Hunting Tradition Continues


Hunting Tradition Continues
By Allan Olson
The first weekend of opening whitetail hunting season went by in a blur – especially when you start the day before 5 a.m. and often retire before 9 p.m. This weekend we enjoyed the warmest weather in probably over a decade and certainly the warmest I’ve experienced in several years.
For the second time I was able to share my hunting season with my oldest Nikolai who has shown that the love of the sport and tradition is passing on to the next generation. Last year he was the first of his generation to harvest a deer and this season, he was the first of all the hunters to harvest a deer.
On opening morning – we had no luck, but that afternoon we were back in the lucky stand and during the noon hour he took a shot at a young deer, unfortunately it proved to be a miss as we could find no evidence of any injury to the deer. We took a quick break for some grub and returned to the stand for the evening post – ready for action. The minutes ticked by and we were entertained with the thought of some “black deer steaks” of the beef variety on the neighbors field. Then they strayed onto our land and we thought “all trespasser will be shot” was t

he rule of the land – but somehow I don’t think my parents neighbors – one of which even graduated with my father many years ago – would appreciate it so we decided against it.
As the evening went along we were still waiting for the deer to come out and play, when for the first time all weekend I spotted the deer before Nikolai and pointed it out to him and encouraged him to make his shot. He lined up – bore down and then we heard the dreaded ominous sound “CLICK” – I though the deer would take off in a hurry with that sound. For some reason this young deer decided the sound was fine and Nikolai bore down on her again – “BANG” – missed completely – why, how – we don’t know, even more confusing the deer stuck around and he was given a third opportunity and everyone knows that three strikes you’re out. One more time he lined up and this time his aim was true and the deer crumpled to the ground. Once again – we were both excited that he successfully harvested another deer. Soon we set about to doing the cleaning routine where I once again instructed him on the finer points of plunging his hands into the animal to clean the deer.
The next morning we were up and in the stand again – once again my brother decided to forgo his stand and try a different location, so Nikolai and I were quick to claim our favorite spot and headed back to my brothers nice stand. About 7 a.m. – Nikolai again called my attention to a deer, this time you shoot, he said. I wasn’t going to argue with him, I reached for my weapon of choice and lined up for my shot – I waited until this nice buck paused and sent my bullet spiraling his way, we saw him stumble and nearly fall to the ground – a direct hit, but not down, I quickly rifled in another round and popped another shot in his direction prior to entering the woods. I wasn’t too concerned, I was pretty sure that he was down for the count and seeing as how it was early in the day we had no reason to leave the stand early to go in search of confirmation.
About 30 minutes later a nice doe came prancing our way, unfortunately she wasn’t too interested in sticking around for a shooting session as both Nikolai and I were armed and ready, she refused to stay and never gave us anything but her head to shoot at, so she went into the woods unscathed.
Finally it was time to check for my deer, as my brother made his way across the field in my direction. We went in search of blood and weren’t having any luck, I checked in the woods where I thought it went into the woods and hoped it was laying there but no signs of it anywhere, I was really getting disappointed, I was sure it was a kill shot, my brother suggested to go back to the stand and once again check to see if we were searching the right location – I did, and confirmed that we were. As I was in the stand, another member of the hunting party went along the woods and spotted the deer lying in the field and they yelled to me that it was down for the count. I went to the spot and performed the customary cleaning duties, before we brought the deer up to the yard to hang.
The evening hunt brought about no new deer so as the first weekend ended, only Nikolai and myself were successful. Thankfully there are still several days left and hopefully we will have the opportunity to harvest several more animals before the season is over.
Area hunters are invited to share their success at the Cass Lake Times, by sending their photos along with pertinent information to cltimes1@arvig.net.
Nikolai and I are hoping for another hunting opportunity yet this season, unless someone fills the remaining tags before we make it to the hunting land again.
Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.


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