Bobcat is another life story that happened to me. Enjoy!
Laveral Rogers
Copyright
It was late fall, the weather was perfect for bow hunting. I had worked all week looking forward to Saturday morning. I had laid out my bow, quiver full of arrows, hunting knife, canteen, hunting boots, hat and coveralls. I hadn't been this excited over a Saturday morning bow hunt, in a while.
My son-in-law, Dustin Cashion, had been hunting near my deer stand on Wednesday afternoon. He thought it quite unusal that he hadn't seen a deer all afternoon. All of a sudden, he saw movement to his right. Slowly turning his head, he saw the biggest bobcat that he had ever seen, in the wild. The big cat made it's way passed him, slowly making it's way through the woods toward our hayfield.
That evening, he couldn't wait to call and tell me about the large bobcat. In his unique way of telling hunting stories, he painted a picture that sent chills running down my spine. I could just see that huge cat stalking along through the woods.
Drinking the last sip of coffee from my coffee cup, I strapped on my hunting knife and pulled my coveralls on. It was Saturday morning and I couldn't wait to get to the woods. Gathering my bow and quiver, I was ready to roll.
While driving along in the dark headed to the deer woods, I thought about the huge bobcat that Dustin had seen and silently hoped that I might get a look at it.
Finally, arriving at the deer woods, actually, it's a combination of hayfields and woods, I parked my pickup, gathered my bow and other equipment and headed toward my deer stand. I always walk around the edge of the hayfield and next to the woods until I get to my favorite stand. It was still dark and I hadn't thought to bring a flashlight. Oh no problem, I had walked that hayfield and woods a hundred times and yes, even in the dark!
I started walking toward my deer stand and had walked about one hundred yards when I thought I could hear footsteps. I stopped and listened. Hey, I can hear footsteps. No, that's not footsteps, what I hear is an animal running. Holy smoke!, it's running straight toward me, in the dark! My brain yelled, BOBCAT !!!
I, involuntarily grabbed for my hunting knife. After two grabs, I realized it was under my coveralls! This animal, whatever it was, was within twenty to thirty feet of me. No time to unzip my coveralls. I stuck out my unstrung bow in front of me to, at least, break it's momentum, before it started to devour me! My heart was about to jump out of my chest!
Just before impact, the animal slid to a complete stop within two feet of me! The BOBCAT turned out to be a great big ole hunting dog! Yes, I went on to my deer stand on legs that felt like rubber but my heart hasn't been the same since.
Homer's Ill Iliad & Odd Sea Odyssey (420 pages) is an adult satire/parody rewrite of the classic stories of the 10 year Trojan War and of the 10 year adventure of Odysseus trying to return home to his native Ithaca.
