The Grind Has Set In, Sore Throat And All…..

Today was a cold day of bowhunting for this camera man, as I am battling a throat that is so sore I can barely touch it, and when that cold wind sets in, it takes some mental concentration not to think about how good a cough drop would taste, if only they made scent-free cough drops!! Despite my ailments, I wasn’t going to sacrifice a day of hunting for Dad as we are nearing the end of the season and the big bucks are still chasing pretty hard up here. As Dad stated in his post, we got close to a big and wide 8 pt, we should have been in the stand an hour earlier and he would be hanging upside down in the shed. But, that seems to be the way that Dad’s season has gone, always one step behind. It is crazy how I can throw on the Realtree, grab the Elite, and tag out for the season after only hunting for 3 hrs and we have been hunting for 17 days since then, and have only had a couple encounters with shooters to get your adrenaline going. Thats the game that you have to play with archery equipment I guess, it seems like sometimes lady luck throws you a bone and then makes you earn the next one the hard way as payment for the first. If he doesn’t get one again this year, I swear to the Deer Gods, that I am not picking up my bow next year until he wraps his tag around an antler because he always insists that I go in first and literally won’t take no for an answer. Sorry Dad, you are going in first next year, you don’t get a say in it next year! But its not over yet, we still have 6 days to get a buck down and we are hunting right to the bitter end no matter how bad the hunting is, just for principle of it since we have hunted so hard this season. Most guys have given up in our area as they don’t like to hunt in the cold, which is precisely why I love the week of Thanksgiving, because everyone else is home watching football, taking the pressure off of the deer and giving those out braving the cold, an opportunity to harvest a trophy buck. Im throwing the kitchen sink at these crazy whitetails tomorrow. Theres going to be a mock scrape created in the pre-dawn darkness, a scent drag from 3 directions, and possibly a decoy if I feel well enough to lug that hog all of the way across the river. At least if I know in my mind that I have tried everything to lure one into range, I can then relax and realize that it is just luck of the draw if another day goes by without Dad using his tag. As much as I love looking at bucks through my Nikons, I would really like to be watching one in the view finder of the camera as he is about to meet an Easton Axis and a Rage broad head behind his shoulder. Well, I’m off to slam down some Alka-Seltzer try to ward off this wonderful sore throat and get some shut eye. I hope we have some good news to report for you all tomorrow. Good Luck to all those like us with tags to fill!

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