IOWA BOWHUNTER FALL 2024/WINTER 2025

BONKER’S WORLD (CONT.) WINTER ISSUE

It took awhile to calm down. Even though I had a long time to look at him, and I could see him clearly after I got that mesh off, to this day I couldn’t describe him as anything but BIG. I have no idea how many points he had or how tall they were or even how wide or how much mass. Perhaps nature is protecting me from feeling even dumber than I already am. It’s one thing to miss an opportunity based on serendipity, but quite another to totally blow an opportunity due to committing an egregious error. As usual, I’ll add this lesson to my book of errors I have learned from, but man, that book is getting mighty thick. I have not seen another buck since, and I probably won’t during gun season either, but

the deer camp gods did smile on me because the Assistant and I actually won a couple games of euchre. Epilogue I’m sitting here pouting. It is the second day of second gun and I haven’t gone out yet. Southeast Iowa had an ice storm of epic proportions making side roads skating rinks and turning tree stands into giant icicles. My truck has enough dents in it already and I don’t want to break a hip trying to climb into a stand. Discretion being the better part of valor, I am firmly planted in my comfy chair. I’m also pouting because I received a text a few minutes ago that had a picture with it. Seems the Apprentice has proven my “you only get one chance a year” theory, my

narcissism prevents me from typing the word I should so I’ll just say he proved my theory not quite right. The picture was of the Apprentice with a bruiser of a buck. So he did get another chance, and he took proper advantage of that chance. The other thing is I’m pretty sure it’s the buck that I blew my chance on. I couldn’t see well at the time, but he had an odd looking antler on his left side. The space between what looked like a G2 was way too far from his forehead. The photograph shows a broken G2 which made me think his G3 was his G2. So hopefully that deer will quit haunting my dreams, and I’ll learn to live with being not quite right. About my theory.

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