Taking the issue by the horns, no sissy stuff

The deer hunting this year can almost be classified as a summer event with temperatures reaching in the 70’s F. It must be the global warming!

As a young kid, I spent many a summer away from my parents at my grandparent’s farm. I have to attribute my love for hunting and shooting to my grandfather. He taught me all about proper shooting etiquette and procedure. He taught me to reload shells and clean the game. From Rabbits and squirrels and groundhogs, we blasted them all!

I was invited to come up for deer season one year. It would be my first deer hunt. I had the basic knowledge of proper hunting, but I have never 'dropped' a deer. Being from Florida, I had a slight memory of the cold weather in north Georgia, but that would prove not enough for this cold season. I had planned on wearing some thermal underwear, sweatpants, and standard BDU camo jacket & pants. I thought that would be enough... Boy was I wrong. I had nothing thermal in my boots, no gloves, no face cover, and temps at high noon we lucky to reach 30 degrees. And with constant wind gusts throughout the day, the tree stand became my natural enemy.

My grandfather suggested that I use his .270 Winchester. It had that nice 5 rounds detachable mag full of heavy soft points. I kept a spare mag in my back pocket. "Never know when you need 10 shots for 1 deer ya know!"

On the 1st day of the season, my brother and myself set out on foot from our house and walked to the far ends of our farmland. It was early; we had left the house at 5am. The day before, we had stuck reflective caps in the trunks of the tree so that we would have a known path to follow to our blinds and stands. We got to my tree stand first, looked around, and then I proceeded to climb to the stand. With a Garand in hand, my brother walked down the hill towards his blind. It was not long before the chills set in. Without any movement, much less the wiggling of the toes, my body began to get cold. The wind felt hard and crisp to my face. My eyes watered from the cold wind, I wished I had some shooting glasses on, or maybe thermal goggles to see the deer.

The sun finally showed its face and the sun beams poured though the tops of the barren tree limbs. Now that it was daylight, I could see that we had a light snow fall the night before. It was light by all standards; there was only sporadic snow no more than 3 inches thick. But hey, that’s a lot, I'm from Florida. However did I make it in Alaska for a season back in '91. For the momentary warmth the sun provided was nice but it was short lived. I had to resort to those life saving hand warmers I bought at the 'pro shop' for a dollar a pop. [at least that’s my kind of pro shop] It seemed forever for those darn oxygen started hand warmers to show any sign of warmth... I'm looking at the package in anticipation... it says "5-8 minutes for 160 degrees”. Well hell it’s been 20 minutes according to my watch and I’m not feeling a thing except numb fingers! I try to get the maximum oxygen to the packet, but to no avail. It seemed that I had purchased old and worthless warmers and I would be cold for the rest of the day. I just said to my self that I had to toughen up and stick it out.

Hours pass and there’s absolutely no sign of life anywhere! I had heard a few shots early in the morning but that was about it, no birds no bugs, no nothing. I was relatively comfortable with my hand in the warmth of my arm pit, ready to whip out and use my trigger finger. Checking my watch for the time, I see that its just past noon, what better time to bring out some carrot bread from my grandma, and some chilled beef stew from 'Uncle Sam' in MRE fashion. Time stood still as the day went on, the cold weather was doing a number on my toes and face. The sun began to fall from the sky and over the horizon. I was disappointed that I had not even seen any animals what so ever. But I guess I would have been worse off if I had seen a deer and not been able to get a clean shot off or worse yet fired at a deer and missed. Oh the shame of 'missing' a meal!

I did eventually bag my first deer and my grandfather was very proud. I gutted the animal with my grandfather whispering hints on what to do.

It’s many decades later and live further north in Fayette County, GA and I still can’t stand the cold. My son bagged his first deer two years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.

It is pathetic with all of the whining that goes on about a bunch of nothing! Go ahead Dan and play with your little golf balls if you want too.