Report from Deer Camp — 2012 Opener
First it was the Reds, then the Bengals, then the Republicans. There is a lot that sort of thing running around this year. Deer hunting can have years like that too. A good part of it is the expectations. The Reds really looked like the could go all the way this year.
Let me begin by giving you the good news. SuperCore broke his losing streak. It was a long, roundabout path from the end of 2010 to now. He had a lot of disappointments along the way, but the dry spell ended Sunday morning at 0730 when a doe came out and presented herself to him at 50 yards.
However, even that victory was not without its problems. SuperCore had missed during Early Muzzleloader. He had a shot at a doe Saturday and could not pull it off, and then Sunday, his Remington 7400 jammed rather badly, and he had to remove the magazine and reload from scratch before taking the shot on the doe. On the way out, a nice buck presented himself as well as another doe. So even hunting a successful hunt, with meat on the pole, can leave a guy feeling a bit Pyrrhic.
The opening of Deer Camp this year was the most nominal affair in its history, and also the least exciting. This year, as you can surmise from the previous entry, was over-planned, over-executed, and over-wrought. I pulled into camp at precisely the appointed moment. SuperCore had just arrived as well. KYHillChick and Angus arrived shortly after that. Pre-hunt preparations has begun three weeks ago. There were no last minute searches for socks or ammo. The flashlights were tested. Nothing had been left to chance, except the weather.
Every year, when guys don’t get the buck they hoped for, you hear them blame the weather. Here in Zone 1 of KY, the complaint is usually that it is too warm. This was one of the warmest Openers I have seen– warm and windy. The Saturday morning temps were also a good 10 degrees warmer than had been predicted when I had packed the clothes a week before. So much for planning.
I do not know what the harvest numbers are for our county or the rest of the North East region. I try to count shots. Shot strings (emptying your magazine at a deer counts as one) were down to 1/minute over the first three hours of Saturday. That is a third of the peak and half the average. Whether that was fewer hunters or fewer deer shot, or what will remain to be seen. Sunday, there were almost no shots, I lost count after SuperCore showed up with his Toyota, but in the first hour it was a measly 1 shot string for every three minutes.
My luck? At 0700 on Saturday, 15 minutes into legal hunting, the woods erupted. I had deer coming from three directions and rushing about like mad for all of about 10 minutes. A fairly large-bodied buck chased a huge doe under my stand, but it was still too dark and they were moving too fast for me to count points or get a shot. I figured that was just the beginning. A half-hour later, a buck came up and stood behind a cedar tree for a moment before moving on. I had two more bucks come out in the field, but they were small and never presented a good shot. I do not think any of these were monsters. The latter bucks were a nice hefty 4-pointer and the other buck I only got a brief glimpse from head-on. It was a tall, spindly affair. One of these were probably the one that came under my stand.
Saturday night, Angus and I stayed late at Midway without seeing a single deer. On Sunday morning, the wind was just starting to kick up when SuperCore showed up in his Toyota at 0800. Our walkie-talkies weren’t working, and he came out looking for help getting his doe out. I had no problem coming out early. The wind was picking up and pretty soon we were getting 30MPH gusts.
Mike Jett at Salem Ridge Deer Processing had taken in a bunch of good looking bucks. He was pretty well stacked up when we dropped off SuperCore’s doe. Stacey, was armed with the Saws-all, loping forelegs off and piling them in an washtub that was already overflowing. She said Myers in Lennoxburg is re-opened under new management, and had their first day of business on Saturday. That is good news.
The Tablet
This was my first experience with the tablet on the stand. Saturday I tried it as pretty much just a reader. As such, it beats hauling around a physical book. Angus took his to the blind with him on Saturday afternoon, and if you are in for a long sit with an antsy teen in the blind, this is a great tool. I had thought about making posts to Deer and Deer Hunting, and here, giving a play-by-play, but it would have quickly stopped being a hunt.
It needs to be used judiciously, but the tablet is handy. It replaces a long list of items:
- GPS/compass
- Smart phone
- book or magazine
- map — I downloaded .jpgs of my topo and aerial views of the farm
- weather radio
- camera and video recorder
- note pad
- Â . . . and I am just getting started with it.
Downsides? First off, if you are up in a stand waving about in a high wind, the chance for motion sickness while trying to read is high. I found that one out Saturday. Second, you need to be disciplined in how much time you spend looking at the screen so that you do not pull yourself away from the primary objective of hunting. I find that I read a single page and then put the tablet down and spend a similar amount of time scanning the surroundings, I do not miss anything. The important thing is not to let yourself get too wrapped up in things. Know your limit.
Next is the fragility of the device. I keep mine in a case and the case has a key retractor attached to it and the key retractor is attached to my coat. If I were to drop it, it would not leave the stand. When I am moving about, it is either in the pocket of my coat or buried with the coat in the duffle on my back.  It will not stand to be sat on, dropped from great heights or left bouncing in gear back with the treestand steps.  I do not do much in the way of rugged hunting anymore, so it is appropriate. I would definitely take it backpacking, because I could leave a bunch of other stuff home, but I would keep it buried in the soft stuff and not carried with the cookware.
Weight? The tablet and case are the size and weight of a medium paperback.   My wallet weighs more.
Lastly, I noticed my neighbor to the North had a fire in his trailer over the past week. I have not seen him, and I do not know any details, but my prayers will be with him and his family.
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