I woke up this morning in my suburban bedroom. Two inches of snow fell overnight. In other situations, I would be kicking myself that I am not going out this morning to hunt. Here it is Tuesday Opening Week, and I’m passing up a chance to hunt Kentucky with snow on the ground! Yeah well.

It was exactly a week ago, the Tuesday before the Opener that I noticed I was developing a sore throat. By the time I was able to get in and see the doctor on Friday, it had gotten to be the absolute worst sore throat of my adult life. I was having real trouble swallowing. The doc had trouble getting the tongue depressor in.

“You should be in the Emergency Room!” he said. “I can’t treat this here.”

That might have been a possibility, except I was leaving in 4 hours for deer camp. He was going to have to think up something. He wrote me a couple of scripts and told me not to take chances. These are the things the patriarch of deer camp just has to do. I had very little sleep Friday night. The pills the doc had given me were not doing much except give me weird dreams.

Saturday morning was not fun. It was 26 F when I got in the stand. Mind you, I didn’t feel sick. My throat was just sore. I sat until 1030 with nothing showing. The shooting activity was unremarkable. It started off slow and ended up somewhere around 1.5 shot-strings a minute over the first 4 yours. My walkie-talkie malfunctioned, so I did not have a clue what anyone else was doing. When I finally got it figured out, Moose and SuperCore both had buck on the ground.

This is a momentous occasion. Moose’s last deer came a decade ago. He’s been busy with work and building a family. This is his first year back hunting.

Moose’s buck was a stout 8 pointer that measured 150 lbs live weight. Angus had let him use the stand at Blackberry. SuperCore’s 4-pointer came a short while later–120 lbs.

Moose’s last trip to the Meat Pole

This pic is from the last time Moose took a deer. You can see how things change.

See Moose Bags a Smokepole Forker

We took our double-header to Lenoxburg for processing, ate lunch and then came back to camp. I opted for a 2-hour nap. By this time the pills the doc had given me were starting to show signs of helping. By the time I got out to Midway for my afternoon sit, I was no longer dreading my next attempt to swallow.

I had just settled into the blind when I looked out and saw two doe running from the Campground with the largest buck I have ever seen out hunting close behind. It was all too fast to get a decent shot. I will admit as well that I was not exactly at my best at this point.

Moose and Angus left Saturday night. They will be back next weekend. That left SuperCore and myself to hunt Sunday and Monday. My condition improved steadily during the day on Sunday and I started feeling myself on Monday. A nice 8 pointer came out into the Garden of Stone shortly before 0900 on Monday. I had him in my scope before I decided he could live another year.

After reviewing the forecast, I resolved to come home in anticipation of the storm that came through Monday afternoon. I came out of the blind to one of those perfect deer hunting mornings. There was a muted sun, a rollicking sky, warm temperatures, and a freshening breeze. I felt as if I had never been sick. However, by the time we started to pack up, it was obvious that we had made the right decision. The wind had picked up considerably. SuperCore left before me, and I had a considerable time getting the shed doors closed and the place buttoned up. At this point, the precipitation was still above Indianapolis. This was not the worst Clipper-type storm I’ve seen come through during Rifle Season, but strong enough that I knew it would be wise to be home. The rain hit just as I was pulling onto my street at 1500. It was in the 60’s at that point. From there until 1800, we cycled through every manner of precipitation, and the temperature dropped below freezing.

Tomorrow’s low will be 15F. I’m feeling fit again, but not that fit. I will work a couple of days and then head back out  to camp Wednesday or  Thursday.

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