This arrow is fletched with Wild Turkey feathers, sent to me by Hope Carleton - I had intended to allow BIG MIKE to arrow any antlered buck with one of these precious beauties, which delivered TOP performance! On Sat., Nov. 10, I was supposed to return to Lucas County (BIG MIKE is not allowed in Lucas Co.), to resume hunting with Troy, however, the day produced the Easterly wind flow, which is THE BEST condition for hunting MEMORY VALLEY (the corperate moniker for the remnant of "the family farm") - I had advised Troy, "the only things which will prevent my return to your good company will be death, serious illness or, any Easterly wind"! ;)
The day was nicely overcast and the Temp. was right at 50 Deg. F as I left home a little later than planned - I went along just to keep BIG MIKE from doing anything "rash" . . . by 3:15 PM, WE had jacked the Lone Wolf "climber" comfortably into position and were just putting on OUR coat when the first buck approached - yep, from directly UP wind! ;) The dink (miniscule forked-horns) was accompanied by a pair of young does (fawns) - all three passed within ten yards of the tree base and didn't wind US until they were about 50 yards down-wind! ;) It was going to be "one of those" afternoons - where the scent is going, at least partly, UP!
WE finished putting on the coat and HE remembered to install the arm-guard over the bulky sleeve: we would be ready for the next candidate! Almost immediately, a second buck was observed - in the field to OUR West, feeding on the green sprouts, shooting up from the recently combined been-field. The Lica 8x32 binocular revealed this one to be (as, my pal, Joe, calls 'em) a MONDO MEGA DINK - a "nice" (if there is such a thing) forked-horn - with an impressive spread and moderately heavy beams . . . BM said, " ifen he getz kloz, I'm gunna skurrer 'im! Yaz told ME - I kud shuuut watevur I wandded t'"! "Well, OK, it's your tag", I thought.
And then, things turned INTERESTING! :)