It was a chilly morning. When I got out of the truck the thermometer read 31 degrees. I didn’t get overheated on my walk to the stand I left in the woods last night. I was in the tree before daylight and waited for the woods to come alive. Shortly after daylight the squirrels and chipmunks scurried through the leaves in search of nuts.
Before long the Blue Jays were squawking and the forest was awake. A few hours into the sit an owl landed on a branch about 30 yards from me. I got some phenomenal video footage of him. I saw him roll and blink his eyes and it reminded me how amazing it can be when you’re sitting in the woods while the beauty of nature unfolds all around you.
The wind picked up and the sit came up empty. I never had a good feeling from the start. In the evening I sat in the same stand with the same result. For the amount of sign in and around the area I find it hard to believe I haven’t spotted a deer yet, but it is the Adirondacks where the deer aren’t plentiful. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
My dad saw a flock of turkeys and a small spike buck and doe tonight out of one of my other stands. Although it’s really hard to see a buck of any kind in the mountains dad let the little guy walk. This area gets a fair amount of pressure during gun season, so he might not make it, but by dad giving him a pass he stands that much more of a chance. When people say they shot a buck because if they didn’t the neighbor would have they are really talking about themselves as being the neighbor. They are indeed the neighbor. It’s a shame that those people don’t realize it.