Oh, opening morning I have longed for your start. My favorite time of year!
I am not really a morning hunter. Some say there are special deer in the morning…..I don’t even much care if there are special deer at 6 in the morning, I just don’t like to get up so early. Ahh, some girls do some girls don’t!
I went opening morning because I could because if I couldn’t(like I had to work) I would have wanted to be out there and couldn’t. So I got up and went out to prove to the lesser of two evils.
So….I sucked it up. Marcus had to work so, I got up with him at 5 am and he saw me off, with good wishes, a kiss and friendly shot straight.
I had all my stuff packed and ready to go the night before, so all I got to do is dress my tired self, in the morning.
It was a cool morning and the grass was wet. I walked in from the front of the property to my stand. This is something I don’t normally do, but I am a tad bit unprepared this opening day, and I am unsure of my route from the back end of the property, as I wasn’t even sure I was going out this morning. Preparation is everything, but winging works too.
I park the UTV at the front-drive. Rocks/stones have been placed on the drive-in to deter the flooding and make the back fields accessible to vehicles and farm equipment. I find I don’t like this new stone as it is loud to walk on in the dark as I am trying to be quiet as hell. I try to find some grass on the side of the drive but have little luck.
My dad always said you are in their house! If you were at home and heard footsteps in your house, what would you do! So, I try to remind myself of this when I walk into the field early morning. I mean…I know what I would do if I heard footsteps in my house in the dark!
Of course, walking in the front way is avoided in the morning, as I think the line of trees I walk by are bedding areas occasionally, and of course this morning they are….I scare up deer. They are close as I can feel their presence as they get up and run away. The alert call makes my heart jump and I grabbed at my chest to make sure my heart is still there. Thanks for the heart check!
All, I think as I keep walking is, blew any chance of seeing any more deer the rest of the morning! Go figure! Par for the course I guess!
I am questioning myself why my boots are getting wet and slowly my socks and feet, the grass is soaked from the cool night and I ponder getting new boots, but I love the ones I have.
As I round the corner to my blind, I see a shadow in front of me and can feel the ground speak so to say as a big deer run away into the darkness. Lord, I am sucking at this scaring deer thing this morning. Yes, it is still dark out!
I get into the blind and settle in. So, quiet. The sun is coming up and I am enjoying my view as the fog lifts from the cattails into the heavens. It been a long time. There is something quite special about spending those 1st minutes of light with mother nature.
Around 630am I have at least 3 deer to my right, I can barely see them, they are left behind my line of sight, past the open window, so I have to lean forward in order to see them. So, I just decide to mind my business and let them be, they left.
I hear many rustles around me, the woods are alive this morning. The birds are active and fill the air with movement and color.
At some point in the morning, I had a little bird fly up from under my blind and into the blind as if he has done this before a million times. A small wren if I had to guess. He sat and looked at me for a few minutes, I bet wondering what the heck I was doing there. He then flew up to the window and visited for a little while more and flew away. I am pretty sure this bird had built a nest in the blind, as the last time the guys took supplies to the blind, they said they pulled out a nest of some type. As the morning got lighter, I did notice his little marking here and there around the blind. Sorry, little birdy!
At 808 am I had a small doe walk the tree line to the right of my blind, way past the food plot. Way out of bow range for me. I watched as she cut through the woods. I know what she is up to, she is trying to avoid me and walk through the woods to get to the other side of me. Mama taught her well.
Yes, a short time later there she was on my left side, in the big food plot to my left, munching on some beans. She stayed for some time before wandering off. The morning is lingering on and I have the feels I will not see much for activity the rest of the morning.
I had a wasp visit inside the blind, he was trying to be shady, it snuck in quickly and climbed under the window to stay warm, had I not seen it go there I would have grabbed the window shade when I packed up to leave to close the window. I for sure would have gotten stung as he didn’t move from where he first went in and I would have grabbed him, I hate wasps, I had a bad encounter with one last year.
The rest of the morning was pleasantly quiet, I tried to soak up the beauty and quiet all around me as it has been way too long since I have spent some time with my best friend, the outdoors!
Life has been chaotic and stressful lately……I will be back….I very much look forward to my next hunt!
