Greetings from Deer Camp

Saturday Afternoon:

This is the first weekend that I’ve been down at camp since the end of turkey season. We had to skip last week, because Angus had a bagpiping competition (BTW: He won) So this was the first chance I had to do anything related to deer in any meaningful way.

1) For starters, there’s the new Hunter Orange UV-radioactive clown suit. About a month ago, a buddy of mine from Angus’ band wrote me that he’d just gotten a 3X hunter orange parka and bibs and that they just weren’t suitable for his needs. He was thinking warm, and forgot about the eye-burning intensity. He’s not a deer hunter. Anyhow, he let me have a $150 set go for $40. I was on that deal right away. This weekend I salted both pieces down with sodium bicarb and put them in a duffel bag until Fall. They’re pretty much like the Remington set I got back in 2003, except for the color– very warm and quite waterproof as well. These are Herters, and probably came from Cabelas originally.

2) I went to town and got two 50 lb bags of rock salt– one each for the two salt licks. This is the first weekend since The Thaw, that I have been able to ride my truck out and about. The licks are already doing great. Normally, I try to start refreshing them in March, but it has been so wet and I got sick at the start of Turkey Season and that knocked the stuffing out of me. I’m back to my usual self for the most part, but digging those holes today was a bit more of a chore than last year. For those of you who don’t know, my preferred method is to mix up some Di-Cal with rock salt and bury it about 8 inches down with a little salt left for the top to get things going. This year there was enough salt left over from last year that the two licks were getting hit heavy.

3) I scouted a few of my food plots, including The Garden of Stone, where I’ve picked off so many deer the past few years. Right now, it is not getting worked over, but you can tell that the place is popular. There is so much scat getting laid down by the deer that it fertilizes the grass and as a result all the spots that are popular with the deer have taller, greener grass right now.

4) I got out the mower and started mowing paths to and from my favorite spots on the farm. I do this now and then throughout the growing season. Funny, but the deer and the turkeys both like these paths. In fact I just accidentally busted a doe out of the middle of one near the hose when I came out to the front porch with the confuser a few minutes ago. There’s a hen turkey in another one about 70 yards away, walking right towards me. I wonder how long it will take her to catch my white T-Shirt and run off.

Ooooops. There she goes. She ran about 50 yards and then trotted off out of sight.

5) I have a whole bag of miscellaneous clothes to sort through before I leave . Some are leftovers from Turkey Season and some are ones that are for Deer Season, and I just didn’t get a chance to get them files in the proper spot. after I got sick. I sort everything by layer(underwear vs outerwear, etc) , weight (warm weather vs. cold) and conditions( rain, snow, etc.) It all goes in different garbage bags with sprinkling of baking soda and then stored in large trunks around the house. All told, I probably have a dozen garbage bags with different clothes in them. One bag is just poly-pro underwear. Another is all hunter orange stuff.

I got some great news last weekend. Moose has a new girlfriend he’s pretty sweet on. She told us all last weekend that her family has a bunch of land out in Brown County, Ohio. She invited us all for Shotgun Season. Now that’s what I call a good girlfriend! We’ll see how that develops. She’s coming down here to camp with Moose and the rest the tribe next weekend

More later. Angus and KYHillChick are down at the TN line visiting her family. She’s due in at sundown with dinner from Sonny’s Barbeque.

Life is good. If you don’t believe me, check out the weblog header. That pic with the dog and the purple martin is from this morning while I was drinking my coffee.

BTW: I’m so glad y’all didn’t get caught up in the Rapture that was supposed to happen today. Who knows? Maybe I’m the only one left. Oh well, if any of ya didn’t get called up to the Throne, send me a line. It will be nice to know I’ll be rotting in Hell with friendly Deer Hunters. If I am the only one left, I think I’ll wait to tomorrow and see if I can snag a widescreen TV off one of the neighbors . If the world’s ending I want to watch it in HD.

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