was a good day to be alive today

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Took my longest ride in a cage in at least a month Friday night. Forty minutes North and well into God's Country where the family camps and hunts. It's opening weekend of Indiana's bow-hunting season. My son Joe and his family had been camping in the creek bottoms in Parke county for a few days when I got there and set up my own tent Friday night around 11PM. We were up a little too late thanks to my late arrival since some sitting around the fire was in order before we crashed.

I gotta say the years are catching up with me. The ground was rock hard due to the drought we've had recently and it's getting a little harder for me to sleep without an air mattress but I was still up at 5:15AM to enjoy the awesome predawn morning. I sat in the woods while it was still dark and remembered to thank God for letting me wake up another day on his gorgeous earth.  

I didn't see any deer and the rain finally came just after dawn and stayed with us as we broke camp and headed home. The tent is still wadded up in the back of the truck waiting on me to set it up in the yard tomorrow to dry out.

I'm starting out the most unprepared for the season I've been since I was just learning to hunt. It's been a busy year, we're still gettin' over several deaths in the family and I had to take care of settling my folks estate which was tough. I'm still finishing my shop and I just bought what appears to be a very nice 1963 Cincinnati Hydro-shift lathe. I'm still working on getting it wired up so we haven't ran it yet.

Consequently I was in the woods this morning without having done any scouting and was more concerned with finding a good place to watch the woods wake up than in arrowing a deer anyway. I stayed in the woods till I was soaked through then headed back to the fire and to visit with my four-year-old grandson Dano who was asleep when I arrived last night. Doesn't seen like that many years since his Dad Joe was sharing a tent with me a scant 100 yards from where we were camped.

Gonna go up and start cutting wood for the winter deer camp tomorrow and maybe get in a little bow-hunting time too. More time in the cage but sometimes it can't be helped. I was pretty rusty as far as driving the truck was concerned, I guess with the change in seasons and deer hunting time upon us I'll be gettin' used to it.

[sugerbear]

i went for a few years and never took the gun out of the case. just being there was all i needed.

[solo1]

Thanks for reminding me of the good times that I had bow hunting in Michigan starting in 1947.  Indiana didn't have a deer season yet back then.

Out in the woods in October with all the leaves changing color,  the smell of wet oak leaves and pine needles, the Blue Jays raising he$$, the amazing activity in the woods if I stayed quiet long enough to hear, the sound of the wind starting 'way off and coming through the trees shaking the leaves, and the special mornings when a light drizzle started rattling the dead leaves and bringing out the smells of the woods even stronger.

I no longer hunt so thanks for taking me back Frye.

wayne

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Great read Mike    I've not been hunting in years or fishing for that matter....I can't stay off my bikes long enough to do anything 

[Jabba]

I love deer season. 

Hunting is the one thing I do that I like better than riding. 

I am, down deep, a predator.  I love 'camp".  Although, ours is a 30x42 timberframe cabin with heat, lighhts, beds, water, flush toilets and a nicer shower than ony of us have in our homes.

It's somthing hardwired into me.  I still LOVE sunrises.   There is something very powerful, and motivational to me in a sunrise.  I have a "moment everytime I harvest a deer. 

I hunt pheasants, grouse, quail, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, and most anything I am allowed to.  I don't as much as I used to... but I sure would like to do it more.

Jabba

[Normandog]

Good post Mike. I'm not a hunter but did some camping in my younger days. That brought back some good memories.
BTW, I no longer camp because the ground has become too hard for me to sleep.

[czuch]

You mean you go out and deliberately kill God's creatures?????????????????
I layed that one on em at work one day and the silence was deafining.
I laughed so hard.  They're all hard core hunters.
I dont care for the taste but I'm all for thinning the herd.
Fishing is my favorite. Thats why I ended up in Tucson.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

You mean you go out and deliberately kill God's creatures?????????????????
I layed that one on em at work one day and the silence was deafining.
I laughed so hard.  They're all hard core hunters.
I dont care for the taste but I'm all for thinning the herd.
Fishing is my favorite. Thats why I ended up in Tucson.

Yep!

I love to watch deer! I really enjoy getting close enough to hear the few sounds they make and to watch them interact with each other and their surroundings. I think they are a beautiful animal, an animal that I highly respect.

And of course, I like to kill them, eat them and wear their skins. And of course, one day my remains will fertilize the ground that feeds their descendants. 

Fishing is a ball too but I don't do much of it.

[john]

life is good ....     

[czuch]

Please realize I'm all in favor of hunting.
I really just dont wanna clean em.
Every day is a good day to be alive.

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

Please realize I'm all in favor of hunting.
I really just dont wanna clean em.
Every day is a good day to be alive.

Never doubted it. I was just having fun. And I do like virtually everything about deer. I'd prefer not to wear them on my handlebars though.