Ten Year Anniversary
It was August 2004. My job was stagnant. The solder factory was up for sale, and all my big projects had been put on indefinite hold. I did not have much to do, but the company still needed me and the pay was good. I just had to figure out how to stave off boredom. I went for long drives at lunch, and I thought about things. On the homefront, we had purchased the farm a few years earlier, and I had done a lot of rehab on the place. With two sons poised on the brink of being suburban mall rats, I offered them an alternative: deer camp as a lifestyle.
I had always wanted to be an outdoor writer, but I really could never fit the mold. My stories were not about gear. What I wanted to write was about the process of becoming a hunter and about founding a camp on my own. I had been adding pages to my website (www.blackholecoffeehouse.com), but the format was just not what I needed. Then I heard about blogging.
The story I tell is exactly how it happened. I’d been out driving at lunch, and had this epiphany about how Jesus must have figured out who he was and what he was supposed to do. It kind of fit where I was at that point in my life. I came back and looked around for clues as to what to do next. There were instructions for starting a blog on one of my screens and a post about Genesis 9:2-4 on the other. It did not fully make sense to me at the time, but I figured I would go for it and see what happened. Ten years down the road, I realize it still doesn’t make sense to everyone, but it has to me.
What have I learned in the past decade:
1) Deer and turkey hunting are activities that are grossly over-merchandised. Bass fishing and golf are more so, but so much of the cargo meant to lure hunters is so needless.
2) There are no invisible rays or unseen forces at work. Anyone who is trying to tell you different is trying to sell you something.
3) The only thing better than deer hunting and turkey hunting is doing it with your kids. Watching them take a deer or a turkey IS better than doing it yourself. Back in 2001, I was out with Mooseboy and told him that this might be true, and I was itching to find out. My last son stopped being a “Yute” this year and will hunt as an adult this fall. I am here to tell you it is true, and I cannot wait until my grand daughter can start going out with me.
4) You cannot hunt when you are cold or hot. Learn to make yourself comfortable. I used to have to will myself to stay on a stand 2 hours, and I was miserable after the first hour. Now I can sit for 4 hours and I am sorry to get down and attend to the matters of being the patriarch of deer camp.
5) If you want to hunt deer , find a place where deer are and hunt them there. Do not try to hunt them where they are not. That sounds stupid, but a good number of the questions I field from hunters are trying to lure them or somehow manipulate the deer’s behavior. This is a fool’s errand.
6) Anything you see on TV is fake. It bears no resemblance to real hunting.
7) Everyone wants to learn master techniques and expert lessons. Nobody really wants to spend time learning the stupid beginner lessons. Those tips from the master are there to sell you something. The stupid no-brainer things are what gets you a deer.
8) Bathe.
9) Big bucks need a lot of calories. They need to roam to find the food that gets them the calories. Doe are easier to please. Please your doe. Make them happy and then use them for bait. The big guys come.
10) I have hunted deer with just about everything out there, except a pistol. I meant to do a pistol, but I got side-tracked and put that project on the shelf a long time ago. Challenge? Risk? Who besides the poor deer really is at risk? You want a challenge? Try being patriarch of a deer camp. Just try to fill your tags with clean shots and leave the risk at home.
Back in the early 80’s at the dawn of my deer hunting career, I was talking to Jay Bond, proprietor of Bond’s Archery in Burlington, Kentucky. I was trying to gather secrets from a master bow hunter. In those days, there were a lot fewer deer, and it was hard for me to tell if there were any deer to hunt. I asked Jay how he knew. Jay said that he could tell if a deer had recently walked through freshly fallen leaves. I asked him how. Jay said that he just knew. I thought he was being obtuse.
I was out scouting recently, and I passed an opening in a cedar thicket, and commented to myself that a small herd of deer were using this spot to cross. I caught myself and thought of Jay Bond, and realized he was right: you really do just know. I cannot tell you exactly what got me looking at that patch of ground. If anything, it was just that the grass and forbs were not as high or as healthy as one I had seen a few yards before. It comes from 30-some years of hunting. You just know.
As I finish this off, I am looking through the shamanic magic mirror. This month is yet another record month. Y’all read over a thousand more pages than any other month. Most of you are still finding me as part of web search, and a lot of you are coming by way of my usual haunts like 24HourCampfire, D&DH, and T&TH, but a growing number of you are showing up from places I have never been. I guess that means the word is getting around, and I am gratified and honored to have you here. You are also coming back more, you are staying a good long time, and reading several pages every visit. Thank you. I appreciate your appreciation.
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