Starlight

By: Edward Wilson

 

               I was sitting in my tree stand on a cool October day, my crossbow resting in my lap just waiting for a deer. Around mid-morning, four deer ran right past me, followed by a pack of wolves. The wolves were far enough behind still to not notice one of the deer, a small fawn, quickly lay down in the thick under brush. I saw the wolves take down the deer and attack each of them simultaneously. I pulled up my crossbow and shot one of the wolves. When he hit the ground, the others scattered. I climbed down from my tree stand and slowly walked over to where the fawn laid. The fawn was trembling in fear. I slowly kneeled and pulled the fawn out from under the brush. I decided that instead of leaving the fawn in the woods, I would take her back to my farm.

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                When I got home, I carried the deer into the house. My wife, Lani, was surprised when she saw what I was carrying. She asked me where we were going to keep the fawn and I told her I was going to try to get our horse, Midnight, to adopt her since Midnight's foal just died. Lani looked at me and told me we had to figure out a name from the fawn. I told her to let me think on it.

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                When I took the fawn out to Midnight, she acted as if I bought her foal back to her. The fawn hobbled over to Midnight shyly, but suddenly curled up next to her. I looked at the fawn laying there peacefully and decided I was going to name her Starlight.

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                As Starlight grew, she tried to leave her pen more often. I also noticed that bucks were appearing near my property more and more. I decided that with these bucks roaming around more, I should go hunting one more time before I made any decisions on what to do with Starlight.

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                So, there I was, sitting in my tree stand with my crossbow in my lap waiting for a deer once again. It didn’t take long to realized that it was the exact day I had saved Starlight the previous year. I sat there trying to decide if I should stay or spare the deer in honor of Starlight. At that moment, a large sixteen-point puck with three-inch drop tine walked out. I sat there in awe for a few seconds before I decided to spare this majestic creature instead of harvesting the meat and making a wall mount of its head. I decided that since this was exactly one year since I saved Starlight, that maybe this was happening to thank me. So, I pulled up my cross bow, loaded a bolt, and shot the buck through the heart.

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                I dragged the deer home, skinned it and then harvested the meat up to the bottom of its neck. I sent the hide and meat to a taxidermy shop and they said I would have the mount in two months. So, as I drove home, I was left with a choice. Keep Starlight with me or let her go. I decided that I was going to let Starlight go live in the wild. When I arrived home, Lani met me by Starlight’s enclosure. I opened the gate and Starlight bounded out, hopping around freely and happily. Once she had reached the woods, she turned around and ran back to me, nudged me, and then ran into the woods never to be seen again.