Take the Shot?

She quietly worked the bolt of her rifle, chambering a .30-06 bullet.

It felt like days since she’d gotten into position for this shot. She was hungry, tired, and full of bites from who knows what kind of bugs and critters. Despite the temperature being in the low 40s, she could feel sweat beading on her eyebrows and the camo fatigues clinging to her arms and legs.

Just getting out to this ‘hide’ took her the better part of a day. She had been dropped off more than five miles away. The hike into her position crossed two streams, a boulder-strewn valley, and up a slope that almost required climbing gear.

This needed to be done.

She looked through her scope. Her breath slowing, she closed one eye. The distance for the shot had already been calculated. Factoring in the light easterly wind, this would be an easy shot. Her target moved slowly from her right to left and appeared to hesitate before moving out of the trees. A few more feet and she’d send it.

The sweat in her eyes made her move away from the scope. She wiped her face and settled in again. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught another movement in the tree line.

It was a fawn, maybe three months old.

Her family could wait to eat.