Slow start to opening weekend of deer hunting. The family takes a while to collect itself from various locations, and there is a general shortage of tags for our immediate around the cabin area. Two hunters out at first light. Some deer seen, none brought home.
Having gotten a deer earlier I stayed behind. When it got light enough I did take Hank out for a walk. As he is a small brown creature who likes to carry big branches around he had to be decked out for the occasion.
I heard exactly one gunshot in our 45 minute walk. He might have heard a few more distant ones because he was pulling like crazy to get back to the safety of the cabin by the end of the walk. He fears the Great Thunder Dogs.....
We started the Family Deer Camp four years ago. In the first year it was just three of us gathering in a dreary Covid limited time. One of our party in fact shot a deer but was too fatigued by a recent bout to drag it out unassisted. But we went 3-3 with enough time and effort, all within walking distance of home base.
Fast forward. No longer just guys eating junk food, the gathering is now our defacto Thanksgiving with all the kids, their wives, their dogs. We eat better. But the area around the cabin yielded zero deer. In fact I was the only one who even tried to hunt in walking distance. A tough winter two years ago clobbered the herd, so "antlerless" tags were cut way back. But that does not seem to have deterred others, and areas we had all to ourselves until recently now have multiple hunters working them. Hey, public land, so its fine. But less productive and not conducive to doing the occasional drive to move deer along.
The two deer bagged thus far were: my grandson getting one on a friend's property an hour south of here during Youth Hunt weekend, and my bow hunting success far to the south. No deer hanging in the garage.
When I went out for a few hours on Saturday evening I encountered pleasant weather but saw nothing larger than a squirrel.*
Oh well. Lots of good family time which is tastier than venison. And as the weekend concludes various branches of the tribe head out to other places, in some of which there are still deer and permits.......
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* peculiar highlight of the weekend: Somehow a flying squirrel made it inside and drowned in a toilet. Zombie Toilet Squirrel. Nobody had that on their bingo card. Now Family Lore....
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