A Day on the Deer Stand

NOTE: This is a post I had prepared last night, but had trouble with Blogger allowing me to insert pictures. I finally got back to it tonight and Thursday's story became Friday's post.

I'm taking a couple days off work this week while I still try to get a deer for the freezer with my bow & arrow before the shotgun season opens this Saturday. This morning I climbed up to my tree stand at 6:50 a.m. and finally left it around 10:20 a.m. to head home for some lunch and a bathroom break. We were back out there this afternoon from 3:30 till 6:30 (still no luck).

I saw only 3 deer this morning between 10:00 and 10:15 and none of them close enough for a shot. So what the heck does a person do on the tree stand during all that time when nothing else is going on? blog readers are wondering. (Napping was not an option today, since I was out there by myself without the spousal unit as a backup, I had to remain alert because he wasn't around to check up on me.)

Fortunately I'm a bird watcher, so being in the woods means there's usually some birds to watch. I was very fortunate early this morning to see a Barred Owl. I also saw several flickers (which I thought had all migrated south by now). I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, and also a family of Bald Eagles (2 adults and a juvenile) soaring out over the river. I was also surprised to hear a couple of Robins and Bluebirds flying over. Walking back to the car at 10:30, I spotted my first ever Rusty Blackbird (click here to find out more about Rusty Blackbirds--a rapidly declining species) and also the first Fox Sparrow for 2007.

Since I always have my camera with me when I'm out in the woods, a little time can be taken up with photographing everything you're seeing when there aren't any deer around.

How about the shadow of me in the tree stand? (And why does my head look so pointy?)

Here's a picture of the only bird I actually managed to photograph--White Breasted Nuthatch (these guys are everywhere out there!)

Or even better....looking up to the top of the trees and capturing the colors of the remaining leaves against the gorgeous blue of the sky.

And then I accidentally dropped a glove....crap!

The following is a photographic "how-to" demonstrating how to retrieve a glove from the ground without having to unhook your safety harness and climb down from the tree stand.

Because it's impossible (not to mention unsafe) to climb the steps to a tree stand while hanging on to gear, all good bowhunters have a long string attached somewhere to the tree where their stand is to bring their bow up from the ground once they've gotten up to the stand. To the hook on this long string, I've attached a velcro tape around my pocket binoculars (the binocs give the string and velcro enough weight to pick up the glove).

Carefully lower the 'binoculars-on-a-string' down to the wayward glove, until you can drop the binocs squarely on the glove.....assuring that the velcro will catch onto the fabric of the glove.

Then slowly raise the string, testing to make sure the velcro strip is securely joined to the glove.

SUCCESS--now your have your glove back! Return binocs to pocket, velcro strap to bow and string to its regular place hanging off the tree.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I was a little bored today.....tomorrow I'm putting a book in my pocket, just in case the deer decide not to make an appearance again.

FRIDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Finished the book....still no deer. However, today I was lucky enough to see a cute little red fox (who spotted me and ran before I could get the camera out of my pocket) and this nosy coonhound dog (who looked at me a long time in the tree and finally went back up the hill from where it came when it decided I wasn't a raccoon).

Have a good weekend everyone!