A tale of good news, and bad news.

Yesterday was full of goods, and bads. 

The Bad:  We are still on our shift were we go in at 6, and get off at 2:30.

The Good: Getting off at 2:30 means I still have time to run off and do some hunting in the afternoon. 

The Good: The tornado warnings posted for Umatilla County, Oregon, right across the Columbia from where I was hunting, turned out to be a false alarm.

The Bad: The severe thunder storm warning for Umatilla County(and south-east Washington) turned out to be correct. 

The Good: When it's 80 degrees, 45 minutes of rain isn't that bad.  It's actually kind of refreshing, if you don't mind sitting in mud.

The Bad: Lightening doesn't care what temperature it is. There was a 20-minute period when the lightening was ALL around me, and I was feeling very foolish sitting out in a field of sage brush.  I was soooo worried that I set my rifle down and decided to crawl 20 feet or so away from the 3-foot long, .50 caliber lightening rod I was holding.  Not sure 20 feet would have made a difference, but...felt a little better.

The Good: Sitting in the rain and lightening for 45 minutes was worth it...as the rain tapered off, a nice little doe came out of the tree line, and had NO idea I was sitting behind a clump of sagebrush.  She was so unaware of my presence that when my first rain soaked percussion cap failed to ignite my powder charge, I was able to get a 2nd one out and still fair shot off at her.

The Good: Dropped her right where she stood.

The Bad: Yeah, dropped her right where she stood because my shot hit her high, breaking her spine.  I guess this goes back to my post a few weeks ago about 'satisfactory accuracy' in hunting situations.  Perhaps if I was a little less satisfied with 4-inch groups, I would have hit her in the heart/lung area instead of wiping out her whole left back strap. 

The Bad: She wasn't my first choice.  I had seen several very husky does in this area that I wasn't able to get shots at, but if I had passed on this shot, I was going to be holding out hope on getting another shot Friday...and man, I would have regretted passing on this if things hadn't worked out Friday.

The Good: It's over for now.  Got her out in one piece, got her skinned out, and she is in a game bag waiting to be dropped off at the butchers.  She might be small, but some is better than none.  And two is better than one.  Having filled this special tag, I now get to go out at the end of September and try to shoot another one. 

The really good: I get to sleep in.  Since Sunday, for hunting or starting work at 6, I haven't been in bed past 3:50...6 o'clock is going to feel good tomorrow.