The Orange Army Cometh.

No, we're not being invaded by the Netherlands. (If you don't understand the connection, Google it.) No, what I'm talking about is the opening of the firearm season in Michigan. In exactly one week, hundreds of thousands of blaze orange clad hunters will descend upon the fields and forests of our great state. I remember riding the bus to school in the days before I was old enough to hunt and seeing all the "pumpkins" sitting out in the edge of fields or along windrows. This was never opening day of course. That's a sacred holiday on which school is cancelled. But I always remember wishing I was old enough to be out there with them.
Since then, I've joined the ranks and served many tours in the orange army. I've had some success and some failure. I've participated in the great tradition of the family deer camp. (Although notorious might be more suitable than great for our family.) I have forgotten countless stories of deer season, yet the overall essence of what they mean has been ingrained into my psyche.
Things have definitely changed since I was younger. You no longer see all the "pumpkins". Everyone now has a blind of some sort. Weather it be a commercial model, or a self built box, (complete with heat, insulation, coffee, food, and electricity) very few enjoy actually sitting out in the woods. I'll admit, I've hunted from both types, but I've never really been comfortable in them. I much prefer hunkering down against a tree or sitting in a pit blind I dug and constructed myself.
This year, I did it a little differently though. I actually built a ground blind using camo cloth and dead limbs and such.

If you can't see it, well...isn't that the point?
For those of you who have read my previous posts about bow hunting, don't get me wrong. I'm extremely passionate about it. But at this point in time, it comes down to meat in the freezer and a rifle is simply much more likely to accomplish that.