The One That Got Away
……… It is a ’96 opening morning quota hunt. The sun has been up for about ten
minutes now. I still can’t see much though. The sun is starting to come over the
surrounding hillsides. A foggy morning. I am beginning to be able to see the trees and
other vegetation around me. I hear a stick snap to my left…..followed by a rustling of
leaves. It’s definitely got four legs….probably a squirrel. Not getting any brighter. The
clouds and fog are blocking the sun out. The sticks are still snapping and getting
louder to my left. My heart begins to pound…..it’s definitely a deer. I can see the
outline now, it’s coming closer. I’m not sure if it’s a buck or a doe… it doesn’t matter,
they all taste the same. The deer is closer now… much closer. About thirty yards to
the left. I begin to raise my .30-.30 Marlin rifle. I haven’t shot a deer with it yet… it’s
new. A birthday present. As the gun nears my shoulder, and the deer nears me I flip
the safety off and pull the hammer back. The crosshairs are on the kill-zone, and my
finger tight on the trigger… one more move will fire the gun. As I am squeezing the
trigger for the shot I hear a grunt. Not from this deer, but from the top of the hill. It’s
too foggy to see very far, so I let the hammer down and wait. Another grunt. Closer.
The Essay on Profundo En El Corazon De La Soledad
Profundo En El Corazn de la Soledad John Steinbecks novel Of Mice and Men exudes loneliness to such a degree that it nearly overwhelms the reader. The environment and the characters work together to inextricably pull the reader into this lonely world and never truly releases its melancholy A few miles south of Soledad..... (Steinbeck, pg. 1) With this opening phrase Steinbeck prepares the reader ...
My leg begins to shake; my heart pounds. The deer comes out of the fog and heads
toward the one already here. Again the gun comes to my shoulder and galls in the
kill-zone of the deer. Hammer back… the gun fires! The deer falls to the ground. It’s
still alive, but not by much. I jack another shell into the chamber, but decide against
firing into the deer a second time. I am waiting for my dad to come up the hill watching
the last breaths of the buck. A first buck for me, I can’t wait to see him up close.
Suddenly, my whole life spins and takes a sharp turn… the deer is up!!! I have a shell
in the chamber, but it is too foggy and cannot follow through with the shot! My dad
reaches the top, we look for blood finally finding a small pool where the buck first laid.
We follow drops for several hours, final ending in a dead end. The deer is gone.
Maybe next year.
