In November I went deer hunting in the desert northeast of Yuma with a few friends. I have been drawn a couple of times in the last several years, but have been unsuccessful. This year was different. By about 7:00 a.m. my friend Sonny and I had hiked nearly 4 miles across the desert to a spot he and some other friends had seen deer earlier that month. We were completely amazed by how many deer we saw that morning. It seemed nearly every five minutes or so groups of seven to twelve deer would be within 400 yards of us. Sonny was able to get off a couple of shots at two groups as they past by him at about 200 yards. I had parked myself in the opening of a small passageway in the rock of the ridge line we were hunting. From my vantage point I could see Sonny a couple of hundred yards away following after the two groups he had shot at. While I was sitting there watching a heard a gunshot to my right that sounded like it was right next to me. As I peered around the outcropping of rock I saw a group of eleven to thirteen deer coming up the wash below the ridge line. They were still about 300 yards out so I positioned myself for a comfortable 80-100 yard shot at the wash down below me. I assumed the deer would continue to travel up the wash, but I was wrong. As I waited with my eye in the scope watching the wash below I noticed it was taking an awful long time for those deer to come into view. Just about the time I was processing that thought I saw a blur of what appeared to be hair come into view of the scope. I lifted my head to see what it was and I was staring eye-to-eye with the lead deer in the group. The deers had followed a game trail up the ridge line and had intended to continue through the passageway I was standing in. I'm not sure who was more surprised at that moment, me or the deer. So in the brief second it took for my mind to realize that there was a deer standing five yards in front of me I pulled off a "reaction shot." There was no aiming because honestly what was the point he was fifteen feet away. The shot rang out and the deer took off up the ridge line. I'd missed! The next thing I knew deer after deer after deer were scurrying up the ridge line one-by-one in front of me like a some kind of video game. I wasn't sure whether I should shoot at another deer because what if I had hit the first one. As the last deer passed in front of me I decided to shoot again. It hit him in the hind quarters but was a good enough shot to get him down and out within a minute or so twenty yards from me. As I waited to ensure he was dead I couldn't believe what had just happened. I searched the spot where the first deer I'd shot at was and no blood trail was visible anywhere. When I finally walked up to the downed deer I realized just how big he was. However, the full appreciation of how nice the deer didn't begin to set in for two or three days. If nothing else, this hunt has proven to me that it is better to be lucky than good sometimes.
