I got back out to the woods yesterday and had a ‘moment’ with nature. I got caught walking around with my eyes on the ground (looking for more turkey feathers) by a couple of yearling whitetails. When I realized what was going on, I froze at a full stand and was able to move in to 25 yds or so in my blue jeans and camo shirt before they realized they were being stalked (must be a yearling thing-don’t think mature deer would have allowed it). I was armed obviously, with only a quiver full of small game set ups, as deer aren’t yet open game.
When the deer fled the scene, I noticed a big squirrel crossing a draw about 10 yds from me, moving from one tree to another. I drew and touched anchor, glanced up the tree it was heading to and saw a smaller squirrel a few feet up the trunk. Putting two and two together, it dawned on me that this was a mother and a pup (if thats what squirrel young are called). She began coaxing the little guy to make a jump from one tree to another to no avail. Further inspection found another pup up the tree she had initially left to find her other offspring.
During about a 20 minute observation, I had passed up quite a few shot opportunities, allowing my heart to get the best of the situation and deciding that my satisfaction for taking game could not be filled at the loss of a member of this trio, but that if a mature male had shown himself, it would have been game on. Has anynoe else had an ‘ethical’ moment like this?
P.S. I did leave with another quiver full of feathers!!
