After pouring a little bit of milk in the bowl, you grab a fork from your utensil drawer and begin to mix the milk and eggs. As you swirl the liquid mix you hear the weatherwoman start to talk about the local weather. “Today, there is a 50% chance of snow starting from 12 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m. so I suggest everyone be careful today,” she says with a smile. Well you don’t trust a weatherman that doesn’t hunt, so you think to yourself, ‘Well if she says 50% I’m going to say 60 for good luck, but I should be back before the storm starts.’ After you get the eggs well mixed, you set the bowl down and walk over to the stove, where you just so happen to have a pan at the ready. You turn the stove onto seven and grab a butter knife from the utensil drawer. You remove the lid to the butter container and use the knife to remove a small amount of butter. Moving back to the heated pan, you give your wrist a jerk and plop the butter onto the pan. You sit and watch as it begins to melt in the hot pan, once the butter has liquefied you take the pan by the handle and move the pan in circles. Once the butter has coated the pan evenly, you place the pan back on the hot burner. You walk over and grab your egg bowl, once you have it in hand you return to the hot pan and dump the contents of the bowl into the pan. You watch the eggs bubble and listen to them sizzle, the smell of eggs fills your nostrils as you watch your meal come to life. As the eggs begin to solidify, you grab the small bag of cheese and open it, reaching in side you pinch a small amount of cheese in your fingers and begin to layer the inside of the omelet with it. Once you have a nice layer set in place you, close the bag and put it back in the fridge. Once you return to your meal in progress you grab and spatula and begin to shuffle it slowly under the omelet. Carefully, you slide it underneath and begin to roll the egg, you fold it hot dog style and center it in the pan. Once you see that your omelet is perfect, you turn off the stove and toss the spatula in the sink. You take the pan by the handle and walk over to the plate on the counter top. Gingerly tipping the pan, you slide the omelet onto the plate with ease. With your meal ready you grab another fork and take the plate and walk into the living room. You place the plate in your lap and feel the heat flow from the bottom of the plate and into your legs. Without taking any more time to wait, you dig into the fluffy and cheesy goodness. You grab the remote and flick through the channels on the TV while you eat. You see nothing good on, so you eventually just settle for something on the history channel. Something about aliens, you really weren’t paying attention. After a few minutes you finish your meal and walk into the kitchen and dump the plate and fork in the sink, you don’t bother to clean them since you know you’ll be home before noon. As you walk past the fridge you open it and grab two water bottles you had sitting in there overnight, so their nice an cool. With water in hand you return to your living room and place the bottles on a nearby table and walk into the entryway of your home. You grab your winter boots and return to the living room and sit on the couch, placing your boots next to your feet. You grab your left boot and slip your foot inside; once you have your foot in place you begin to lace the shin high boots. Once you reach the top you tie them off with a simple shoelace knot. Once you’re finish with your left boot you do the same with the right. You stand up and reach for the backpack you had sitting next to the couch. You lift the small pack onto the couch and reach for the two water bottles sitting on the nearby table. Once you have them, you place them in the mesh holders in the side of your pack. After tightening a few straps here and there you take the bag and toss it over one shoulder. You walk to the small hallway leading to the entry way, before you go; you stop and grab the rifle you had sitting there. It’s a 70 year old M1 Garand from World War II, you happen to be a little bit of a gun fanatic, and when you saw this piece of Americana for $500 you picked it up in a heartbeat. You practically stole the thing, mainly because it was in wonderful condition. You take you rifle and sling it over the shoulder opposite of your pack and walk into the entry way. You set your gear down and gear and grab your wool jacket and slip it over your shoulders. Once it’s buttoned up, you grab your pack once more and slip it over both shoulders this time. You grab the door knob and open your front door, before you step outside you grab your rifle with one hand and begin to open the screen door. “Oops forgot something,” you say to yourself while you reenter your home. You walk quickly down the hallway to your room, once your in side your room you go straight to your nightstand. You open it and see your favorite handgun in its holster. You grab the Colt 1911 and remove it from its holster; you close the first drawer and open the larger one below it. Reaching in you grab your leg holster and pull it our. You quickly strap it onto your belt and clip the plastic clamps to your leg. After tightening the straps you slip your pistol into it. “There we go,” you say while walking out of your bedroom. Once your reach the front door yet again, you quickly grab your skull cap and slip it over the top of your head, at the same time you grab you favorite ball cap and slip it over your beanie. You open the screen door and step outside into the frigid night air. You grab the cold door knob and close the door behind you. You lock quickly lock it and head for the car. Once you've reached your You open the back door of your Jeep and place your rifle and backpack in the back. You close the door and get in the driver’s seat. Immediately when you sit down your body jerks forward violently. “Why did I get the one with leather seats?” you ask yourself while you gingerly sit back in the frozen seat. You start the car and back out of the drive way and head for your favorite hunting spot. After a few minutes you turn on the radio and listen to some tunes. You swear you’d lose your mind if you couldn’t listen to music while you dive. After about 20 minutes of driving you reach your hunting spot. Before you get out of the car you look at the clock. “6:45 perfect, I’ve got about fifteen minutes to get into position,” you say knowing that shooting light is at 7:00 a.m. You open the driver’s side door and step out into the snow. You slowly close your door so as to not scare anything in the area. As you walk to the back of your Jeep you hear the snow crunch underneath your feet. You open the back door and grab your back pack and pull it towards yourself. You open the top and pull out your hunters orange and slip each arm into the holes of the vest. Once you have your vest buttoned up, you close your pack and slip it onto you back. You grab the hip straps and clip them together, once the two straps become one you tighten them to your waist. After completing that little task, you do the same with the chest strap. Now that your pack is ready, your grab your rifle and close the back door of your rig quietly. You take two steps away from the car and grab the charging handle on the old rifle and pull it back until it clicks. Reaching behind you, you grab a clip and place it in the magazine well; you hear a small click, telling you that the clip is in place. You grab the charging handle again and give it a light tug back, you fell it click yet again, then, you ease it forward slowly until the action is halfway closed, then you release your finger and let the weapon close on its own, now you’re ready to go. You shoulder the rifle and begin your hike up an old logging road. Your head is constantly on a swivel and your ears are on overdrive. You’re looking for that sly buck that keeps giving you the slip. For now, the only sound you hear is the crunch of the snow under your feet. You follow the road down a ravine and up the opposite ridge. You peak out on the ridge and take a moment to look around. Taking the rifle off of your shoulder, you look through the scope, giving the area a quick glassing, but... you see nothing. So you decide to continue to follow the old logging road. You make it about a third of the way down the ridge when you hear and twig snap. You freeze and begin to look around; following the sound down the left side of the ridge, you try to spot the creature that made the sound. That’s when you see him… that big six by six buck, and you know this one well, he gave you the slip the year before and since then, he’s been doing it every time since. You call this big boy Ghost, on the account that he just tends to disappear as fast as he shows up. But you’ve got him this time, there’s no wind and he hasn’t seen you yet. You slowly take your rifle off your shoulder and begin to raise it slowly; you take a knee to get a steadier shot. You look through the scope and line up the shot, its perfect he’s broadside and all... you’ve got him dead to rights. You slowly ease your finger onto the trigger and begin to squeeze it. But, right before you give that final tug you feel the hair on the back of your neck move. The monster bucks head jerks toward your direction, you can see his nose moving as he picks up you scent. You get ready to place the shot, but before you fire… he bolts. ‘SHIT!’ you think to yourself. You quickly follow close behind, you walk up to the tracks in the snow and begin the chase. You follow them knowing full well that he’s going to stop and look back. You rid his ass as hard as you can; he dipped down the ravine and up the next ridge. You know that if you’re lucky, you’ll catch him coming up the other side. As you hike up the near ridge, you take a quick second to catch your breath. You’re working hard, but the risk is worth the reward. You imagine how nice he’ll look on your wall, and the story that comes with the mount. With that last bit of strength you trudge your way to the top of the ridge. You begin looking across and into a nearby ravine you watch for movement on the other side. “Come on where are you, you son of a bitch?” you whisper to yourself as you scan the land in front of you. And that’s when you see it, a flash of white. “Gotcha,” you whisper with confidence. You begin to work your way down the large ravine. You make it about a quarter of the way down, until you step on a log hidden under the snow, you lose your footing on the wet piece of wood and fall backwards, the last thing you see is the blue sky as you hit your head on the ground, losing consciousness immediately.