Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021

Every year, it seems like the temperatures get hotter and hotter deeper into fall. It’s beginning to feel like we live down south somewhere in the beginning of every hunting season. Looking at the extended forecast, I don’t see the daytime temperatures getting under 70. While it’s not blazing hot, it’s probably a little sticky for a deer that’s wearing its winter coat. I can’t imagine they are moving too terribly much yet.

I made the trek to some big oaks for the evening. Something in my gut told me to do it… so I did. When I got to my stand and prepared to climb into it, I realized I had forgotten my arrows. In my rush to get into the woods, I must’ve not been paying attention when I got out of the truck. I had my bow that doesn’t have a quiver attached to it, and I had slid the arrows under the seat to keep them protected.

I found solace in the fact that my walk to the truck and back to my stand took a total of 16 minutes. It makes me laugh when people say there aren’t any big bucks next to the road. I found where this deer had been feeding in some oaks, and I think this one place gets overlooked because it’s crappy-looking land. It’s definitely not appealing to the eye.

Although the afternoon bled into the evening without anything happening around me, I was excited to see the buck had made his presence known earlier in the day. He tore up three scrapes within sight of my stand, and it appeared that I just took the wrong guess. I should’ve hunted in the morning instead of the afternoon. Something in my gut told me he was probably in there this morning, as the fog stayed thick for a while and the temperatures didn’t rise as fast as predicted.

It felt good to be in the woods today. It was the first time this year, I could feel it in my soul. I’m ready for the journey to begin. I’m not sure where it will take me this year or if I’ll find any success. I guess I just need a break or two along the way. I’m always excited to experience things I’ve never experienced in the past. I’ve never had a season in which something I’ve never seen before didn’t present itself before my eyes. I can’t wait to experience a new adventure this year.

As I’ve said in the past, your hunting partners will play a big part in your success, so choose them wisely. If you find a guy who is willing to help you at the expense of losing his own time in the field, and he is always there for you when you need something, he’s a guy to spend a lot of hunting time with. My buddy Kentucky helped one of his hunting partners get a deer out of the woods yesterday. The deer was a dandy suburban buck and still had velvet on the antlers. Here is Kentucky carrying the deer out of the woods.

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