Dad and I headed out early for the annual Thanksgiving Day hunt. We’ve been doing since I was old enough to hunt. We’ve been successful on a regular basis, but it’s been a few years since we’ve had any luck.
We decided to go back to our old stomping grounds from the early ’80s. Dad went back to the ridge where he killed the Browtine Buck that I wrote about in my first book. Since he went there I decided to go sit in one of my old haunts, which we named The Rock many years ago. We’ve shot a lot of deer of The Rock but I haven’t sat on the actual rock in many years. If I were to guess I would say it’s been about 20 years since I sat on the rock itself. I’ve sat all around it, but not on it like we always used to.
When I brushed the leaves off it and settled in for the morning sit a lot of memories returned. I sat there and took it all in. It felt surreal in some ways. As there always was a lot of sign near The Rock, there was sign there today, too.
Neither one of us saw a deer today, but the annual hunt was still fun. It was a beautiful morning to sit and listen to the noises in the woods around me. It’s something that only hunters can truly understand.
When I got ready to head out I wandered up the ridge like I did when I was a few years younger. As I picked my way across the ridge in front of me I found some good buck sign in the same places it always used to be. I found one good rub, which appears to have been made by a good buck. What’s the old saying? A big buck will rub small trees but a little buck doesn’t rub big trees.
I’m looking forward to this coming weekend. I’m going back up north. Hopefully I’ll have something on my cameras. I look forward to looking around for some sign.
