I got out of work this morning, and didnt really have any firm plans. It was rather breezy out, after a cold front moved through, so fishing was out. On the drive home, I decided to spend the day on the property I hunt, sprucing up a few blinds, scouting, and stump shooting. Wife is at work, kids are at their Moms,the day is mine.
I tossed a canteen and water bottle in my day pack, snippers, folding saw, Nesbit stove, firestarting materials, some parachute cord, and a left over package of freeze-dried beef stroganoff for dinner. I'm thinkin an all day adventure.
I drove through the gate an hour later, pulled on my boots, strung my Thunderstick, and threw my pack on. I started out by making the rounds of my ladder stands I never took down, and surprisingly, they were all still there. Checked all the straps, and they are all good to go. Made a mental note to relocate a couple of them.
I spotted a large blossom of Queen Annes Lace standing tall above the rest of them, and soon enough, my judo point was on the way, knocking the flower off the weed. Its gonna be a good day. I slowly wandered from site to site, stump shootin along the way.
I spent an hour or so finishing up a new ground blind,over by an area I call Apple Flats. The apple trees are loaded with fruit, nice to see after a barren season last year. The place is full of wild apple trees. Can't wait another couple weeks when they will start to ripen. Snacking on apples and scouting is always fun.
After finishing the blind, I walked to another one, and made an odd discovery. A section of fawn leg, a small skull of another critter, and some hair I'm not sure of its source. The skull was in 2 pieces, the lower looking feline, and the back was smashed. No other bones from either critter. The hair was brown, definitely not deer hair. Too small to be a bobcat, jaw too short to be a fox. Definitely not coon. Hmmmm. This one had me stumped.
I eventually got down into a thicket near where we've had a blind for years. Deer skirt around our setup through this thicket, and I discovered a line of huge scrapes in there last gun season.
I had missed a bruiser buck with my smokepole, and found his scrapeline while looking for blood. Since I'm quite sure he's still alive, I wanted to set up on him. My plan is to build the setup, and not even think about entering that area until November.
I took my time, trying to figure out the best way to set up, but its thick, and shooting is limited. Once done, I think I built it too big, but it hides well, so we'll see. I'm not crazy about the way it lays out to shoot from, I may scrap it and just lean against the cottonwood tree nearby. Either way, its gonna be close action. I took several practice shots from the blind, none of which impressed me. The lane that shoots towards the scrape trail is tough, and I hit my bottom limb on the base of the tree twice. I'll have to slip off my stool and shoot from my knees I think.
After I got done, I was getting hungry, so I headed through the cedars, checking a few trails on my way to a good spot for a break. I paused to scrape some cedar bark from a dead tree for tinder, and plucked a few wisps of birchbark from a deadfall. A couple handfuls of pinecones, and I was set.
The charcloth/cedar bark captured my spark after two strokes of my knifeblade across the flint rod, which I easily blew into a nest of flame, and deposited it into my folding stove. A few twigs, and the smell of cedar smoke filled the air.
I put on the water to boil, and leaned against a tree. I realized I forgot my spoon, so while the water heated, I started whittling a spoon from a piece of dead wood.
After eating a dinner of yummy stroganoff, I cleaned up, made sure the remainder of my fire was out and cold, and shouldered my pack.
What a great day of pre season preparations. As a walked towards my truck, I spied the purpple flower atop a big nasty thistle bush. My string tightened, until the smell of leather under my nose told me I was at anchor. The cedar shaft streaked away, missing high by about a half-inch. I'll take that for a 20 yd shot- the same distance from my ground blind to that the scrape line trail..........................
Topic: Playin in the woods (Read 470 times)
