Sunday, October 23, 2016

We listened to the wind howl all night. The snow had settled quite a bit from last night when we went to bed, and it appeared that the tracking conditions would be in our favor. We didn’t get going until a little later, which would allow us to catch a track and follow it on our way into the woods.

We all headed in different directions, so we could cover more ground. We did the old drop off and scatter method, so we were in all parts of the woods. Whoever got back to the trucks first could pick up the others somewhere along the road depending on who came out where. I was excited to start the day.

The excitement was short lived when I found myself looking for cover more often than I was looking for tracks to follow. The trees crashed down all around me, and some of the were within striking distance. After the third tree fell next to me, I realized it wasn’t safe on the ridge I was traveling across.

I headed for the lower areas to see if I could avoid the wind bursts. I finally found cover under a big pine and tried to wait it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any luck with my plan.

Eventually, I realized that I needed to suck it up and poke along in hopes of seeing a few deer. Along the way, I cut some bear tracks and followed them for a while. I jumped a few deer, but they appeared to be skippers.

When I ran out of time, I realized that I had a really good day. It was a great day to be alive and follow my passion. Some days you catch up to them and some days you don’t. Today was one of those days that I gave it my best shot and came up empty handed.

Josh saw a few deer today. He thought one was a buck, but couldn’t tell for sure. Dad saw a small buck and let it walk. It’s too early to be taking a small buck, especially when he’s headed across the country next week. He wants to shoot a deer with his old .32/20, so I can’t predict what he will do when the timing is right, and he’s carrying that gun. Luckily, he didn’t have that gun today.

Brian moved some deer around but didn’t actually see any of them. We’re looking forward to getting into the Midwest. You never know what awaits you. We will have to dream of our adventures that are yet to come.

Here are few pictures from my day. Take notice of the bed under the small hemlock. The deer backed into the tree so it had protection on the back side. I found that interesting.

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