Don't Run Her Back

We were hunting the Island then. It was a long piece of land between the old Tallahatchie River run and the new channel that had been cut to straighten the river that fed into Sardis Lake. It was very wild and at that time had been unhunted for years. It was a bowhunters paradise.
The land was flat with giant trees everywhere, it was also covered with small creeks, beaver ponds and old sloughs. To get anywhere, you had to spend a lot of time crossing beaver dams.
My Dad had built a couple of stands way up the bottom and we worked our way deep into the heart of the island before daylight. He stopped and put me on a stand and told me it was a great crossing. He also said he would pick me up around 9AM. I got in the stand and got ready. At daybreak, I understood why it was a great crossing.
The stand was on a narrow spit of land between two large sloughs. It was about 30 yards wide and about 100 yards long. My stand was right in the middle. I spent the morning alert and ready but saw no deer.
At a little after 9, I could hear faint sounds of footsteps that I knew was my father. Suddenly, I heard a crash and the sounds of a deer running right at me. I stood up as the doe came to a screeching halt right in front of me and looked back. I quickly leveled my bow and shot. WHOOOSH! The arrow went right under the deer! It turned and headed back toward my Dad. Dad yelled at the deer and here it came back! It stopped not 20 yards away from me. WHOOOSH! I shot under the damn thing again! The deer headed back to Dad. More yelling and crashing, and here the deer came again. It stopped right under me. WHOOOSH! I shot over it! The crazy deer headed back to Dad again. He was hooping and hollering (and laughing) now and the deer came back for a last try. It paused on the edge of the water. WHOOOSH! That arrow is still in the lake somewhere. The deer decided to try Dads’ direction one more time. I heard Dad say “She stopped out here, I’m going to try and work around and push her to you again” Not thinking, I made the mistake of saying “No, Don’t run her back, I’m out of arrows!” I have had to pay for that remark for 30 years.