Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten more than five hours of sleep in the last three weeks, and it’s beginning to wear on me. My body is weary, and I don’t have much energy. It’s even getting hard to focus while in the woods. I should probably take an afternoon off, but I can’t seem to make myself do it. Over the last two days, I’ve averaged seven miles a day, yet it doesn’t feel like I’ve covered that much ground while trying to find a place where I think I can increase my odds of getting a look at a good buck.
As I waded through the darkness this morning, I didn’t particularly have many thoughts of hunting going through my mind. Instead, my mind wandered to the dark place my mother is living in, and I imagined our future.
As I neared the location I wanted to sit, I realized it would be light in the next 20 minutes. I quickly got changed and settled in for the morning’s hunt. It didn’t take long before I spotted a doe running through the woods behind me. Then, I saw a small buck behind her. Looking with my binoculars, I saw that it was a 6-pointer.
Within seconds, I heard a buck roar and knew there was a pissed off buck in the area, even though he wasn’t involved in the chase. Instantly, the smaller buck turned and ran back the way he came from. I could have shot him but chose not to.
As the day wore on, I began searching for places where deer have been hanging out. Finally, I found an area where deer have everything torn up. There was also a huge scrape that had just been opened. I think I’ll probably return to the area tomorrow and see if a few deer show up.
I felt good about today’s hunt. I relaxed but realized how tired I have become. The grind is taking its toll on me. I’ll probably take tomorrow afternoon off when the heavy rain arrives.
Unfortunately, the the photo stream link between my phone and computer are not working, so the pictures I have been taking with my phone have not transferred to my computer, so I can’t post any of them to these entries. I’m a little disappointed about that.