Getting antsy!

[Bwana]

Just as I do every year about this time, I'm starting to get more and more antsy as each day gets me one day closer to the rifle season deer opener which is this coming Friday.. How about you?

This year is going to be just a wee bit crazy as my family has tags spread across 3/4's of the state. I have my first every ND mule deer buck tag in the badlands located in the SW corner of the state. My dad has an any buck tag, with hopes of getting his first mule deer buck, in a unit in the west-central part of the state. My daughter has a whitetail doe tag for the same unit as Dad, while my wife has a buck tag in the east-central part of the state where we usually hunt. I'm going to do my best to help/tag along with all three of them prior to heading for the badlands next Wednesday to find myself a muley buck over the last 10 days of the season.

Wish us luck and please send gas money.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I wonder, do those muleys taste sagey from out that way?

I’d be excited too!
BKB

[quercus alba]

Kinda antsy myself. This is a one inch circle as I was double checking things yesterday. The pic is actually sideways for some reason. It’s a quarter inch high

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[Chicken Dinner]

I’m right there with you Bwana. I muzzle loader hunted down at camp this past weekend and will do so again closet to home this weekend. Our rifle season opens the 16th and I’ll be down at camp again. The long range forecast is calling for a chance of light snow which would be a real treat for us Virginians.

Based on the pictures I’m seeing on FB, the rut seems to be kicking in as some really nice deer are hitting the dirt.


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[Penguin]

Sweet.

I am excited too. Went out last week and built a little stool to sit on and put it at the base of the biggest red oak on Patterson Mountain. Even jumped a little buck on the way out to the truck this morning. We're getting close.

Will

[Bwana]

Pretty sure my neck is swollen too. Heading out tomorrow AM.

[Thumper]

WTF??? Are you bozos talking about HUNTING on this site? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUSE GUYS????

No wait! Oh yeah .... never mind.

[Chicken Dinner]

How’d you make out Bwana?


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[DeputyDog]

Our gun season opens this Saturday. I kind of got screwed with my vacation this year and I’ve only got the weekends and maybe a couple of the weekdays to hunt this year. I usually take the entire season off.

Got a bit of snow yesterday and woke up to 15 degrees today. Calling for a high of 30 on Saturday. I love hunting in the snow. Makes spotting them and then tracking them so much easier.

Here’s the view from my back deck.




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[Penguin]

Honestly I'd take that in a second over last year's weather here DD. Man it was about 30 and rain and sleet just making a damned good mess of everything. Me included.

I have to admit though that sitting out in temps under 40 can get old. Especially if the wind is blowing. Maybe I'm getting old? I remember sitting on a stand from daylight to dusk with a high in the lower teens. I was mildly hypothermic when I tried to leave at the end of the day and couldn't stand up. I was tougher and dumber 20 years ago.

Will

[Bwana]

So far Dad has taken his first muley, my wife shot a buck, and my daughter filled her doe tag on a frosty (1 degree) Veterans Day hunt. I’m leaving for the badlands tonight with hopes of finding a BIG muley.



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[Thumper]

Good luck with it Bwana. If you score, post plenty of pics ... but PLEASE, consult your sister before posting!

Willy, your post brings back plenty of memories. I was a tough young idiot and would be in my stand from before dawn until dusk ... never once leaving my post. I couldn't tell you how many nice bucks I killed after being spooked by other hunters leaving the woods to grab some lunch. I always "brown-bagged". But sitting in a tree or ground blind (read; sitting on a log hidden by a pile of brush) in freezing temps for 12-13 hours for days, took their toll. When I finally lost my desire to torture myself, I look back and wonder WTF I was thinking. I have to admit, I loved it at the time, but I really don't miss it as much as I thought I would.

[Penguin]

I could see that Thump. At some point a whole lot of folks just lose the taste for it. And nothing wrong with that at all.

The funny thing is that I used to think that sitting through the discomfort (and even pain) of a cold snowy/windy/rainy day was macho. How I could construe a total lack of self awareness and disregard for what my body was telling me as "manly".... I don't know. Higher testosterone maybe?

But I did have the ability to sit through weather that none of my friends and family could. Was I "more tough"? No. I am always in decent shape and still have no major health issues, which makes it easier for your body to stay warm. AND I spent a lot of time and a WHOLE LOT of money finding clothing that kept me more comfortable, while a lot of folks just buy something at the sporting goods store and figuring if it was camo it must be the right stuff. My deer hunting wardrobe looks like a grab bag but it isn't. Every single piece has survived a pretty hard nosed survival of the fittest competition or else it went out the door. What's left is the best I could find.

Pretty funny. As a young man who couldn't even afford a pair of insulated boots until I was out of college, I would have never seen myself as a gear snob. I still remember many years ago sitting on my stand with the steam pouring out of all of the seams and ends of my clothes (after a hard hour long 850' foot climb into my stand) and being amazed an hour later when my brand new Duofold (remember those guys?) merino wool base layer dried out and left me toasty. My grand-daddy would call me a sissy for all of the trouble, but if he'd have ever used the new stuff he'd have been a believer. Stand sitting is MUCH easier than it was 30 years ago.

Will