A deer-blind ambitionArcher makes weekend countBy Paul Smith, Outdoors Editor, JSOnlinehttp://www.jsonline.com/sports/outdoors/59795047.htmlPosted: Sept. 19, 2009
Modena - The 2009 Wisconsin archery deer season dawned warm, still and sunny last weekend.
The conditions were perfect - for the beach.
Sitting in an elevated "stump" blind on a farm in western Wisconsin, Sue Falkner was taking stock of her surroundings, making mental calculations of her odds for success.
Sue Falkner of Mondovi beams as she poses
with the 10-point buck she harvested near
Modena on the second day of Wisconsin’s
archery season.The temperature had soared into the 80s by late afternoon Saturday, creating sauna-like conditions inside her blind.
Scent control, part of the bowhunter's mantra, is particularly difficult when you're sweating.
Falkner, a kindergarten teacher from Mondovi, also fought off sniffles, residue of the "Welcome to School" gift her smiling new charges seem to bestow each year.
And as afternoon turned toward evening, a pair of coyotes trotted toward her blind. One of them bedded down about 30 yards away.
"Not exactly a deer welcoming committee," said Falkner, 38.
There are no formulas for this, but as far as seeing a deer within bow range, the phrase "slim and none" comes to mind.
Such conditions can separate the dedicated die-hards from the casual hunters.
Falkner, in just her second year of hunting, had no intention of quitting. She was as excited about the season as her boyfriend, Kyle Stay, 30, a veteran bowhunter from Modena. The pair was hunting on Stay's family farm.
So Falkner sat tight and watched and listened at the edge of a lush alfalfa field. To her left was an old, gnarled apple tree, its ripe, red fruit falling to earth every so often.
"Thud."
About 7 p.m., she heard another, more animate noise.
"Crunch."
She turned and looked through one of the blind's windows. Just 15 yards out, a 4-point buck munched on an apple. And it had company. Big company.
A large buck walked into view and butted the smaller one out of the way. Falkner caught her breath at its sight - the deer's large, tawny frame was crowned with 10 high points.
Though she had harvested a doe last year, Falkner had never been within shooting distance of such a buck.
As she contemplated her next move, a fellow predator made it for her. After eyeing each other for several minutes, the bedded coyote rose and ran at the deer. Both bucks turned tail and exited stage left, followed by the ambitious coyote.
"That topped everything," said Falkner. "I was so frustrated. But I was also energized by the entire scene."
Just a couple years ago Falkner wouldn't have known what she was missing.
Though she grew up among hunters on a farm in Mondovi, Falkner never took to it herself. Sure, she would help push fields and woodlots during deer drives with her father and six brothers, but she never carried a gun.
"It just never interested me," said Falkner, who kept busy working for the Mondovi School District, raising three children and pursuing her hobbies of running, sewing and reading.
About 20 years had passed since her last deer drive when Falkner met Stay, a committed bowhunter.
Falkner accompanied Stay a few times in the woods and learned to appreciate the quiet, meditative aspects of bowhunting.
"This might be something for me," she said.
Last year she bought a bow and a hunting license. She proved to be a good shot, even beating four of her brothers in a game of "shoot the center of a playing card."
And after taking a doe last year, she looked optimistically toward the 2009 season. She even allowed for a little trash talk to her brothers.
"See that nail, that's for my buck," said Falkner, pointing to an open spot on the wall of the family cabin in Mondovi.
Sunday was a near carbon copy of the opening day of the season. Falkner again hunted the stump blind along the hay field.
It was another scorcher, and she endured the steamy conditions by reading and periodically gazing out the windows.
At about 7:20 p.m. she was alerted to the presence of another.
"Crunch."
It was the 10-pointer, back for more fruit. This time there was no 4-pointer and no coyote. Falkner put down her book and picked up her bow.
The buck stood broadside at 10 yards, a perfect opportunity. But Falkner couldn't manage to draw her bow. It had been recently adjusted from about 35 to over 40 pounds; in the tight confines of the blind and in the biggest moment of her bowhunting career, she couldn't reach her anchor point.
The buck noticed her wavering arms and bounded away.
"I was crushed," said Falkner. "How did I let that happen?"
She sat there for several minutes, the images of the big buck running through her mind, when she heard another noise.
She looked out - the buck was back.
With adrenaline coursing through her body, she raised her bow and executed a full draw. Seconds later the arrow zipped toward the deer.
The buck bounded out of sight. Heart beating wildly, Falkner called Stay who was hunting on the opposite side of the farm, then her brother Dave.
"I was freaking out, to be honest," said Falkner. "I thought I made a good hit, but I started to doubt myself. Did I just do that?"
After an hour, Stay joined Falkner and they tracked the deer. They found it dead, 80 yards from her blind, at the edge of a woodlot. The arrow had pierced both lungs.
For those scoring at home, the 10-point rack is about 145 inches, including 11-inch G2s, and will easily make the Pope & Young record book.
Falkner "helped" Stay field-dress the deer by "holding its legs and having dry heaves," she said.
Falkner gave the meat from the 195-pound buck to her mother, Theresa, who has always been more impressed with venison than horns.
"My daughter shot a deer and my sons didn't," exclaimed a winking Theresa Falkner to her friends this week.
The buck's head and antlers are destined for the taxidermist. And that nail in the Falkner cabin will be bare no more.
"I'm still in the clouds," said Falkner. "But now I'm thinking about the rest of the season. I almost wish it didn't happen so fast."
When Falkner met Stay, she remembers asking him if he hunted. He said "Yes. Why?"
"Because I need my time, too," said Falkner, referring to shopping, sewing and such.
Falkner now laughs when she recalls the conversation.
"The tree stand is now my sanctuary," she said.
How things change. And sometimes for the better.
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A group of white-tailed deer forages
for apples in an old orchard in the
southern part of the state. The deer
archery season opened last weekend
in Wisconsin.Send e-mail to psmith@journalsentinel.com.
