Deer Season

In a little more than an hour, the great MN traditon of rifle deer season opens. I will be joining around 600,000 other MN hunters headed to the woods in the predawn darkness. Most of these folks will be climbing up into some sort of treestand to begin their "grim vigil" of the opening morning hunt. However, some of us have reached a stage in our lives where the cold and discomfort of sitting in the great open air has lost its attraction. Especially when the odds do not seem any better than they will be if I sit in my small heated shack, that we refer to as the "hunting shack". Actually it is a glorified ground blind, since I could not find a way to elevate an insulated building that is aproximately 7 feet wide X 8 feet long and must weigh nearly a ton.

Those who take to the woods this day will do so with many different motives. Some few will turely be after the "big buck", others will simply be after some venison. But a great many of us will simply be chasing memories of opening days gone by, when the excitement of the hunt was very real and intense. But now we have come to the regrettable state of mind that tells us we really don't care that much if we get a deer, but we have not yet reached the point of giving up the tradition.

Ok, I am too slow in making this post & daylight will be breaking in another hour, so as tradition dictates, I must gather my gear, fill the thremos with coffee and quietly make my way to my hideout.

Being that this is the first opening of rifle season that I won't be joining the 'tree brigade', my trip will be a lot easier. I won't have to bundle up and walk like a giant pumpkin, getting too warm by the time I have climbed into the tree, then by actual shooting time, begin to fill the chill of the early morning air. But I will have to quietly enter my little shack & as carefully as possible light the fire I have laid out in the little woodstove. Sit back in a very comfortable swivel chair and comtemplate the world, while keeping an eye out for the "big buck".  Good luck to all great American hunters!