TWO WORLDS

      From opening day (Nov. 5 this year because of eye) until New Year's Day I live in two worlds. One is the world that we all live in, with breaking news and breaking down cars, war in Ukraine, election deniers, the World Cup, and mice in the toilet. The other is the world of the obsessive deer hunter. In that world the clock is ticking. Yesterday was the last day of gun season. With snow expected I was in the Gilkey stand at dawn hoping for Biggers to make a reappearance. No such luck. Three does fed lazily across the field. At 9:00 I lowered the gun as the snow started. Not cinching the knot on the rope, the gun let loose and stuck in the ground barrel first. FUCK ME!

    I came home, cleaned the mud out the barrel and threw a shell through it. All good. The gun was on. If I miss I can't blame the gun. With the ground covered with fresh white I decided to make an all day affair of hunting the perimeter of RNButch's farm. It had been years since I made this slog in driving snow. My plan was to hunt from the ground, pussy footing around the ridge, sitting when I had a good view. I went in at 10:00 am with a dusting and came out at 4:30 pm in 6 inches of snow. A pack, a gun and twenty pounds of wet clothes made the incline behind the old school house feel like climbing Everest, step by torturous step. I never saw a deer while sitting and kicked out two does a mile ahead of me. A bust.

    This morning I slept in. Cramped seventy year old legs and snow on all the trees cutting visibility to zero kept me snuggling Cheeky under the covers. Instead of freezing my ass off in a tree I listened to Democracy Now and heated up venison stew on the wood stove....two worlds. The second rut is on. Bird shot a six chasing does two days ago. Savage and I are still hoping to get on a big one until we give up on horns and go for meat. The weather is now a big factor. Until the wind clears the trees it is tight, wet and cold in the woods. Field hunting is out of the question. No deer wants to scratch for dead grass through six inches of snow. They are browsing in the woods. Until we start putting on drives the deer will be scarce in the world that is most important to me.

    Now I'm in the zone. I don't care about the war in Ukraine or how that pro-LGBTQIA soccer journalist died in Qatar. It's all about getting on Biggers or Golden Boy (if they are still alive). I heard a lot of shooting over at RNButch's. I picture martinis and lines of (?) with bait piles and flood lights. "Go ahead shoot through the window. Glass is cheap." BAM! Was that a shot? It's 9:00 pm. Will Biggers and GB survive the farm? Anybody's guess. As for me I'll be back in the woods this afternoon with the smoke pole. I've got some of my biggest bucks with the muzzleloader. It ain't over until 2023. Wish me luck.