Busy Busy Busyyy

            It’s a winter wonder land out there. Lots and lots of snow, what every hunter wants. It’s great for getting a visual on your target and even better for tracking your kill. I picked my muzzle loader up out of layaway yesterday; I have the gun, the gear, the hunting spot, and now the snow. There’s only one thing missing, and that’s the time. I have two papers due tomorrow, and a math exam and sociology exam to study for. I’ve worked the last two days, so today is a complete homework day.  As the saying goes, “so much to do, so little time.” I’m sitting here perfecting my paper as my new gun lies in its box on the floor. I need to get out there and get a return on my investment. If the deer need a safe oasis from all the hunters they just need to rest in my neck of the woods, I’ll be in my room studying! Oh the sacrifices I must make to further my education. The only deer I’m going to see are going to be attached to Santa’s sleigh. All I want for Christmas is some venison meat.

            Frank’s great outdoors just had their shanty days and many fishermen were in getting geared up for the season. If deer season turns out to be a bust, I can always become a fan of fish fry’s. Fish can replace pork as the other red meat.

            I hope everyone else is finding time to relax out in the woods and see some deer. I’m still hearing a lot of success stories and sightings. I will be joining all of you in a few days when the school semester ends. I’m at the finish line, I just need to exhaust all my energy these last few days, and then I can pull my boots on and kick my feet up and lean back and breathe the fresh cold air.   My pretty pink camouflage muzzle loader with its matching pink camouflage scope is just begging to be shot.

            It’s funny, when our house was first built, it was discovered it was right in the path of a popular deer run, so deer would constantly run into our house during the night or end up on our back deck. We would hear a loud thump on the house and turn on the back flood lights to find a deer dazed and confused, shaking its head while snorting in the back yard. It seems like deer were plentiful back then, I would see them in the back yard and around the pond year round. Now it’s just a pleasant surprise to see them occasionally, it’s sad to be my age and talking about the good old days. Well back to the grind stone, these papers aren’t going to write themselves.

Nearing The End

            Many hunters have ventured out in the woods with their muzzle loaders in hand. I expressed my interest in acquiring one for myself in my last blog. Since then I received a push from my brother. He went out and put the gun I was looking at in layaway for me. I guess the decision has been made. I can appreciate the fact that owning a muzzle loader will lengthen the hunting season for me, and there is less noise in the woods due to the fact that many hunters skip this segment of hunting.

            I was out running errands with my mom yesterday when we received a desperate call from my brother. He had sighted in his gun, and was pleased at its accuracy. He then proceeded to clean it to be ready for the morning hunt, upon doing so he broke a piece off inside another piece. He had been frantically calling around trying to find replacement parts for it. He was able to find them both, however not at the same location. So I was sent on a scavenger hunt to round them up for him. The good news is the gun is now fixed; the better news is that my gun will never have this problem, as it doesn’t have those parts.

            I’m glad that when I get my gun out of layaway I will have someone experienced with muzzle loaders to show me the ropes. He’s going to have to show me how to load it, and clean it. I wasn’t sure I wanted to own a gun that evolved the extra maintenance, but he said it’s not a big deal. That has yet to be seen.    

            My brother got his deer back from the meat processers and it is delicious. He had some made into summer sausage. My nephew doesn’t like hardly any meat, He usually makes a face and spits it out, but the venison summer sausage he devourers like candy. That’s a really good thing because it’s good for him; it’s a very lean meat, and heart healthy. It’s never too early to start eating well.

            This has been a bad year for me to be writing a hunting blog. With school, work and my work apprenticeship I barely have time to sleep so hunting falls into last place, I have enjoyed everyone else’s stories though. It seems like everywhere I go I overhear hunters describing their success. I just smile and know my day will come.

Happy Thanksgiving

            Happy Thanksgiving, many of us enjoyed a deep-fried, or smoked turkey that was taken during the season. I had bought a new smoker and it works wonderfully. We had seasoned it immediately and it was patiently awaiting the season. Luckily venison isn’t a staple on the Thanksgiving traditional menu, because this season was not my best! This season has been so bad for me that I didn’t hesitate to go shopping on Black Friday, and Thursday evening. I felt I had a better chance of being successful at the stores then in the woods. Of course I went to Franks Great Outdoors, Gander Mountain, Dicks, and Cabala’s. Although I was Christmas shopping for others, I couldn’t resist buying myself this extremely cute duck call necklace at Franks Great Outdoors. I had always admired the orange one’s they have carried, but they got a camouflage one in. I couldn’t pass it up. It’s not just for show, it really works! My Brother’s one must have was a gun safe, and mine was a multi-fold ladder for my dad. Luckily they were at the same place, so we stood in line together. We were both able to get the items we sought after, so that was a good thing. The rest of the time we just had fun.

            My mom and I stood in line together Thanksgiving evening for the Thursday, six p.m. sales. The weather was awesome. Neither one of us expected to go out that night following dinner at my brothers house, so we didn’t have coats, gloves, hats, or anything. It was fine though because there wasn’t any wind at all, so it really wasn’t cold. The previous years we were bundled up but with the wind and rain it was still miserably freezing.

            I heard muzzleloaders being shot all day today; I guess everyone is getting their guns sighted in. I don’t own one, but I’m going to look into it. I have picked one out that I really like, but I’m not sure yet. I’m going to shoot my brothers a couple times and go through the process of loading and cleaning it to see if it’s something I want to pursue. My buying impulse almost got the better of me when I fell for the looks of a gun I saw, but my common sense told me to research, and experience it before jumping in.

            I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving time with their family as much as I did, and was able to purchase all their items on their Black Friday shopping spree if they went out. Until next time, enjoy good food, family and friends.