My Traditional Journey...

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Looking forward to the sandy Buck.  I am feeling saddened by the loss of the spike. Thats a testament to your good story tellin.

[Tsalt]

I can't help but smile as I read.    

You definitely have a gift for telling a story James.  I'm looking forward to the final chapter.... but that will be a little sad cause the story will be over and I won't be scanning the powWow everyday looking to see if there is any updates to the Hurricane Sandy Buck thread... which has been by routine ever since you started telling your tale.      

   

[J.T.]

great story telling.  I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.  

[maineac]

You have condensed the trad spiirt for me into your two year journey.  Working to master the bow and learning that when afield with a trad bow you are hunting, and all the animals you pursue are trophies.

[kadbow]

What Tsalt said!

I'm in for the duration!

Bisch

[Sockrsblur]

Thanks Guys! Really Appreciate the words!

[snakebite]

Great story.   Can hardly wait.  

[South MS Bowhunter]

 Ready for the final chapter. and then a new book.

[Bob Stager]

One of the best stories I have heard. I can't wait to see how it ends, but at the same time I had to see it end.

[Sockrsblur]

If you remember the end of October was Hurricane Sandy's visit to New York. I woke early in the morning on October 29 and had coffee to a stiff north wind outside the cabin. With the prospects of rutting bucks in mind I was determined to hunt, so i looked over drawings of my spots and picked the most favorable for the wind, gathered my gear and set out.

 
my set up (on a different day)


Dawn broke through the timber to find me set up on the ground in a natural depression, behind a large angled  tree base 100 yards off the golden rod field. It rained on and off but it was the persistently strong north wind that dominated the scene, growing in intensity as the morning passed it became impressive. At 9am I had not seen a deer, the rain turned from intermittent to steady and then from steady to heavy. I stood there looking up at the canopy of limbs crashing together with debris falling and trees creaking. It sounded terrible and I thought to myself... why the hell would a deer want to be in the woods like this, I sure don't.

[Sockrsblur]

It was becoming the kind of windy woods that just sounds dangerous like a big, heavy tree branch could come crashing down on you at any moment. The thought did occur to me since the woods was so noisy maybe the deer would bed in the goldenrod field?! At about 10 I gathered my things and loaded my backpack after exchanging a few pieces of gear like my hat for dry and warmer stuff.

I took my shooting glove off  since I would no longer be able to keep in dry in a pocket, exchanging it for the matching thin swade/leather glove on my left hand. It wasn't until then that I realized just how wet I was. You know the kind of soaked that everything just hangs off you with a weight and there are no more hidden dry patches in your gear? My gore-tex jacket, pants and boots simply didn't matter any longer. My wet base layers of good gear continued to provide enough warmth to be outside and hunt longer.

[Sockrsblur]

I thought of the wood stove at warm, dry camp and pictured my hanging gear dripping near the stove. I thought of how long it takes to properly hunt the whole field and all the cover structures within it. I thought of 12yo Jenna after listening to story after story of the Spike saying for weeks now that I was going to shoot my buck on 29th of  October/today because that was her birthday and then it would be both our best days! lol  I thought about Uncle Bud and hunting hard. I decided to hunt the field.

[Nathan Killen]

 its getting warmer in here !

[23feetupandhappy]

Originally posted by Hopewell Tom:
I'm in no hurry for this to end. You're making my day up here in the cold and snow.
You're psyching me up for more on-the-ground hunting this coming season.
Sooo, what's next....?

YEP YEP  

[scedvm]

I am definitely with everyone else, this is a very impressive read along and I find myself checking it for updates daily.  Thanks for sharing it

[Sockrsblur]

Traveling toward the field it was clear making noise was not going to be an issue with the howling wind and steady, heavy rain. Considering the wind direction I mentally planned my rout through the field from one cover patch to the next, I had done this many times from different directions. There were literally puddles of water at every depression in the ground as i made my way to the field edge. I stood in a spot where I've hunted behind a ground blind just inside the pines on the edge of the field taking it all in.

 
where I stood (different day photo)

[Sockrsblur]

The patterns of rippling, wave like wind through the vast expanse of goldenrod. The whitish haze in the distant parts of the field from sheets of rain falling from the clouds to the ground. All the many contrastingly different sounds of rain falling both slowly from my beard to my jacket verses splattering rain being driven into soft and hard objects, like a collage of wet sounds forming an almost unheard background of textured noise.

The almost angry and deliberate sounds created by the winds pushing and forcing itself  through the white pines and scattered red oaks around me. Although familiar to me this scenic view today was also very different and intriguing. Standing there I felt hardy and resilient, grateful to be able-bodied and doing what I loved.

[Sockrsblur]

I took my time looking around the portion of the field I could see and to remember where I've seen the deer beds in the past and consider how the wind might alter my rout. I had gone through this field so many times and not saw a deer I have to admit I really did not expect to see one today but I did like the feeling of trying under these conditions. I entered the field and kept right along the face of the pines moving slowly through the wet goldenrod toward the first patch of cover 80 yards away.

[Sockrsblur]

cover patch of small trees from middle to right of photo.
I entered into field from distant pines in middle of photo walking along pine face towards cover patch


 
field view 180 degrees from top photo