Here's a brief recap of my week leading up to and including my hunting season so far. Keep in mind that this is the early antlerless season in Michigan. That means you can only shoot deer with less than three inches of antler on one side. For those of you who aren't familiar with deer, antlers generally come in pairs, hence the distinction.
Monday night- get a text from the associate minister at my church to let me know the Bible study I normally attend on Tuesday mornings has been moved to Thursday morning this week. Great, Thursday was the first day of the season. Oh well, I'll just go later that evening.
Tuesday-During the day take several opportunities to practice shooting.
Wednesday-Spend some more time shooting in the afternoon. Notice that d-loop on bow string is starting to fray a bit. Immediately after noticing this, proceed to draw bow, only to have release open halfway through the draw due to a bit of frayed material stuck in the jaws. Punch self in mouth and unwittingly launch arrow who knows where. Great. I decide that as long as I'm careful not to get the material stuck in the jaws I should be ok. After all, I'm going out in the morning and I just don't have time to get it replaced before then.
Wednesday night-Get a text saying Bible study is cancelled, the third member of our group hurt himself and had to go to the doctor in the morning. Well at least I get to go hunting in the morning. Crap, gotta wash my hunting clothes. Stay up until 12:30 to put hunting clothes in dryer.
Thursday morning-Excitement prevents sleeping past 4:30. Get up, shower and have some oatmeal. Wait impatiently for 6:00. Head out to truck and leave for hunting property which is less than a mile away. Turn around when halfway there because I forgot my safety harness and don't relish the idea of tumbling 20 feet to the forest floor. Make it to hunting property. Walk to stand. Climb into stand and hook up to safety harness. Pull bow up. Sit dow. Nearly mess pants when a deer blows 20 yards away because it smells me. Listen as the deer blows about a dozen more times. Convince myself that all the deer in the area HAVEN'T taken off for the next county. Wait and wait and wait for it to get light. Once it's light enough to see, stare intently at every little movement I see. Nearly mess pants when a squirrel scurries down the backside of my tree with no warning. Look off to my left and see a deer walking. Notice antlers. Dang. Wait, there's another deer behind it. Even bigger antlers. Dang. (Remember, I can only shoot does right now.) Watch in frustration as the deer meander back and forth well within shooting range. Finally deer leave. Heart rate slowly returns to normal. Hear splashing that I KNOW is deer crossing the creek. Wait, and wait, and wait. The two bucks are back. The two bucks disappear into the brush. Look across the creek. See doe. Out of range and across the property line. Doe walks off. Sit and wait, and wait, and wait. Look to far left. See four deer. Swing my bow around to draw back. Antlers on all four heads. DANG. Sit until about 10:00 when I have to go back home to get some stuff done. Go home and get some stuff done. Head back out to woods around 5:00. Back in my stand. Wait, and wait, and wait. About 7:30 stand to stretch my legs and look behind me. A deer. More antlers. DANGIT ALL!!!!! Wait until dark and go home.
Friday morning-Force myself to get up at 5:30 to hunt even though I didn't get to bed until after midnight again as I was trying to finish a blog post as well as some other things. Go to put my hunting clothes in the dryer. They're already dry. Crap, I forgot to start the washer last night. Decide God must want me to let my stand cool off for a day. Spend the day getting more stuff done. Make SURE I wash and dry my clothes before I go to bed.
Saturday morning-Up at 5:30. Shower and get dressed, head out to woods. Get in stand. Sit until about 9:30 when I have to go back home and help set up for a family reunion. Spend the day with a bunch of people that make me question how I'm even possibly related to them.
Saturday night-Sit for several hours trying to come up with something to write for my blog. This is it.
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