after arriving at the bunkhouse and getting acquainted with the owner and settling in, we were off with our guide for our friday afternoon/evening hunt. i would be hunting an airstrip and pete would be hunting on the property adjacent to where i was. we waited a few minutes for the landowner's son to arrive at his house. he brought me to the stand. it was one of those plastic/fiberglass types. sportsman's condo or something of the type. first time i've been in one. was real cozy with the winders closed but then i couldn't see very well. i was placed in the back of the airstrip and this particular stand faced right into the north
. good gosh, it was brutal. i ain't gonna sugar-coat it. temperature was 33 degrees and with wind chill it felt like 25 with winds out of the north at 10.
view to my right...i just knew mack-daddy was gonna cross that bottom and i was gonna whack him
looking forward - there is another shooting house way up on the right side. directly across from it is another stand and there is one more at the front of the property. the landowner's can definitely hunt the wind.
view to my left - this is the where i saw a doe enter and leave at 4:07 p.m. - she didn't want anything to do with this area. way to windy i reckon:
the landowner was to pick me up at 5:30. he texted me at 4:58 to check on me. i told him i was ready if he was. we got back to his house and he said i was welcome to come inside and wait on pete and the guide. i told him i'd be happy to wait in the garage - you know how you're bundled up like the michelin man and your boots are wet 'cause it's sleeting and the ground is slushy and you really don't want to impose on anyone? well, he wouldn't hear of it and i graciously accepted his offer. met his wife and played with their dogs, all whilst standing just inside their back door. really nice folks. their son and his friend come back from their hunt. can't remember but i think one saw one doe and the other saw two does. we all up in the warm house (it was a fine house too with a big pot of soup simmering on the kitchen stove
and a good dog at my feet enjoying his ears being rubbed) just talking away with the homeowner offering me food and drink - while pete and the guide are outside in the freezing snow waiting on me
. the young men just happened to mention in casual conversation that pete and the guide were outside. i said, "that's who i'm waiting on." the homeowner walked me outside and i thanked him for his hospitality. we headed back to the farmhouse for supper.
this is another area that is different from the other school hunt. we don't return to the school for meals and see all the deer brought in for skinning. Gordo has a processor and the guides take the deer there. they don't have anyone assigned to skinning duty. whatever works, i guess; but, it is nice to stand around the skinning shed and see what all was brought in.
supper was pulled pork barbeque, fancy pork 'n beans with sausage or burger meat added with onions and other add-ins, home-made tater salad, pickles, an assortment of chips and sody pop, water, gatorade, home-made sugar cookies and some type of home-made chocolate dream pie
. if anyone went hungry, it was their own fault. there was snacks everywhere. nutter butter cookies, oreos, chips a hoy, peanut butter crackers, a variety of little debbie snack cakes, sunflower seeds, peanuts, individual pouches of cereal - i can't remember everything.
pete didn't see anything but redbirds and squirrels