Deer Season 2019 — The Post-Mortem – Genesis9:2-4 Ministries

I’ve tried a couple of times to write this Deer Season Post-Mortem, and every time I get bogged down in darkness and regret. The fact is this season turned out to be something other than planned. It’s over– ’nuff said.

I suppose I should be standing proud that I made it through. That was the absolute worst sore throat I’ve had since I as a kid. I went through over a week where it was darn near too painful to swallow. However, I made it to camp. I kept up my responsibilities as Patriarch. I got the job done. From the second weekend on, I was coughing something awful. I’m surprised I saw a deer, much less shot one.

Oh, as an aside, seeing that monster of a buck on the afternoon of The Opener and being unable to get off a decent shot rattled me more than I can say. That sort of thing does something to a man. I still wince at the thought.

What really cheesed it was having to leave that buck, the one I shot with Bob’s Model 44, out in the field overnight. For a while there, I even questioned why I had taken the shot. It would have been hard enough to get the buck out if he had dropped on the spot. Therein lies the biggest lesson of my season. It is a lesson I learned way back in 2006. I had put up a really nice stand over by Heartbreak Ridge called Newstand. I took two deer out of that stand and both of them were existential struggles to get out of the bottoms. I never took another deer out of there, even though we did not pull the stand out until 2017. I passed on several because the extractions of the first two were fresh in my mind. I finally just stopped hunting there. So where did that stand end up? You guessed it: Hundred Acres, looking over a similarly steep ravine. You’d think I’d learn.

Note to shaman: stop killing deer at the bottom of steep ravines– for real this time!

On a bright note, it was fun having Moose kill his first buck in a decade. We’ve missed him at camp in a bunch of ways. It was great to have him back. His absence was much more than just an empty bunk.

Poor SuperCore; he got the triple-whammy this year. He’s got to move out of his house due to girlfriend troubles, his scope was fouled up and it caused him to miss two doe, and then he got a nasty cold that caused him to miss the last weekend of season. The only bright spot: SuperCore was certain he’d lost the antlers. However, General Store at Lenoxburg called me; he found the 4-point rack in a pile of detritus. SuperCore will have his trophy.

Angus’ season was fouled up when he hit a nice buck a little too far back and had to track it. He and Moose ended up losing a half-day following a blood trail that eventually petered out. That’s a bum way for a hunt to end. He ended up the season eating tag soup. That’s never fun.

Okay. The bad stuff is over. There is plenty of venison in the freezer. Everyone is home safe a-bed. Here is the spot where I start endorsing all the new gear I found.

There is none. I mean it. We really did not try anything new worth mentioning. That maybe is not a bad thing. I can explain the reason why. First off, we were really well covered with all our gear needs prior to going into this season. Second, we were short on time this year in the run-up to season, and the reason why is worth celebrating.

For the first time in a couple of years, KYHillChick has been back in the saddle and starting to enjoy coming down to the farm. As you may remember, they found a lump in her breast a while back, and she underwent surgery. She’s been cancer-free for over a year now. Her energy was slow to return, but she is back up to her old ways for the most part. Back in the spring, she dragged us all into an overall clean-up of camp. We were busy in August and September getting things spruced up at her direction. Things are a heck of alot better having her back online.

If having KYHillChick back at camp means I have to sacrifice my annual gear review, then it’s a good trade.

For a change, go back and read the gear reviews for the past 5 years and just figure that everything mentioned worked for another year.

This post has already been read 281 times!