Just had this on my mind and sometimes it helps me to write it out. If you decided to read, hope you enjoy. If you don't, I completely understand.
Opening Day
After spending the last year and a half not stepping onto my buddies’ private farm (because of a personal goal …er obsession, to get it done on public), and hunting purely solo, I decided to hunt with the old group opening weekend of Arkansas gun deer season. And one question in particular was on my mind …Why was opening day so special, when many of us have already been hunting for 6 weeks?
While this is a farm I know really well and had cut my teeth on, I hadn’t been there in over a year, so my strategy going in was as follows:
…cough, cough …and disappointing results from this area, it’s rarely hunted anymore.
As I slipped into the woods under grey-light conditions, I knew where the old ‘Hangover Stand’ was, but I planned to use my saddle in close proximity to the stand, not the stand itself. However, I needed some time to think through the exact tree, so I climbed up the ladder stand to sit …and think. As I did so, I was reminded why I love a mobile setup, whether my Lone Wolf (in years past), or now, my Mantis. Because I’m in control of every decision …on every hunt. Yet now, here I was, putting my success into the hands of a decision we made 2 decades earlier that had not proven out over time. As I sat there, two questions came to mind…
As I sat there pondering the layout of the area, in a spot I had hunted a few times over the years, a doe and yearling passed by around 7:30AM and I thought ‘hey …maybe I’m okay sitting here’.
As time passed, I could not help but notice a drainage to my south (and there was a strong south wind) that had never spoken to me in quite the same way. As it dropped into a deep holler, I began to envision the deer coming out of this drainage on the south side of me (which was too thick to easily see through), putting his nose into the wind, and walking the narrow white oak flat that was pinched between a field and the bluff, directly away from me.
The more I envisioned this, the more I became convinced it was going to happen. So, my plan was born! I climbed down quietly and slowly (already wearing my saddle), and moved east, ever so slightly up the drainage, and south by about 75 yards. All the while dropping milkweed and being careful for my wind not to hit the drainage itself, but to blow by and over its upper end close to the field and significantly east of where I envisioned the deer coming from. I picked out a nice white oak, that was part of a team, which had the ground littered with big acorns.
As I put on my spikes, climbed and settled in, I looked back toward the stand from where I came. While only 75 yards away, I could only the lose end of a red, replacement cam strap, which had not been carefully tucked away, blowing in the wind. The stand itself seemed invisible.
By now it was around 8:30AM and I settled in for the morning. My plan was to sit until 2PM, so time to get comfortable…
As I sat the next 90 minutes, I did not see many squirrels, and the rubs I could glass seemed old and I began to fear
Doubt can be good and doubt can be bad. Determining between the two can be excruciating part of the process if you are NOT content to ‘sit and wait’. As they say …HOPE is not a strategy!
As time passed, I began to reflect on so many memories of ‘opening days’ and continued to wonder, again, Why was opening day so special, when many of us have already been hunting for 6 weeks?
And it hit me …there is just something special about a day that unites so many outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen, under the banner of friendship, true stories, lies, jokes, legendary tales, food, bonfires, and good times. With a secondary benefit (to me) of free-range organic deer meat!
As my mind was wandering to memories past and opening day kills (and near misses), the distinct snap happened to the SW and as quickly as the woods were silent, at 10:36AM, he was there. As I reached for my binoculars to check if he was a ‘shooter’, I determined there would not be time based on his pace and the cover he was headed toward. I slowly reached for the gun to take a closer look, just as his head turned. Plainly, I could see the rack extend beyond the years, assessed ~10 points and decided he was indeed a ‘shooter’. As time was fleeting and he was about to ease out of my visibility, I found the mark, shot, and observed the ‘donkey kick’. He wouldn’t be far, I thought, and he wasn’t!
And as awesome as it was to build a strategy that proved successful, in an area that had so many times failed in the past, the more important part of the morning is that I realized this…
After being so committed to hunting alone on public land for the past 18 months, I longed for and missed the comradery of my friends. We spent two days laughing, reminiscing over stories of long ago (retelling many as if it were the first time they’d been told), wondering how we’d aged the way we had, catching up on our kids and how we hoped they didn’t make some of the mistakes we made, but most importantly, just being grateful to know one another!
And that answered my question about Why was opening day so special…
Opening Day isn’t really about the deer after all!
[Deer Pics posted to Team 6 and in contest thread]
Opening Day
After spending the last year and a half not stepping onto my buddies’ private farm (because of a personal goal …er obsession, to get it done on public), and hunting purely solo, I decided to hunt with the old group opening weekend of Arkansas gun deer season. And one question in particular was on my mind …Why was opening day so special, when many of us have already been hunting for 6 weeks?
While this is a farm I know really well and had cut my teeth on, I hadn’t been there in over a year, so my strategy going in was as follows:
- Ask where everyone else planned to hunt the following morning
- Review maps/wind and ask ‘where hasn’t anyone been in a while
…cough, cough …and disappointing results from this area, it’s rarely hunted anymore.As I slipped into the woods under grey-light conditions, I knew where the old ‘Hangover Stand’ was, but I planned to use my saddle in close proximity to the stand, not the stand itself. However, I needed some time to think through the exact tree, so I climbed up the ladder stand to sit …and think. As I did so, I was reminded why I love a mobile setup, whether my Lone Wolf (in years past), or now, my Mantis. Because I’m in control of every decision …on every hunt. Yet now, here I was, putting my success into the hands of a decision we made 2 decades earlier that had not proven out over time. As I sat there, two questions came to mind…
- Why hadn’t this stand produced a mature buck but one time in the last two decades?
- And yet, why, out of 1,000 acres, did I choose this spot given such low odds?
As I sat there pondering the layout of the area, in a spot I had hunted a few times over the years, a doe and yearling passed by around 7:30AM and I thought ‘hey …maybe I’m okay sitting here’.
As time passed, I could not help but notice a drainage to my south (and there was a strong south wind) that had never spoken to me in quite the same way. As it dropped into a deep holler, I began to envision the deer coming out of this drainage on the south side of me (which was too thick to easily see through), putting his nose into the wind, and walking the narrow white oak flat that was pinched between a field and the bluff, directly away from me.
The more I envisioned this, the more I became convinced it was going to happen. So, my plan was born! I climbed down quietly and slowly (already wearing my saddle), and moved east, ever so slightly up the drainage, and south by about 75 yards. All the while dropping milkweed and being careful for my wind not to hit the drainage itself, but to blow by and over its upper end close to the field and significantly east of where I envisioned the deer coming from. I picked out a nice white oak, that was part of a team, which had the ground littered with big acorns.
As I put on my spikes, climbed and settled in, I looked back toward the stand from where I came. While only 75 yards away, I could only the lose end of a red, replacement cam strap, which had not been carefully tucked away, blowing in the wind. The stand itself seemed invisible.
By now it was around 8:30AM and I settled in for the morning. My plan was to sit until 2PM, so time to get comfortable…
As I sat the next 90 minutes, I did not see many squirrels, and the rubs I could glass seemed old and I began to fear
- Have the deer fed this area out (contrary to what I saw on the ground)?
- Have they moved on?
- Doubt will cause you to get down and move when you shouldn’t. But…
- Doubt might also cause you to get down and move when you should
Doubt can be good and doubt can be bad. Determining between the two can be excruciating part of the process if you are NOT content to ‘sit and wait’. As they say …HOPE is not a strategy!
As time passed, I began to reflect on so many memories of ‘opening days’ and continued to wonder, again, Why was opening day so special, when many of us have already been hunting for 6 weeks?
And it hit me …there is just something special about a day that unites so many outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen, under the banner of friendship, true stories, lies, jokes, legendary tales, food, bonfires, and good times. With a secondary benefit (to me) of free-range organic deer meat!
As my mind was wandering to memories past and opening day kills (and near misses), the distinct snap happened to the SW and as quickly as the woods were silent, at 10:36AM, he was there. As I reached for my binoculars to check if he was a ‘shooter’, I determined there would not be time based on his pace and the cover he was headed toward. I slowly reached for the gun to take a closer look, just as his head turned. Plainly, I could see the rack extend beyond the years, assessed ~10 points and decided he was indeed a ‘shooter’. As time was fleeting and he was about to ease out of my visibility, I found the mark, shot, and observed the ‘donkey kick’. He wouldn’t be far, I thought, and he wasn’t!
And as awesome as it was to build a strategy that proved successful, in an area that had so many times failed in the past, the more important part of the morning is that I realized this…
After being so committed to hunting alone on public land for the past 18 months, I longed for and missed the comradery of my friends. We spent two days laughing, reminiscing over stories of long ago (retelling many as if it were the first time they’d been told), wondering how we’d aged the way we had, catching up on our kids and how we hoped they didn’t make some of the mistakes we made, but most importantly, just being grateful to know one another!
And that answered my question about Why was opening day so special…
Opening Day isn’t really about the deer after all!
[Deer Pics posted to Team 6 and in contest thread]