So yesterday was the MD gun opener, went to a spot that I’ve had success the last 3 years. It’s timber, residential mix along a river. 4 of us went to a new parking spot ( that my buddy scouted) the spot was about an equal walk to a stand I wanted to hunt, all good. Leave the truck about 2 1/2hrs before sunrise & break off from the crew about 15mins in. I’m sidehilling through briars & small brushy openings for about a mile. Here’s the rub , I keep seeing lights about Avery time I pop out & think I’m close to where I’d like to get setup. Ugggh oh well such is public, the light game, I move along & after the 4th time I 180 & backtrack to the last brushy transition that had a few scrapes & picked a tree. I normally use sticks & a platform for these hunts. Oh not this time I’m gonna one stick to save bulk on the hike…….. I found a great tree that had a bunch of high limbs that would give great visibility, the rusty one stick climb was uneventful ( btw I feel totally safe on LB & not taking too big of a bite with each move) got to height. So here’s when I notice my first mistake. I usually climb with my pack on but thought it would be just as easy to just clip a Doyle’s to my 28 & another to my 20ga, solid plan……. I clipped the dynaglide replaced Doyle’s I use for rope retrieval. It was absolutely brutal hauling that pack up…….. way too heavy on a such a small line. So I fight off my own share of lights coming through the woods until shooting light. The shooting starts (about 15 mins before legal light, 157 shots bw 615 & 1130am for those curious). I had a spike , 5 pt & yearling doe come through casually at 7am….. By the way I’m about 125-150 south of where I had intended so I have pines blocking my sight of the exit route bottom I had hoped to cover, insult to injury a handful of shots from that location. An hour after sunrise I hear branches breaking & come to alert. I see movement & hear a cough, I guy is busting through the thicket to HIS spot he tells me from 50yds as he sits at the base of a tree smoking a cigarette & coughing away…….., sooo frustrating but 2 can play at that game. I have a distinct sight advantage in the thick stuff & pray any size deer comes through so a can squeeze off a shot in spite of this guy. No such luck, his son busts through & they discuss their afternoon plans & I decided to call it. The look on his face was priceless when in scooted 30ft from the tree on my figure 8. Take that..! We’ll they didn’t get to stick around to see me fight the delta link stuck in the crotch of a branch for 20 mins…… total user error if I’d of set the link 4-6” to the left it would’ve dropped right out!!! I ended up climbing back up about 20’ & then tossing a ball of rope through the crotch & then tugging it out. Now for the climb of shame one sticking back down the tree questioning all my life choices! So I get all packed up & go to meet my guys to help pack out a deer. Here’s where I hate blind morning setups with zero scouting!!!!!! I walk 75yds through briars towards their pin on the map, l find a well manicured fire road & the reason all those lights were racing ahead of me to my spot as I crawled & waded trough briars like a genius in the dark earlier that morning. Uggh insult to injury!!! So for the happy ending, my 3 buddies that are all young “now” saddle hunters tagged deer & I was able to show them the gutless method & how to pack deer down that easy fire road. Great morning & good learning experience for the old dog.
