“Well, with a lead-in like that…” Megan smirked at her sister. Jean and Leo, who had decided to collectively sit on their mom’s lap, giggled when Malorie returned fire by playfully sticking out her tongue. Megan continued, “We went west as far as Clear Creek Road on our hunt. We stopped to rest and observe on a hill overlooking the road. There were tire tracks, but no vehicles around. The odd thing was that Malorie spotted a man just sitting on the edge of the road by himself.” Megan handed the scrap of paper holding the SALT report to Joshua to read over. “She observed him for a few minutes, but he just sat there. It appeared that he had some kind of cardboard sign with something written on it and something flat in his hand resting on his leg as he sat against the tree.”
Joshua pondered what he had heard, and said, “It’s only a matter of time until the fuel runs out, but I have to think that there will be more people tracking through these parts. We can’t be the only ones to find out about the caves.”
Megan spoke. “Good point, Joshua. I say that after the last of the snow melts off and at the last phase before a new moon we should leave here and continue west.”
Malorie said, “That guy we found today makes me think that we might get discovered before then.”
Joshua leaned over and grabbed a stick to draw on the ground, then said, “Take this as Clear Creek Road, and this as the lake over here to our east. We have no idea who or how many other people are out here, but if they didn’t roll out of town supplied like we were, then most of them are not going to make it for very long.”
Malorie looked down. “I hate that our survival chances depend so much on the demise of others.”
“It bothers me, too, Mal, it really does,” Joshua said.
As Malorie walked to the observation post, Joshua continued, “So the next patrol/hunt is not for two more days. We sure are burning up a lot of calories without having any meat to show for it. Can you pass the map to me?”
“Sure thing. I have to imagine that the hunting pressure is high on these deer and that they’re making themselves scarce.”
“So we’ve been checking out this swath of land here up to Clear Creek Road, right? Well, it looks like there is a pretty big section across that road over here before you get to Highway 211. I’m not much of a hunter, but perhaps I can go with Malorie. It appears to be about six miles one way, putting us there at midday if we set out early. And if we can’t make it back in one day, we could set up overlooking Highway 211 and try to get some intelligence for what is going on.”
“Right, but your best hunting opportunities are not going to be midday,” Megan answered. “Game studies have shown that deer are actually active for feeding based on the rising and setting of the moon. Plus, don’t you think that going to a patch of woods near a big road is dangerous? There would just be two of you—not enough of a force to mount an effective defense if you were spotted. “
“All good points, Megan. I guess that I just really want to know what is going on out there in the world! We still have a long way to go to get to Bradfordsville, and there just doesn’t seem to be any way to get the info we need.” After a few minutes he said, “Okay, tomorrow it’s my turn to get water from the lake. I’ll see what fish I can catch and perhaps a better idea will come to me.” Megan nodded in agreement.
The next day Joshua grabbed his empty rucksack and eight quart-size Ziploc bags that the group had been using to collect water from Cave Run Lake. The most efficient way they had found was to fill up the bags with water and bring the water back to camp to filter through one of the one-quart-capacity Go Berkey travel water purifiers that they had with them. The second filter, along with their other small valuables, was in the cache that they made off site.
Joshua tried to fish but gave up after thirty minutes since staying out by the lake’s edge meant more exposure and a higher chance of being discovered. He packed up the water, but as he ducked under a branch, one of the twigs caught the back of his rucksack and sent a shower of snow down on him, with some of it managing to find a path between his neck and collar. The cold, wet snow down his back made him take a knee to stop and shiver. He checked his watch. It was 10:37 A.M. on December 23. Before he could stand up he saw a glimpse of movement in his left periphery toward the lake. There, standing with her back half concealed behind a tree, was a yearling doe broadside. Joshua kept both eyes on the doe and when she twitched her nose and started to stamp and snort, Joshua raised his Remington 870 into position and established a firm position against the tree for support. The water sloshed in his backpack as he made his final adjustments and took the shotgun off safe. At this distance the 000 buckshot would spread out quite a bit, but he was not going to pass up the opportunity to bring meat back.
The doe was about to trot away when Joshua pulled the trigger. The report from the shotgun was loud, but it seemed deafening in the near-complete tranquillity of the state forest. The deer took off running toward the lake down a narrow trail. Joshua instinctively cycled the pump action on the shotgun to prepare to take a follow-up shot if need be. He examined the place where the deer was standing, and he saw some marks on the tree from where some of the shot had hit. Disappointed, he stood up and covered the last five minutes or so back to camp.
When Megan saw Joshua, she ran out to meet him. Everyone was so used to keeping their voices down that neither of them spoke until they were within normal voice distance. “Are you okay? We heard a shot.”
Joshua looked down and said, “Yeah, that was me. I saw a skinny doe and took a shot at her, but she took off.”
“Did you follow her?”
“No, are you supposed to?”
Megan giggled and said, “Did you see any blood?”
Joshua was still rather embarrassed as he responded, “I was sure that I hit her and even saw some shot marks on the tree she was standing behind. On the hunting shows the animals always seem to drop right there. I just don’t get it.”
Megan kissed him on the cheek. “Drop your pack and we’ll go back and see if we can find blood and track her.”
Joshua led Megan back to the place where he had shot the doe. Megan asked where he was when he made the shot, and he pointed across to the spot where he pulled the trigger. Megan drew a line and started to look for blood in the snow on the ground. “Joshua, come look.” She pointed with a stick to the blood on the ground. “See the blood here? You definitely hit her.”
“Somehow it all looks easier on TV.” Joshua’s eyes brightened and he said, “But if we have blood and some intermittent tracks through the patches of snow, then we can track her, right?”
Megan stood up, grabbed his hand, and said, “Yipper, right this way, Wingnut.”
The snow was very sparse under the dense trees, but working together they were able to follow the doe’s tracks, confirmed with small spots of blood. Eventually Megan found the animal in some thick brush near the water. She threw her arms around him and said, “Nice job! That’s meat right there. I’ll poke her with a long stick to make sure that she’s dead, otherwise, you’re liable to get kicked.”
Megan confirmed that the doe was dead, and she then methodically showed Joshua how to open up the abdominal cavity and eviscerate the deer, saving the heart and the liver. She looked up at him and said, “It’s tradition, you know.” Joshua winced but was trying to be a good sport. He couldn’t tell if she was pulling his leg or not.
Next she found a thick green branch that could be whittled down to a point on both ends to stick through the back leg between the bone and the tendon on the lower hock. Joshua had never done this before, but he was catching on, so he threw the rope over a sturdy branch. Megan lashed the two back legs to the green stick, which would have to do in place of a proper gambrel, then the two of them hoisted the deer up to working height. Megan started to take off the cape, but once Joshua saw how it was done he insisted on getting in there to help. Megan worked to cut off the doe’s head while Joshua worked on removing the cape. She smiled and said, “You’re lucky the doe is still warm; this is a real chore when the meat is cold!