the
Dog Days
All right, so hunting season is almost round the corner and you are starting to get the early signs of Buck Fever. You rush around buying new equipment for your bow, sharpening broadheads, buying magazines that teach you how to be a better hunter, and you cant wait for opening day. You call hunting buddies and ask them what happened to your 3-d target you let them borrow 6 months ago and you get the treestand out of the attic only to realize that it has a screw missing, as you look in that jar of nuts and bolts (we all have one) in your garage. Then you remember you forgot to get your license renewed, so while you drive to town to get it you find your old hunting jacket in the back seat. As you slip it on you wonder why it doesn't fit you. You drive home and do 400 sit ups to fit in your jacket only to find out it was your son's jacket you just tried on -- and you just did 400 sit ups for nothing.
Then you remember that you never got your license so you drive all the way back to town and pick it up. On the way home you decide to drive by your hunting spot and see if you can see any signs of deer. On the way you get a flat, and then you remember you promised your wife you would take her to see a movie, so you get home late, and you end up sleeping on the couch, only to awaken by the sound of a doorbell. You spring up to see who it is and it is your mother in law. She tells you she has come to stay the weekend with the family.
As you pull your hair out in anxiety you remembered that opening day is tomorrow. You check your bow and immediately remember you are nearly out of hunting arrows. You take a quick shower, and rush to the local pro shop to buy some arrows, the pro shop is out and you have to order them by mail, you need them soon so you order the arrows and pay for same day shipping. You end up paying 50 dollars more for the arrows than you normally would. Nothing is going right, and to top it all of you have to work on the first day of hunting season. So you call in sick and your boss gets upset and fires you.
In all the confusion you decide you need to get some rest , so you hit the hay at an early 7:00. Your mother in law sees how tired you are and decides to sneak in your room and turn the alarm off. You wake up at 12:00 noon only to find out that you missed the early hours of opening day. So you decide you will wait until 2:00 or so before you head out in the woods. You load everything up and head off. You get to the woods and get on stand. You sit for a few hours and see that night fall is approaching. You put your head down in disappointment and a hundred "What if’s" go racing through your head. What if my bow isn't tuned? What if my wife finds out my arrows cost me 160 dollars a dozen? What if! What if! What if!
Then you hear movement. It sounds like a deer. Your heart starts pounding. Your body gets tense and you are afraid to move. A nice buck appears 10 yards from your stand, he turns broadside, and you pull back your bow. You put the pin behind his shoulder, and release. You recover him after 10 min. of searching and you say to yourself, "I am so glad things paid off in the end."
After you tend to your buck you realize it is getting late and you better be home on time before you end up sleeping on the couch again. As you arrive at the door your son looks up at you and asks you in a very excited voice " Did you get one daddy? Did you get one?"
You just smile and tell him to go look in the back of your pickup. Your family runs out the door and runs to your truck. As they all peer in you feel a sort of warmth inside. " This is what makes hunting worth while, you say, "This is what hunting is all about." Then you snap back into reality when you hear your wife say. " If you think you are putting that in the house you are crazy!!!!" You hear the phone ring and it is your boss. He tells you he is sorry for firing you and he is giving you a raise.
"Aahhhhh life is good," you say. Only to realize that you left your bow in the woods!
Of course none of this will never happen to you. But maybe it is something you can relate to. Don't get to high strung during the weeks before hunting season. Things may go wrong, but in the end everything works out.
Brian Pullam, brian@bowhunting.net