The Hunt Continues…

The Hunt Continues…

By Allan Olson

It’s nothing new for me to head into the second weekend of deer season with nothing to show for it, but it’s a rather unusual occurrence for our whole hunting party to be without a deer – but that’s the way it is this year.

We kicked off the weekend with 10 hunters afield chasing after the mighty whitetail. My dad and youngest brother each fired a few rounds off on Sunday morning, but those deer were equipped with either bullet-proof vests or some kind of force field, and headed off to play elsewhere. At least that provided the rest of us hunters with ammunition to harass the two that missed their opportunity.

What’s great about this year for me on a personal note is having the opportunity to share the hunting experience with Nikolai. We have spent far more time apart this year on the hunt than we have together, but he is doing well and not getting impatient, just taking everything in stride.

We hit the woods early on Saturday morning and waited for daylight to appear, excited for the season to begin again. As the day wore on and the temperature climbed, it became apparent that it was way too warm for the layers I had on. By evening, I was sitting in my stand wearing no gloves and a baseball hat – a not-very-common occurrence for November in Minnesota. 

The only company I had on evening stand was a squirrel. I was deep in the woods and not liking my stand, so I decided to pack it in for the evening. I had arrived at the stand too early for my attention span, and finally with still about an hour of daylight left, I abandoned my post and went for a stroll through the woods, hoping that just maybe I would move just one (or six) deer out to the four hunters waiting in the field beyond the woods. I messed around the woods for a good 40 minutes meandering around and hoping that the lead would start flying. Unfortunately, if there was anything in that area, I didn’t see it and neither did anyone else. 

Somehow I managed to last until nearly 10 p.m. before hitting the sack, knowing that even though the clock turned back, we were still getting up an hour earlier than the day prior.

On Sunday morning, I did manage to see one small deer before I got to my stand. It was little and I didn’t even have an opportunity to shoot, so I didn’t get too excited. I got in my stand with plans of sitting until 9 a.m. – about 2.5 hours for the morning post. My short attention span got the best of me again, though, and by 8:30 I was ready to start bouncing and shaking the stand out of sheer boredom. I let my oldest brother know that I was going stir crazy, and he said to walk toward him and maybe chase him a deer. I gladly complied and figured if I was going to do that, I was going to put on some music and jam out the entire time. 

The 15-minute walk proved very relaxing. I zig-zagged down the brush line in one of our fields. This was something I’ve never done before in all my years of hunting – but it felt fun. Unfortunately, once again I didn’t kick any deer out to anyone.

This year once again the hunting party is joined by another new hunter, the fourth of the new generation of hunters taking to the woods. Party goals for this year are for my niece to hopefully shoot her first deer after her third or fourth year of on-again, off-again hunting, and for my nephew, who starting hunting this year, to get his first. 

Of course, I’m still hoping that Nikolai and my other nephew hunting again this year will also fill their tags. I would like to fill my tag, too, but it’s far more fun to see the kids to get theirs.

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. Be safe hunting!