Early Muzzleloader — After Action Report

I am not going to try and paint this rosier than it is. It is Sunday morning of KY Early Muzzleloader season. I’m wimping out and sipping coffee inside the cabin. The only one of the Shamanic Dream Team who is out is SuperCore. With the recent Chemo, at least I’ve got a fairly good excuse. I saw the Oncologist on Monday and he said I was clean. I related details of the Yute hunt with Mooselette. He was quite surprised I was making out so well.

I set off early yesterday morning with high hopes and my goals fairly reasonable. I was going to walk the half-mile or so from the cabin to my ladder stand at Campground and try out my Brown Bess if a suitable target presented itself. I set off about an hour before legal hunting so as not to rush things. My one big compensation for the chemo was I was using a hiking staff. Chemo has caused peripheral neuropathy and I have little feeling in my feet. Getting off the pavement is a bit of a challenge. The first 15 minutes got me about halfway and I was moderately pooped but still optimistic. The next half-hour was brutal. I was completely gassed and could only manage 10 steps before resting. Eventually, I got to the stand and made it up the ladder. I got Bess’ pan primed only about 6 minutes late from the start of legal hunting, but I was not in any way fully operational as a hunter.

The day was nearly perfect save for a complete lack of deer. Moose, Angus, and SuperCore all saw nothing either. There were perhaps maybe a dozen shots all morning– nothing from any close neighbors. I called for a pickup at 1000.

SuperCore took the Mooselette and me to the Berlin Basket for lunch and then we came back. I slept for a couple of hours and then gave Mooselette a chance to come hunt with me at Lazy Boy. We barely made it halfway there before I began to feel leaden. She took my pack, carried the Brown Bess, and even carried my hat. We never made Lazy Boy, diverting to the tower blind at Hollywood instead. At this point, my internal batteries were nearly spent. The highlight of the trip was seeing a flock of Jakes and Jennys come out for a quick loaf before heading to their roost in front of the Honey Hole. There was one 2/3rds scale Jake frantically trying to woo a Jenny with his new-found tail feathers. I had never seen this behavior in immature turkeys. He had the fan raised but had not learned to fully extend it. Angus came with the truck and brought us back at last light.

We had another excellent steak dinner by Moose. Blacksmith dropped in to say hello. I was finally able to wobble my way to the bed and slept the sleep of the Dead. My legs are still a bit rubbery this AM, but I’m back to serviceable. I had my coffee at the Thoughtful Spot, watched the sunrise and got to hear a gobbler down in Dead Skunk Hollow sounding off like it was April and not October.

This post has already been read 4146 times!