CHEEK-ALIKE

 So far no luck on getting another buck or a mature doe. Yesterday i hunted the afternoon with Savage in the cemetery stand. I went in the woods on RNButch's side and hunted from the ground. The plan was to do a half-ass drive through the woods behind Little Bill's and hunt from the ground. Because of recent ongoing negotiations regarding payback for my sculpture removal and destruction I inched closer to Butch's  fields.

Just to give you an idea of my rig. One florescent orange turkey sack. Contents: deer drag, seat cushions, shooting stick, safety harness, extra jacket and leafy camo. If my legs are cold I use the jacket. Muzzleloader, knife, and Muck boots. I still hunted and sat. Moved and sat. I never saw a deer and hardly any tracks. At one point I pulled out the jacket and draped it over my knees. The afternoon was a bust. 

(As an aside, my truck and house keys are now missing. Did they fall out of my jacket pocket?)

This morning I found an extra truck key and hunted above the Hassidic's patch. A downwind deer snorted in alarm at dawn. Around 9:30 am a mama and baby appeared below me and a spike to my left. I had a shot at mama but decided not to take it. They also worked downwind and snorted in alarm. I must stink.

I came home, washed my clothes, and decided to hunt the antenna (top of the mountain) for the afternoon. The wind was whipping out of the NW. I froze and only saw a porcupine. Giving up early, I drove up the hill towards home at 4:45 pm. At the school house I saw a woman in the middle of the road in front of her car. I stopped and asked if she was OK? She pointed in front of her  car at a dead cat and said "The cat....from up the road." I looked down and there was Cheeky -  dead in the middle of the road. I cried. "THAT'S MY CAT!!" as I fell to my knees sobbing, picking up Cheeky''s still warm, limp, dead, body. The poor young woman just stood there silently, unable to speak as I sobbed in grief. I never said anything to her, picking up Cheeky and putting him on the seat next to me.

I parked the truck in my driveway, picked up Cheeky's corpse and fell on the floor of my porch, racked with the reality that I had just lost my beloved cat. I don't know how long I rolled around on the floor. It wasn't long. Suddenly I caught sight of something crossing the door. What? How? OH MY GOD! It was Cheeky. The cat I had been cradling and crying over was a complete stranger. He could have been Cheeky's twin, a bit oranger.....but not much. Same size. I didn't know what to do. After seeing me cradling a strange cat, while sobbing uncontrollably on the floor, Cheeky would not come in the house. I had to grab him by the scruff of the neck under the picnic table and lock him in the house.

 I'm a fucking mess.