I had the day off today. Since my ribs have been quite sore I didn’t want to push my luck. I decided I would walk very slowly and poke through the woods in search of some good sign.
My dad accompanied me. He moved a couple of tree stands that have been hanging for a few years. We didn’t see any deer. There are still way too many leaves on the low stuff to see very far. A deer would have to be right on top of you to get a good look at it. I moved one of my trail cameras today and set another one out in a place I’ve always wanted to put one. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures on them in a few weeks. I’m not confident about the trail cameras like I was last year. With all of the acorns on the ground it was easy to put the cameras up in feeding areas. This year there’s no concentrated food source, so it will be pot luck. I have them set up on runways in funnels.
Today is my brother’s birthday. When I was walking down the front side of the mountain on my way back to the truck it made me realize how fast time flies. He’s 46 today. It seems like it was only a handful of years ago when we shared a bedroom. Life has taken us in different directions, but we both shared a lot of times in the woods where I was today.
Tomorrow is opening day of Northern zone rifle season in New York. I’m sure a few bucks will be killed. Usually the heaviest deer are killed early in the season before the rut kicks in. Maybe one of my friends will give me a call and I can go see a deer tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.
My health has been a mess this year. It sucks not being able to go out when I want to. I just hope I heal up and feel better by the time I leave for vacation in a couple of weeks. I killed this deer on opening day in 1998. You can read about him in my new book Backcountry Bucks when it comes out in the next few months. Rob Miner killed the buck in the other photo on opening day in 1991. You can read the story about that buck in the new book, too.
