Gotta have one

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

There's no long any doubt in my mind. Next year, I gotta have a four-wheeler.

This is no longer optional. This is a requirement. I found out Sunday evening.

We got home from Susan's birthday lunch with the rest of the family. She went to bed. Others went about their stuff. When things calmed down from the "just got home" rush, I ambled around to get things together to get in a deer stand a bit later.

Barn owl

I was in the stand at 5:30. I sat, watched birds, listened the to the wild turkeys and squirrels.

About 6:30 or so, a bird of prey lit in a tree a pretty far piece away. I watched the bird for a while. Curiosity got the better of me.

I got the 'nocs out of my case and scanned for the bird.

A pair of black eyes and hooked beak peered RIGHT AT ME through an opening only big enough for the owl's head.

I grinned like a maniac. It is moments like this I live for. I was entirely happy sitting there watching the big bird watching me. There was no doubt in my mind the owl was watching me. I've played stare down with a bunch of owls over the years at distances from 25 to 250 yards.

Then, movement in the bottom of the 'nocs. Huhn?

A DEER!

The owl could fall of the limb now. I sat the 'nocs down. The deer was in no rush, not worried and was looking around, feeding and so on. She saw me, but since I was sitting in a ground blind that's been there for more than a year, she wasn't worried.

Finally she put her head down well below the bushes.

This outdoor event brought to you by the Muzzy Moment Club.

She jumped, head down, tail not flagging and went into the woods.

I got out, found a spot of blood at the edge of the woods. I trailed her probably 35 yards and found her laying in the firebreak she was headed down.

That's when I learned I'm gonna HAVE to have a four-wheeler next year. It was a yearling doe and hauling her out of the woods was almost more than I could do. Had she been a mature buck, I'd either still be in the woods trying to drag it out or I'd be dead from trying. I barely managed to put her in the truck of the Crown Vic I was driving.

Got home and Susan got out of bed, annoyed that she didn't get to go hunting. But as I've often told her when I head out for something like that, I ask once if anyone wants to go. She didn't stir. But she did help cut the deer up to hang in the meat cooler.