Autumn Timber

hunting_nature_fiction Welcome to the woods of the Great White Huntress, yeah, well maybe not.

 

I reach my hand over head and trace my fingers over a deep rub on an ancient cedar made by a towering bull elk. The smell of cedar rush my senses and feels me with peace. I continue my search and notice freshly left droppings. Lightly I caress my .270 caliber Winchester, loaded with 130 grain bullets designed for ultimate kill shot ratio. I laugh at myself for I feel like a walking commercial fully equipped in an Autumn Timber pattern.  

 

A slight quiver creeps across my spine I step over a hind print left in a soft patch of earth by an pecan tree. The nearby aspens are perfectly seasoned in autumn yellow. My breath lightly marks my way as it aimlessly drifts. My nose and fingers tingle from the cold but otherwise I'm toasty warm garbed in my timber camo. Early morning started this trek hunger pains marked the noon hour but still I march on it is a passion for nature and a compulsion to see just a little further ahead.

 

Sunlight begins to shine across my path as the pines thin away, revealing an open field before me.  The land is rich and fertile full of waist high prairie grass. A North wind steals my breath as I spy my prize and smell hint of wood burning from my cabin. Just three hundred yards ahead a beautiful 6x6. He puffs smoke from his nostrils. I ease into position and with my crosshairs on the brut my mind yells; Shoot! Shoot him! I draw in a breath and with a smooth motion end my hunt and begin to prepare for my trek back, with my spoils in tow.

 

 

 

Author's Note

I write many of may storeis from a POV that is not my own. Sometimes that is where you find the most freedom. Take something you like (nature for example) and then weave what you know and what you like into anothers world. Let it play out in your head like a TV show.

Reviews

[UESider84]

This is extremely beautiful. The imagery is extremely sensual and allows the reader to enter into the writer's universe and her experience. The small details (the caliber of the bullets, the smell of autumn leaves against the ground, and anthropomorphization of the animal) only makes the experience that much richer.

This is extremely beautiful. Please continue it.

[MelissaAndres]

Cherrie, Thank you for entering this story into our contest. Submissions will be accepted until October 15th. If you have other WC friends who may be interested in entering, please feel free to pass on the information.

[Zeek4]

Very descriptive passage on the hunt and all the senses and emotions that go with it. I haven't hunted myself for years, but your story brings all those primeval pleasures I use to experience back to me.

[Nimbus Thread]

Skillfully done. I was there with you all the way. You've captured the emotive essence of life,death, and beauty.

[Ed Hart]

keenly told...a lot of territory in three paragraphs...straight shooting