I get into the woods at 2:30 pm. today, settling in by 2:45 pm. It's around 40 degrees and I am not freezing. (Life is pretty good!) I can see in a field to my left at 150 yards about 25 deer. There is about 100 yards of woods then the field. Whenever I'm in this stand I will see about 9 or 10 deer. Mostly does and then there is a 12 point buck.

They have all survived my arrows. I have had opportunities but could not seal the deal.

As I was saying before, there were about 25 deer! My stand is in a funnel between food and bedding. So, I stand and wait for the deer to come my way. All of the sudden, they run like crazy in a direction that does not lead to me. After that I see a man in a red jacket walking through the woods. He's driving the deer! All I can say is that I was disappointed. This was about 4:00 pm. I waited about 20 minutes to see if anything was going to come back. Not seeing anything, I got out of the stand, took off my gear and went looking for the guy who had spoiled my hunt.

I'm lucky that the walk to my car is all of 50 yards. I started to travel around the roads that lead to where I thought he would come out of the woods. As I am driving, I am thinking bad things. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

I saw the man on the side of the road speaking to another man in camouflage. I know what was happening but had to confirm. So I stopped to talk. As it winds up, these two men were born and raised in the area. Gene and John; brothers; told me the history of the area I was hunting and apologized for spoiling my hunt. They know everyone, except me.

As it turns out, they encourage me to hunt and will try to help. I went back to my stand and saw one lone doe in the woods at 50 yards with no shot.

I was hunting for deer but really found two new friends. That's not a bad hunt.

Thanks for playing!

Martin

I guess it is all about perspective.  Nice job and God bless ... good story.

Bob.

It is amazing how things turn out sometimes.

I like to me new people.You dont always know how or when.Good for you!!!

A good ending to what started out as a bummer occurrence - it is often a good idea to hold our tongue (and temer) just long enough to get the full "skinny". Good on you! Have had similar scenarios numerous times in my lifetime - there were some times when I didn't handle it quite so well, at first any way. Mostly wound up "good to go" in the end. (Thank you, Lord!)

Congrats on your new friends. It might be a friendship that lasts a long time.

Any time you can make a new friend while hunting it was a very good hunt IMO!!!

Good for you.  There's a lot of hot heads out there who will look for a confrontation first and seek to understand later.

Well written and handled with an open mind...

GOOD JOB!

I was waiting to where you were either the thumper or thumpie. Glad things worked out as well as they did.

Are you a politician? Great job. and story.


Earl

Used to be militant about anyone coming through wrecking my particular attention to hunting detail. Public land cured me. It can be a help if you plan on their intrusion to drive deer your direction. Lesson learned. Sound like good folks to me on both sides of this fence.