MOONFIRE

I sort of got badgered by my archery buddies into applying for several
Special Season Permits at the Hobbs Recreational Area near Rogers,
Arkansas, this year. Darned if I didn't draw a black powder permit for
deer.

Not that fond of deer. I will eat it but it's not high on my list.
Frankly, I'd just as soon eat an Irish Setter. I did a lot of hunt
preparation stuff though, washing clothes in special soap that removes
all ultraviolet brighteners, ultraviolet glow, and human scent.
Special clothes dryer sheets that make your clothes smell like fresh
dirt (soil) to cover your scent. Wrapped my highly tuned little 50
caliber CVA Bobcat black powder rifle with camo tape. I also bought
some spray-on "fresh dirt" stuff to cover my "Country Indian" human
scent further and some special deer attractant (scent). More on that
later.

I drove over to Pea Ridge Saturday [10-06-2007] morning. "Mikey" and I
doubled up in his pickup and took off for Hobbs. Checked in at the
Special Permit Check Station at Hobbs. They asked a bunch of
questions. Then, we took off and went to "Mikey's" special hunting
place, arriving about 6:15 A. M. There were already two trucks parked
there. Rats..... There goes plan one and two. So we drove down the
road a little bit further to where it ended at the lake. Our new plan
(plan 3) was to climb up on two ridges and let the hunters that stole
"Mikey's" special place chase the deer out of the big hollow up to us.
The Holler' was surrounded on three side by a highway, gravel road,
and the lake. The only way out for any deer in there was over the
ridges where we were. So, that was our plan.

My personal plan was just to walk in the woods and enjoy myself. Not
really that interested in bagging a deer. So now I'm walking in the
woods in the dark. Dang, this is steep....... starting sweating some
while climbing up the ridge and stopped at the top to spray myself
with the "fresh dirt" stuff. I was on top of the ridge closest to the
holler'. Creeping along like a sneaky Indian, it took me about two
hours to go 200 yards down the ridge. I also got out my little bottle
of special MoonFire deer attractant. I seen the DANGER WARNING label
on back. DO NOT APPLY TO YOUR BODY OR CLOTHING, YOU MAY BE ATTACKED.
Silly warning.....I sprinkle the stuff on myself.

There is a big tree down in front of me. Its been down for quite
awhile and is covered with white mushrooms. I'm thinking to myself
"I'll bet when a deer sees me covered with this silly blaze orange
vest and hat, its like waving a big white flag." I saw a picture one
time of what deer can see and blaze orange looks white to them. I'll
just lean up against this white mushroom covered tree and stand here
for awhile. Maybe a deer will run over the ridge and not notice me
standing here with these white mushrooms......

About 2 or 3 minutes later I hear hoofbeats coming toward me from down
below the ridge. Up over the ridge about 40 yards away comes a pretty
good sized buck running at a good clip. He's coming straight at me. I
cock and throw up my gun. He doesn't miss a beat and keeps coming
straight at me. I thought "holy s... he's going to run right over the
top of me, I only got one shot....I'm going to have to pull out my
knife if I miss..... At about 20 yards he's still coming and I wag my
head side to side to flag him. He finally sees me and slows down but
keeps coming. I aim for the middle of the chest and squeeze it off
because he's getting really close....too close.

BOOM!! Can't see anything for a couple of seconds because of the
smoke. It finally clears and I see he just fell over. Kicked a couple
of times and was still. I'm kind of stunned by the whole thing and
just stand there for a minute. I walk over and see he is a 6 point.
Big body though and I estimate he is about 120 pounds, which is good
sized for a Whitetail. Pretty sure "Mikey" must have heard my shot
because he is probably only a couple of hundred yards to the northwest
on the next ridge. It's about 9:05 A. M. and I have only been in the
woods for a couple of hours. I tag the buck and start back for the
pickup truck. Our pre-arranged signal was to return to the truck if
one of us scores and honk the horn twice.

I get to the truck and honk the horn. I do this twice more in the next
few minutes. No "Mikey"..... I take the Kleenex box out of the cab,
write a note on the side saying 6 point down about 200 yards down the
ridge on top, and put it on the hood. I take off back up the ridge.
Takes me only minutes to get back to the deer. "Mikey" shows up a few
minutes later. I tell him what happened in detail. The distance of my
shot was about 13 steps. We field dress the buck. "Mikey" has one of
those deer drag things with a handle and cord. It's a simple matter to
hook him up and drag him the 200 yards to the road. It's downhill all
the way.

We bump into Terry, one of our archery buddies, while driving out.
Show him the deer and tell the story. Terry's comment is something
like "Oh, brother, we're going to really get it when you tell this
story in our web site." Ha Ha Ha I'm still so excited, I forgot I
could take a picture with my cell phone. "Mikey" takes a picture with
a disposable camera.

We check the deer in. They do a bunch of research stuff. Cut a jaw
out, weigh and measure. 2 1/2 year old buck 100lbs field dressed.

Researchers asked a bunch of questions, such as:
Q: How many times did you shoot?
A: Once, and pulled my knife because he was coming straight at me.
Q: How many deer did you see?
A: One, and I think he attacked me, so I didn't look for no more.
Q: Did you see any of the following: squirrel, wild turkey, raccoons,
coyotes, fox, chupacabra (just kidding) etc etc.?
A: Yeah I saw three squirrels and a buzzard, say, why don't you move
this special permit hunt to November or somethin'? It was about 90
degrees up there on that ridge. Too da*n hot to be hunting deer.....I
'bout burned up......don't think the deer are in a good mood either
when its this hot.....

We took my buck to a processor and dropped him off.

I made it home and was exhausted. Eventually took a much needed
shower. Toweled off and noticed a black ring around my legs at the
sock line. What's that? Arrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh it's seed ticks. I'm
infested........ panic because I rode home in my car, rode to the
Missouri line with my wife in her pickup, sat in my computer
chair....... I run into the wash room and throw my clothes in the
washer (ran twice) and throw my boots out into the garage. Looked for
my can of RAID to spray my boots with. No RAID, da*n we're always out
of that stuff. Ran next door, Jeanette was out too. She sprayed some
kind of yard bug killer on the boots. Jeanette, who is the
Neighborhood Sage and is wise, said the only way to be sure you get
them all is to strip down naked and rub a cloth soaked with kerosene
over every part of your body. She gets her can of kerosene, a bar of
lye soap and hands them to me. I ask, "even on my nabs?" She says
yes......

I go out into my garage....naked, and rub kerosene all over myself.
Including those special tender places. I stand in my garage for the
proscribed 10 minutes. Run through the house naked and get in the
shower. Shower, shower, shower, Da*n, this stuff won't come off.
Honey,....bring me the grease cutter dish soap. Shower, shower,
shower. Kerosene still won't all come off and my sack is on fire........

I finally remember "Mikey" and make a phone call. "Mikey", burn your
clothes, take a shower and then have your wife check every inch for
tiny little seed ticks a speck in size, 'cause you went every place I
did, except leaning against the mushroom tree.....

So, that's our special permit deer hunt at Hobbs Recreational Area.
"Mikey" is going back to Hobbs in the morning, unless the seed ticks
sucked out all his blood. I really can't recommend sprinkling deer
attractant on yourself either, because it might have worked too
well.....I think I got attacked. Follow the instructions carefully.

Mark "Angel Eyes"