True Life Fishing and Hunting Stories

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How Many Trucks To Go Deer Hunting?

Steve Vermeulen
Reynoldsburg, OH

deer in front of truck

Thursday. 3:00 AM and I'm picking up my boss Fred. We have a 2-hr trip ahead of us as we prepare to go bow hunting for my first time. My truck is loaded to the gills with all of our gear and supplies and off we go... Not 3 blocks from Fred's house in Reynoldsburg, OH, 3 deer run across the street in front of us. We look at each other and grunt "ooh, gonna be a great day. Seeing prey already. We get on I-70 eastbound and I set the cruise at 68MPH. We're on the way to fulfilling the great stories Fred has fed me for over 3 months as he explains the virtues of bow hunting.

After about 1hr on the interstate, just outside of Zanesville, OH, we crest a hill and BANG @#$% we hit a 8 pointer dead solid and crush the front end of my Chevy S-10 extended cab. The truck immediately dies. Nothing left of the buck. We later find out the metal on the front end has shorted the battery out. My truck is black with a black interior and a black fiberglass cap. Dead in the middle of the interstate is the truck and the deer in the ditch. No moon, flashlights only, 4:30 AM and we cannot get a soul to stop and assist us. Fred and I have pushed the truck off the road. About 5:30 AM, a state trooper comes by and we begin the accident report process. A tow truck comes by about 6:00 AM and tows it back to Reynoldsburg. Fortunately, Fred and I were not injured in the crash. Seat belts are a good thing. Another fortunate thing is Fred only lives 4 blocks from me. The tow truck driver drops Fred at his house and he gets his Jeep Cherokee.

After resolving the issues with the insurance company for my accident, it's about 8:30 AM and we unload all the equipment and supplies from my truck and load it into Fred's. We're going hunting! Only problem so far today is we missed the morning hunt. Not that big of a deal, we figure we can make the hunting camp by lunch and have an early start on the afternoon hunt. I should have been so lucky. Not 2 blocks from my house, we have a flat tire on Fred's truck. OK then, we change one of the back tires. When Fred dropped the truck off the jack, the other rear tire blows. Somebody's trying to tell us something here. Oh well, we wobble 3 blocks up to the gas station and Fred buys 2 new tires for the rear of his Jeep and we are finally back on the road. It is now 10:30 AM and I am still very excited. I think that nothing else can stop us now. I'm going bow hunting. My several hundred-dollar investments in equipment will now pay off. How I wish....
The 2 hour drive to our deer camp was mostly uneventful compared to earlier happenings. We were about 1 mile from the camp on a gravel road in southeastern Ohio that was mostly 2 lanes but had areas that were only 1 lane. As we rounded a blind curve, a young kid, around 18 years old, was flat out getting it down the road in a Ford Ranger and we collided head on. Both trucks were totally demolished and thank God all 3 of us walked away. Thanks again for seat belts. Fred had a small lump on his forehead and the other driver had a bump on his forearm but that was the extent of all injuries. I was spared any bumps or bruises. Well...now what to do. We are 128 miles from home and without transportation.

I called my wife Melody and asked her to borrow another friends Nissan pickup to rescue us on Sunday. After explaining to her what had happened, she was rather skeptical that we should stay and continue to hunt. Her main concern was, after all our luck that day, that we were going to go into the woods with sharp, pointy objects (arrows) where we might not be found should we have any further mishaps. Love her to death for the support...

We stayed until Sunday and hunted with absolutely no success. Did not even see another deer. Bow hunting can be quite boring I have found when you see no game. Oh well, another time. After my wife picked us up on Sunday she wanted to know if either of us wanted to drive home. After a resounding NO, in stereo, she laughed and started giving us the business about how we were supposed to be such great hunters. Then and god love her for this, she decides to rub it in just a little deeper. Her suggestion for a successful deer hunt next trip: grab a steering wheel, run through the woods and make truck noises. Another deer is just bound to get in front of us!