A lot of you read my thread about my wife letting me go hunting all of Thanksgiving weekend. If you didn't, well, it's out there somewhere. Here's the way things went down: On the way home I made a last minute decision to not go to Missouri - mostly because a colorblind hunter hunting alone isn't a good idea and partly because lows in the teens in a pop-up camper makes for an "interesting" trip. I decided instead to go to Arkansas. I got home from work and quickly loaded everything, gave my wife a kiss and a sincere hug and headed out. I got on my stand a full hour before first light. Just as I expected, right at first light I hear the unmistakeable sound of a buck headed my way. You know the sound - that steady walk with no pauses, like he doesn't have a care in the world and he's on a mission. I stood up, got my bow off the hanger and got ready. I saw him coming in and I had set up perfectly. The wind was from the south and I was on the north side of his trail at 25 yards. My first sighting told me that he was at the very least a "legal" buck there at Wattensaw WMA. A legal buck there has at least a 12" inside spread or 15" main beam. The problem is that it was cloudy and all I could see was the right main beam so I couldn't tell if he was one I wanted to shoot or not. As he walked into my chosen shooting lane I drew and whistled to stop him. I had him dead to rights, stopped in the clear, broadside at 25 yards, but I still couldn't tell how big he was. So...... I watched him walk away. I sat down and for the next hour I didn't see anything. Then, out of the blue, it hit me. I decided that I really didn't want to be there. I dug into one of the many pockets on my fleece suit, got my phone and texted my wife asking when she thought the Turkey would be ready. She replied and said that she was still stuffing it and asked "Why?". I told her that this wasn't where I wanted to be and I was coming home. The guys at the cabin came back while I was loading and I knew what was coming. I took the "crap" I knew I was going to get well and when they asked me why I was leaving I gave them an honest answer. I simply said that "It just hit me that I want to be home more than I want to be here." and I left it at that. So I had a great Thanksgiving with my wife and, as it turned out, my daughter who is in the Air Force showed up unannounced the next day. I made a good choice.
I know what you mean. If I hadn't decided to come home I might have missed an unexpected visit from my daughter. Of course, my wife would have called and said she was there and in that case I would have packed up and left anyway. There was a reason for her visit, though, but I'll post that in the water cooler. :D
