Heading out tomorrow morning sot-so-bright, but plenty early for the first day of modern firearm deer season.
My plans involve me heading out tomorrow morning, and potentially spending two nights in my truck. No camper, no tent, but I do have a nice bench back seat. Originally, I planned on just hunting from the house...it's only about a two hour drive from where I live to where I am hunting, but...start doing the math on gas, and leaving the house at 3:30, and not getting back until 8:30...that's a long, expensive day. If the truck thing doesn't work so well the first night, I might even break down and stay in the cheapest motel I can find in the area...it would still be cheaper than driving back home.
Ummm...yeah, it's pretty ghetto. I have all my stuff packed in the living room....sleeping bag, blanket, plenty of spare clothes(can't have enough skivvies). For food I have a cooler with some water, P&J sandwich's, a box o' pop-tarts, and two of my MRE's.
If anyone wants to wish me luck, I could sure use it...I've never hunted in this particular area before. I am planning on working the northern foothills of the Blue Mountains...the western foothills, outside of Dayton are supposed to be a zoo, so I am going to drive the extra 45 minutes to head in from the north, out of the town of Pomeroy. For a while I was thinking of heading to Bethel Ridge, which is where I hunt elk, and at least I know the area, but...the deer hunting success rate is something like 10% there. The north-east corner of the state, where I have hunted before, had a 35% success rate last year, but this year they raised it from a 3pt minimum buck to a 4pt minimum. The Blue Mountain foothills have a 38-42% success rate...and still have the 3 point minimum. I felt that had to give me a bit better chance, even going in blind.
Heck...since I'm thinking the first part of my Saturday is going to be just looking around for a promising area I might even sleep in a bit. All getting a bright and early start will do is present me with temptation...I'm sure I'll see myself some promising buck right off the highway, and then see none for the rest of the weekend.
Never mind, if I keep that kind of rationalization up, I'll never leave the house...
Good luck. I'm one of those guys who sees the hunt as the Mass, and the shot as that moment when the Host is raised before the altar. Spiritual.
ReplyDeleteProbably not the guy you want hunting with you, although I would do my best to hold steady and squeeze, not pull.
I hope you enjoy the experience, and are enriched by it. I also hope you bring something back to the freezer.
We might get along better than you think. I've been known to pick my hillside for the evening hunt more for the sunset than it being any better terrain to see an elk...
ReplyDeleteAs leery as I am about sleeping in my truck the next two nights, I'm kind of looking forward to it. It will be 'just me'. When I am elk hunting, I go with a group of guys, there are campers and wall tents, and lots and lots of beer. It is a good 'guy bonding experience', but I don't always get as much woods time as I want to...the next two days I will have no one to blame but me if I don't do everything I can to bring home some venison.
I hope I do...it would be nice to justify all the expenses for a hunting rifle, and ammo, and tags, and the gas I am going to burn, AND time away from my family. My wife has never held it against me, and I would like to never give her that excuse. There are times about 3 days into an elk hunt when I have seen nothing but cows(or less), that I question if I couldn't be doing more stuff with my family instead of drinking keystone light with The Guys.