USYKA goes Hunting and makes a Stand!

By: Brock Lacy and Steve Kynard/Pictures by: Brock Lacy

Edited by: Janet Kynard janet@ithappensinalabama.com http://facebook.com/IHIA2012, http://ithappensinalabama.com/hunting-fishing

 

(Brock Lacy)

Here is the question for you...Can U.S. Yoshukai Karate training help you while hunting whitetail deer?
 

     Well it was a warm...no scratch that...Hot weekend for hunting deer at 76 deg. on Jan. 12, 2013 but diehard hunters go anyway! So my good friend and hunting buddy Steve Kynard and I took another friend, who also is my karate instructor, Soshu David Koda, US Director of USYKA in Montgomery Alabama, deer hunting for a chance at his first whitetail. 

     The morning of the 12th we met up at the camp around 5:45 am in Highland Home Al. While sipping coffee, we talked out the plans for the morning hunt. We decide to put Sensei, which is “teacher” in Japanese, in a stand we call “The Pizza Hut” (when you see the picture you’ll understand why) because it had produced deer earlier in the season and we had good trailcam pictures of recent activity.

      After about 3 1/2 hours and no deer activity we decide to head back to camp, grab a bite to eat and make some plans to do some man drives. Steve and I talked, scratched some plans in the dirt while explaining to Sensei what we were going to do. We all put on our hunters safety orange, grabbed the guns and headed out again in search of the big buck!  With me as the driver/walker and Steve and Sensei being the standers/shooters, I push through several hundred yards of tall pines, scrub oaks and some of the biggest saw briars in Crenshaw County. As luck would have it, not a single deer wanted join the hunt. While heading back to camp, to re-hydrate from the nice warm walk through the woods, I was wishing I could have worn shorts! Knowing of the "Saber tooth gotcha vines" or as my dad would have called them a "wait uh minute bush", that was not an option. If anyone has ever met one of these, you know what I am talking about! It will stop you in your tracks and it takes a minute to get all the stickers off of you, so you can find the next one you won't see!

     Back at camp, cooling off and taking a break, mind you we have been on foot through all of these hunts, no ATV's or vehicles, I contacted a friend of mine who lives down the road a couple of miles. He has several hundred acres that he manages and I arranged the afternoon hunt.   

     We meet up around 2 pm and talk for a few minutes, before he took everyone to their stands. I went along with Sensei, on this hunt, just feeling good about the chance of having to recover a deer that evening. We were in the stand and settled in by 3 pm.  

     About 45 minutes had passed and we stood to stretch our legs. The stool, Sensei was sitting on, made too loud of a noise to allow deer to get close, so he decided he needed to stand instead. I mentioned we might be there a while, but he responded "I will be okay". Looking out the back window of the stand Sensei whispered "Don't move". Which means - Oh boy we got deer, to me! Apparently, while whispering and stretching our legs, a small buck came out of the wood line behind us, walked right by the base of the ladder to the stand, walked around it and jumped into the edge of the woods, to the right of the front of the stand. This stand is a 4x8 shooting house, roughly 8 feet above the ground. So, the little buck steps out of the wood line, a couple of minutes later, at 4:15 pm. Sensei is standing there with the forearm of the rifle resting on the window seal, while holding the stock, his feet further than shoulder width apart and his knees bent, so he could look out the scope and not be seen moving too much, being the window was too high to drop to one knee.

     Another small buck makes his way to the edge of the food plot and joins the first one at 30 yards away. By the way, I forgot to tell you that the window was oversized and we were standing directly in front of it, from stretching our legs and not wanting to squeak chairs. There was not a drop of wind blowing. Thirty five minutes had passed and Sensei had hardly moved, except for his left hand and a foot ever so slightly. As I slowly reached for my small binoculars, I noticed the stance Sensei was standing in. He was in what all USYKA members refer to as “Shikodachi” also referred to as a "straddle stance".

     Crunch...Crunch...another one steps out! This one was bigger than the first two, but we notice that it was a small buck, with about 3 inch spikes. Sensei and I had eyes peeled and worried about the other six eyes looking back at us. Suddenly, another snap and a crunch and out steps a larger deer. I was looking to make sure it wasn’t a spike buck and Sensei asked me “What is it?” I told him "It’s a large doe". By now, it’s been 45 minutes since the first deer came out and we were watching our daylight fade to darkness. Sensei asked "Should I shoot it?" I replied whispering "We are losing light fast and if you want a shot at your first whitetail, you best take it. She is a big doe." So he settles lower in his stance, snugs the rifle into his shoulder and wouldn't you know it, one of the smaller deer walks between us and the large doe! "Sensei, wait until she is by herself so we don't injure one of the small bucks" I said softly, crossing my fingers it wouldn't get dark on us too fast. 

     Finally she got partially clear and I told Sensei "Take the shot she is clear." Sensei settled in again and then she turns walking away. Finally, she turned back broadside - "BOOM!" Sensei drops the hammer! The deer did the all famous high kick and bolted into the edge of the woods, ran back out and around the corner of the field and out of site. Sensei asked "Did I get her?" I replied "Yes sir, you got her." We high fived and he said "Now what?'' I said "Let’s go get her!"

     Steve showed up, after a few minutes and helped us track the deer. We found her about 65-70 yards away and from that moment Steve and I knew the feelings Sensei was having. All of us whitetail hunters have had that feeling, when we got our first deer. But one thing I will never forget is this:  I… Brock Lacy… stood in that stand, on that afternoon, and watched Soshu David Koda, stand patiently, with his feet spread apart and his head lowered 6-8 inches, by bending his knees, while holding the majority of the weight of the back end of the rifle, for 50 minutes and not move Nothing, but slowly changing his hand and ankle positions, after a long day of hunting and walking. That was a Shikodachi stance I won’t forget.

So, yes! US Yoshukai can make you a better hunter and there is no limit as to what all it can help anyone accomplish. 

(Steve Kynard)

      It is customary when a hunter takes their first deer that someone takes some of the blood of that deer and puts it on the shooter’s face. Some of the “Putters” like to put a lot of blood on the hunter and some will just put a symbolic mark or dab.  

     A group of the hunters, who were hunting this area with us, said that they were going to blood up David’s face really good. In a very calm voice, David replied “I know a 7^th degree Black Belt that says that ain’t gonna happen.” I’m still laughing!

     Later on, back at our camp, when we were about to dress out the deer, David told me that since it was tradition, I could put blood on him. I know how tradition plays a huge part in the martial arts and this has been a long time hunter’s tradition.  I was honored he asked me to do it. I knew he trusted me enough to know that I would not paint his whole face, but just add a little “Indian War Paint”. I did the 2 finger dab on each check. After we had cleaned the deer, I offered to get him some water to wash up and David said, “Hell No. I’m wearing this home!”

 

David Koda, Owner of Us yoshukai Karate, Montgomery, Alabama