Come Hunt With Me

Up before dawn.  The alarm clock goes off at o'dark-thirty.  Grumble slightly as I roll out of bed; I hate alarm clocks.  The fact that it's going off so very early annoys me; especially as we won't be leaving the house for an hour yet!  All I need is about 10 minutes to get ready.  I'd prefer 50 more minutes of sleep.

Bind unruly hair into a braid, to defy any wind that might arise, and make sure no perfect shots are ruined by hair flying in the eyes at the most inopportune moment.  Potty, put on first layer of clothes, and head downstairs.  Eat light breakfast (today, cottage cheese and a toasted slice of cinnamon bread).  Wait for DH to finish his coffee and wake up.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting. 

This part is hard on my patience, as I am awake as soon as my feet hit the floor.  Years of being off and running as a mom, and no coffee addiction slowing me down.  DH, on the other hand, needs about a good 30 minutes and a couple mugs of coffee before he's awake.  Waiting.

DH's buddy who hunts our property too arrives.  If I hadn't known him for years, I'd feel a bit funny about him seeing me in only my first layer of clothes: cotton socks, long john bottoms, and a turtle neck.  Still waiting on DH.  Waiting.  Waiting.

Okay, he's ready!

Put on second layer of clothes, and head to 'hunting camp', which is located in the basement.  Wait five to ten minutes for DH to get himself suited up, then put on my third layer of clothes, including boots and coat (if I didn't wait, I'd be roasted two minutes after arriving in the basement.  More of the I'm on warp speed and DH is slowly accelerating into his day thing. . .)

Load three shells in gun, put a spare into my coat pocket.  Step outside, rack one in the chamber for the walk to the woods, just to be prepared (going through 300 yards of open field in the predawn, occasionally you find you aren't alone out there!  I've run into coyotes more than once.). 

Walk silently through the field and into the woods.  At the stake placed about 10 yards inside the woods, turn left and pick my way north 27 paces through the trees, then turn east and go 9 more paces.  Find the ladder to the tree stand in the dark.  Climb up, up, up into the tree, ducking under the skirt of the tree stand.  Sit down, then empty pockets of coat into pockets I conveniently sewed into the tree stand skirt.  Chapstick, tissues, snacks, pad of paper and pen.  Settle gun across my lap, and I'm ready for hunting.  Now it's just a matter of waiting for the sun to come up and the deer to mosey by.

All I can see in the dark is the moon.

The view after I've been sitting for half an hour.  Heard a deer snort somewhere over my left shoulder, but it's still too dark to see anything.

The same moon, from the same angle.  Now I can see the trees between us.

An hour passes.  No deer.  Not sight, not a sound.  I have only heard about six gun shots, at varying distances and directions, but none closer than about a mile away.  Very quiet for opening morning.

The view after I have been sitting an hour.  As the sun rises, a ground fog develops in the field and slowly invades the woods.

The view after I have been sitting for two hours.  There have been a few more shots, some as close as about half-mile, but nothing on our property. I have seen no deer, DH texts that he has seen no deer, and neither has his buddy.  The fog has advanced deeper into the woods.

The view behind me.  Any deer out there are silent, on the leaves still wet from yesterday's rain, and invisible in the brush and the fog.

The view after three hours.  The fog is dissipating.  I can, through the trees, see my house and barn in the distance.  Still have not seen any deer.  I am B-O-R-E-D. Did get a kinda blurry picture of a blue jay, though.

Three and a half hours.  Now I'm really bored.  Very few shots to be heard around the neighborhood--neighborhood being about 2 miles in any direction.  To be so quiet on opening morning is very unusual.  Where are all the deer?

I gave up, went into the house, and had breakfast/brunch.  A three and a half hour respite indoors, then back out to the tree stand for more hunting.  The view when I arrived:

And the view an hour later:

Not much has changed.  Same trees, slightly different lighting, shadows getting longer, still no deer!

Now the sun is setting.  It's prime time: the deer should be showing themselves now.  That last hour of the hunt is usually the most active.

Noises off over my left shoulder.  Slowly, I turn and peer behind me.

A deer!  A deer!  So I slowly, not to spook it, pick up my. . . camera.  Camera?  Yes.  It's opening day, and it's a young deer.  Definitely not full grown, perhaps just a button buck.  I'm looking for adult deer.  Better use of a life; more meat.  Hate killing the little ones and try not to have to.  So, I let it go.

Five minutes later, off over my right shoulder, but in some moderately thick brush, I see a large deer approaching.  I watch, telepathically willing it to come out of the brush and into one of my shooting lanes.

But it doesn't.  It disappears into thicker stuff, and the deepening dusk.

I sat about another forty-five minutes after taking this picture, until full dark.  Consensus at the house: three hunters in woods for a total of 8.5 hours (DH and his friend sat an hour longer than I did in the morning) and only 5 deer spotted between us.  A dismal opening day.