Arkie John
Active member
With much anticipation, the day finally arrived when we could, once again, hit the woods, bows in hand, going after the double whammy...the ever-elusive 180-class whitetail and a ground-draggin' bearded gobber. Here in Arkansas, we are blessed with the longest bow season I know of. It goes from 1 October til 29 February of 08~now that's a bunch of hunting.
It's funny, as I greet each season, the hills get steeper and the mornings get colder...but not THIS morning. Tom and I were hunting on private adjoining land of my property and I had 'em all scouted out. Keeping them fattened up was not bad either.
Opening morning, it was a balmy 60 degrees--I mean camo pants and tee-shirt huntin-type weather. We were all set, even down to taking the unscented shower, then donning unscented clothing and boots. Man, we were pumped. There wasn't a buck around that would sense we were within a half-mile of 'em! We got up very early--I made coffee. I went to the front porch to do what guys do when they live in the country. As I was 'shakin' the dew off the lilly' I noticed some lightening coming from the northwest. It wasn't just ANY lightning. None of this ole' HEAT lightning--no siree~this was the real deal. It's not hard to read some of natures warnings. THis one said, "come on out here boys and yall are gonna get yall's azzes soaked." Hmmmmmmmm.
Still a good hour before daylight, I commenced to cooking fried-egg-on-toast w/ apricot jelly topped off with a shot of hot, strong coffee. So much for the Indian purification rituals that I read about before each major hunt. I DID do without sex the night before. Well, at my age, it's not much of a loss.
As we ate our made-that-way skimpy breakfast, the rains came down. I'm tellin' you it was a downpour. Looking at the television I said, "don't worry about it. The band of storms is no wider than Lake Ouachita. The bad stuff should pass in 30 or 45 minutes." We each had such confidence in the weatherman, we didn't even think to take rain gear. Weren't gonna need it.
Sure enough, the storm came and went, all in good timing. When the last drop fell, daylight was STILL a good time off, because it was uncommonly cloudy. We took advantage. We grabbed our gear, locked the door and we were on our way. I looked east--still no hint of the approaching morn. That made for a great little hike in the pre-dawn woods of the Hilltop.
Since he was a little unfamiliar with the area, especially at night, I guided Tom to his stand and a particular tree. It was 6:15--plenty of time before daylight. I left the area and beat it, post haste. I had a mile of traipsin' to do and a short time to get to my pre-set stand. I made it with time to spare. Glancing at my watch as I settled 20 feet up in an 80-foot long-leaf pine: 6:50a.m. I could the thunder in the background heading away from us. "Yeah, I thought--that's what we WANT. The wind was still, the rain was gone and the anticipation was too real. As the darkness yielded to another beautiful Arkansas morning, I just had to stop and count my blessings. Is Heaven really better than Arkansas. Sometimes I wonder. I think it's going to be a good winter. More just a little later.
aj
It's funny, as I greet each season, the hills get steeper and the mornings get colder...but not THIS morning. Tom and I were hunting on private adjoining land of my property and I had 'em all scouted out. Keeping them fattened up was not bad either.
Opening morning, it was a balmy 60 degrees--I mean camo pants and tee-shirt huntin-type weather. We were all set, even down to taking the unscented shower, then donning unscented clothing and boots. Man, we were pumped. There wasn't a buck around that would sense we were within a half-mile of 'em! We got up very early--I made coffee. I went to the front porch to do what guys do when they live in the country. As I was 'shakin' the dew off the lilly' I noticed some lightening coming from the northwest. It wasn't just ANY lightning. None of this ole' HEAT lightning--no siree~this was the real deal. It's not hard to read some of natures warnings. THis one said, "come on out here boys and yall are gonna get yall's azzes soaked." Hmmmmmmmm.
Still a good hour before daylight, I commenced to cooking fried-egg-on-toast w/ apricot jelly topped off with a shot of hot, strong coffee. So much for the Indian purification rituals that I read about before each major hunt. I DID do without sex the night before. Well, at my age, it's not much of a loss.
As we ate our made-that-way skimpy breakfast, the rains came down. I'm tellin' you it was a downpour. Looking at the television I said, "don't worry about it. The band of storms is no wider than Lake Ouachita. The bad stuff should pass in 30 or 45 minutes." We each had such confidence in the weatherman, we didn't even think to take rain gear. Weren't gonna need it.
Sure enough, the storm came and went, all in good timing. When the last drop fell, daylight was STILL a good time off, because it was uncommonly cloudy. We took advantage. We grabbed our gear, locked the door and we were on our way. I looked east--still no hint of the approaching morn. That made for a great little hike in the pre-dawn woods of the Hilltop.
Since he was a little unfamiliar with the area, especially at night, I guided Tom to his stand and a particular tree. It was 6:15--plenty of time before daylight. I left the area and beat it, post haste. I had a mile of traipsin' to do and a short time to get to my pre-set stand. I made it with time to spare. Glancing at my watch as I settled 20 feet up in an 80-foot long-leaf pine: 6:50a.m. I could the thunder in the background heading away from us. "Yeah, I thought--that's what we WANT. The wind was still, the rain was gone and the anticipation was too real. As the darkness yielded to another beautiful Arkansas morning, I just had to stop and count my blessings. Is Heaven really better than Arkansas. Sometimes I wonder. I think it's going to be a good winter. More just a little later.
aj
or... well... not so good 
Can't wait for the next part. Those "wabbits" must have been scared! 
