Sunday, December 23, 2007

No, dear.

This may be it.
I have been awake since 430 this morning. NOT thinking about work. Thinking about hunting. Friday, Kat was sick. Stay home, no hunting. Yesterday, it is so foggy that the imbecile in the red minivan was going 40 mph on the highway. I admit to myself, with visibility measured at 100 yards at best, I wasn't going to see a deer. They would hear me long before I saw them to sneak them. So I went to a buddy's house and 'helped' him work on his kitchen wiring.
Paul called last night, said lets go hunting on Sunday. The bad weather probably won't be so bad. Woke up this morning and the weather eye says "7*F feels like -17*F due to 35 MPH winds, gusting from the NE." Nope, not too bad.
All my gear is in the truck. Truck is scraped. Here I am sitting at this computer, waiting for Paul, sweating my ass off cuz I am wearing 4 layers of high technology insulation, designed to keep me warm in -17*F weather. Paul was supposed to be here at 6AM. He is obviously smarter than me. He probably looked at the weather and said to himself, no way, only an idiot would hunt in that crap.
So this may be it. The year I don't get my deer. No meat for the year, canned in jars ready to heat and eat. No justification for a rifle, shotgun, and revolver that were bought specifically for hunting. No participation in conversations about endurance, stamina, cunning, and strategy to outsmart the game.
I happened to talk to an aquaintence yesterday and he asked how I did, hunting. Skunked so far, I told him. He tells me that he got 3 and his driving team got 17. CHANGE THE TOPIC PLEASE. In fairness, I don't team hunt. It has happened when I got 2 deer in one day. But I stalk and sneak to 'catch' my deer. I cover alot of ground, sometimes crawling on the ground. I don't feel safe in a group of 12 people, shooting back and forth multible times. Read too many stories, heard too many accounts of "bullet flew over my head and smacked into the tree I was leaning against. It was great!" (Darwinism ALMOST at work)
I am tempted to hunt the deer that nest behind the garage and feed in the garden. I watched a pair of them yesterday. But they are so funny to watch, and since I treat my acreage as a haven of happiness, I am reluctant to ruin it for them. (odd sentiment for a hunter/gardener and someone that has hit a deer on a motorcycle)
Oh, well. There is always Fareway.

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