2021 Hog Hunt Day 3 - Another One-Deer

 I probably over-caffeinated in the morning - which I know better than to do, but after the late (by my standards) night it was hard not to.
After dropping the kids off to school Rick and I went to feed stands.  All had been hit well including the stand I was on the previous afternoon.  But daylight is always the question.

Back at the lodge Rick and I tried to get some better pictures of my boar hog, but the shadows were all wrong so we waited and were successful a bit later in the afternoon.  The forced down time in hog camp can be hard for me but probably also good for me.  I spent time reading, watching TV and took a walk down to the river.  The day was the pick of the week weather-wise with bright sun and not too much wind.

As it got into the afternoon, Rick and I headed out for me to be dropped off for the afternoon.  Rick dropped me off at the Craw field.  The walk there was a bit longer than I remember.  It wasn't hard to find, but I did second-guess myself as to if I had missed a cut-off to take or something.

In the stand I once again had a hard time getting settled initially.  Weather was almost ideal with temperatures in the lower 60's and bright sunshine.  If anything, the sun was a pain until it went behind some trees since it made watching anything really difficult.

Not long after I was in the stand the military jets started flying somewhere nearby.  The noise from seemingly tree-top level flying can be deafening.  Thankfully they were only in the area for around 15 minutes.

Once both the sun and I did get settled it was a really nice afternoon.  One thing I like about coming down to hunt in South Carolina is the chance to get pictures of deer while I'm not hunting them.  One lone deer did come out around 4:30.  I usually use my ancient Kodak P850 because if I'm going to accidentally drop a camera from a treestand, I'd rather it not be better one.  It can be a bit hard to get clear pictures without moving from the distance, but I was able to get a few pictures that were reasonably good.

The deer stayed around and gave me something to watch for around 30 minutes before sauntering off.  I got hopeful as it got later and the shadows started to get longer.  I did hear something off to my right at one point - I have no idea what it was but think the chances it was hogs was very low.  Still, I'm kind of scratching my head about what (or who?) it could have been?

Long shadows gave way to sunset which began to turn into darkness.  I know hogs can show up very quickly, but it wasn't to happen.  It got too dark to see well and I unloaded my gun before climbing out of the ladder stand.

Back at the lodge Gary from Pennsylvania had arrived.  We all talked for a bit before turning in for the night, with myself hopeful for two more days.

2021 Hog Hunt Day 2 - Under the Cover of Darkness

 Up at my normal time I putzed around online for a while before reading Donald Hall's Essays after Eighty.  It was only OK.  The beginning was good, but it didn't stay that way.

Rick and I went out to feed the stands around 9:00.  All had been hit well - the ever present question being if it was during daylight.  We kvetched about ammo availability.  Rick has been looking on gunbroker.com where it is now going for astronomical prices.

With the stands baited we headed back to the lodge.  I should have gotten a bit of exercise by walking down to the river, but ended up half-napping while watching The Office and eating lunch.  Then it was off to hunt.  Rick dropped me off at Fish Snatch where I quietly made my way down the sandy track to the box blind.  

It was warm, but once again the wind was significant.  I appreciated being in an enclosed blind with the wind; even if it did blow in, I stayed quite comfortable.  Once situated I was quite comfortable and settled in for the afternoon.

Some time through the afternoon Joe texted me. I last hunted hogs with Joe about five years ago and he continues to vicariously hunt hogs with me. Unquestionably I have met quite a few characters down here. I was glad for the distraction since not much else was moving. About the only excitement through the afternoon was when some kind of small, colorful raptor-bird landed on the shooting port of the blind when my face was only a few inches away. I'm not sure who was more startled - the bird or me.

Like the previous day as it got later the wind died down.  For about the last hour of daylight, the wind completely quit - so much that the silence was absolutely deafening.  I love these magical moments.  It was so quiet that every creek of the chair I was sitting in felt like an explosion.  The quiet also made me hopeful that the pigs would show up.

Around 45 minutes before dark, I heard some thumping to my right.  Peering through the shooting port I saw a one-antlered fork horn buck walking down the 2-track.  It either heard or smelled me and bounded away quickly after passing the shooting blind.  I also thought I saw something moving way beyond the corn pile, but I wasn't sure and if it was there it almost looked more canine-like.  Darkness came with nothing else.

I packed up my stuff and headed back to the gate.  Rick was there shortly and I got in.  We talked for a few minutes about not seeing anything on one of my favorite stands.  A few minutes later Rick asked, "How hungry are you?"  I wondered what joke I was being set up for but I really hadn't thought about eating yet.  "I'm pissed off about you not seeing anything.  Let's grab the thermal and see if we can find anything in the dark."  Being alone in camp has some priveleges.  "We ain't going to stay out all night, but let's try it."

"In a dark time, the eye begins to see." - Theodore Roethke

I dropped off my rifle while Rick got his 7mm-08 AR with FLIR scope and we headed out again, driving to a field Rick doesn't hunt with clients but whose owner has been having hog problems.  Using his handheld night scope, Rick saw many deer and a large group of hogs.  We parked at the gate, and because there was a bright light there, we hoofed it down a ways before climbing the fence and making our way to the back part of the field.  I could not believe how we could walk the field without spooking the hogs.  Many of the deer took off, but under the cover of darkness, once the pigs are settled they are fine as long as they didn't smell us.

Once at the far end of the field rick set up the rifle.  I looked through the scope and picked out a bigger hog.  They didn't look very big in the optics so I settled on the biggest one.  Since it was a group of pigs, I figured it was a big sow.  I settled the digital cross-hairs near the pigs neck and squeezed the trigger.  In AR-platform, the 7mm-08 is a pussy-cat, but it rocked the tripod.  Looking through the scope again, I saw my hog was down.

Rick grabbed the rifle and shot twice, bringing down another hog.  The rest of the group, quite confused, ran directly toward us, going into the woods next to us.  Rick and I talked quietly for a few minutes before he left to get the truck.  Standing there in the darkness I saw a vague shape and realized it was a big hog - and it was not acting right.  It took me a minute to get the FLIR back on and looking through the scope I saw it was Rick's hog.  It was close enough that I could see blood splashing off of it onto the ground.  It took me a few seconds to get the scope on the hog, but in the pitch blackness I wasn't sure what was behind the tree line.  I held off shooting - a decision I regret a little bit.

It took a while for Rick to drive up, and I told him about his pig.  We easily found bright red foamy blood that was easily followed.  Unfortunately, it was not recovered although there is little doubt it is dead.

We drove back up to my pig which was an enormous boar hog.  And despite being well shot, he wasn't done yet either.  Rick had me walk up behind it with my SP101, and I gave him a coup de grace (Rick videoed this - but it is a bit much to share...).  It never ceases to amaze me how tough a big hog is.  My shot right at the base of the skull with a hand-loaded XTP produced a near-geyser of blood.  

We took a few pictures in the darkness.  I'm quite sure it is the biggest hog I've shot and definitely had a good set of cutters on him.  Now was the next problem - how to get this beast into Ricks truck.  We ended up going back to the lodge to get the receiver tray and it was still all we could do to get him loaded up.

Back at the lodge we got him set up for better pictures in the daylight. I knew he would be inedible, but was hoping that like my 2016 hog, it might be. Sadly, he smelled truly terrible; eating him would be like eating 4-day-old skunk (although in all fairness, I've never eaten skunk). I have no issues shooting feral destructive species - but it can feel a little wasteful at times.

I was tired and Rick asked to be let off the clock. Even though I was kind of hungry, I knew if I ate a lot I'd regret it so I snacked lightly before turning in. After hog hunting for many years, night hunting was new and quite exciting. It makes me want to come back in the summer some time to have a go at it.

2021 Hog Hunt Day 1 - Self-Guided Start

After a reasonable night's sleep, I woke up and had a couple cups of terrible hotel room coffee - so bad it is good.  I had to kill time to not get to Rick's too early, but eventually I couldn't stand it and left for the couple hour's drive.

Letting the Garmin decide how to macroscopically route me is almost always a mistake, but this time it gave me a new route that I really liked.  I will definitely try this again on the way home (Exit 82/Screaming Eagle Road -> US601 -> US378).  I finished My Lobotomy and listened to a few NPR podcasts.  Just like the previous day, I was able to lose myself in the drive.

At some point Rick called me and asked where I was.  After telling him, he told me he was headed out to a day at the beach with his SO.  I asked about hunting in the afternoon.  "Well shit..." he had apparently forgotten the rearrangement we made in December (and why I had gotten a hotel room and was almost there).  I thought about texting him the screenshot of it I had grabbed from my old phone when the Pixel rang again.  "I was trying to figure out how to make this work and thought - he can take care of his own damn self since he's been coming down here for the last 25 years."  I was fine with this, although I also thought it was funny given how protective he is about his stands.  Sending someone out on their own was almost unthinkable.

I finished the drive and got settled at the lodge before getting final instructions from Rick as to where I was to sit.  The miracle of modern cell phones helped where he was able to text a Google Maps pin.  It also helped that it was near another stand I knew.

Getting to the location, I found the stand easily enough after wallowing through a muddy trail and got up in it.  Temperatures were moderate in the upper 40's, but it was really windy and I had a very hard time getting comfortable - and I just sort of felt off.  But it was a nice enough afternoon.  The wind died down throughout the afternoon and I was at least mostly enjoying it.  

Time did drag though which was made worse by not seeing much of anything at all.  I really had to play games with myself to not look at my watch frequently.  For a few brief minutes as the sun set, the sky above the field I was hunting turned the most amazing pink/coral color.  I thought about trying to take a picture, but these things almost always pale in comparison to the actual thing.  And life's fleeting magical moments can be better experienced living in the now.

Darkness approached and at the almost-too-dark-but-still-can-shoot-but-probably-shouldn't hour a murky figure came out onto the corn pile.  Peering through the scope I was almost relieved that it was a deer.  Within minutes it was too dark to do anything.  I waited a while longer just sitting there in the dark.  But with traffic on the nearby road it wasn't that blessed, tranquil darkness.  I climbed out of the stand and made my way back to the truck.

Back at the lodge I ate some canned chili and watched TV.  Rick showed up a little while later and I met his SO Tammy - who seemed very personable.  I turned in shortly after, thankful for all that had gone right to bring me once again to the Low Country.

2021 Hog Hunt Day 0 - Driving

Back in December Rick asked me to come in a day later than originally planned for hog hunting since he had people who wanted to be there on my original drive day.  I often get to his place with enough time to hunt on the day of, but it is never guaranteed.  And since the only real cost was a hotel room during a year when almost nothing was spent on travel, I opted to leave on my drive day anyway and get most of the way there.  This did make it somewhat awkward as I couldn't get to the hotel too early, meaning my normal crazy early leave time had to be pushed back.  Since I can't sleep, this meant an early morning at home while a headache throbbed behind my left eye.

The coronavirus is like a loose tooth.  As the hog hunting trip approached, I said I wasn't going to worry - just take an appropriate level of caution and enjoy it.  But every few minutes ... there is that loose tooth again.

So after an early morning with hot cocoa instead of coffee I pointed the Ridgeline south.  I took a wrong turn getting on the interstate very near home.  Holy crap I need to start traveling again.  I was embarrassed at the rookie mistake.  

"Every now and then, you realize, with perfect clarity, that you are just not where you want to be."-Killraven

Never has that been more both metaphorically and actually true...

There was minimal snow at home; I expected it to disappear quickly as I went south.  But the snow increased, at times significantly as I drove.  And in the cold early morning there were a few spots where it had refrozen into slick ice.  There was one stretch were as I slowly decreased my speed, I could feel the tires very briefly lose traction several times.  It wasn't terrible, but a little nerve-wracking.  Surprisingly I only saw one vehicle (a tractor-trailer) off the road.

My headache subsided, but was there most of the day.  I found it easy to just lose myself in the drive.  Wow do I miss this.  I was listening to My Lobotomy by Howard Dully.  I heard about this book while touring the Trans Allegheny Insane Asylum.  The book was good, but it was as much about the screwed-upness of a dysfunctional family - and other assorted characters - as it was about the effects of a lobotomy.  But I still enjoyed it - as much as one can "enjoy" a book like that.

Once out of the mountains the weather started to break.  Temperatures increased but so did the wind.  I've always loved the aura of I-26 where it descends from the Appalachian plateau down to the lower elevation.  Maybe it is just a reminder that adventure is ahead.

I got near Columbia and stopped at the hotel.  The place was empty but it was early.  As I was unpacking my stuff from my truck I noticed a cleaning lady sanitizing one of the rooms.  This gave me a little bit of comfort that spending a few bucks more on a hotel room during a pandemic might have been the right choice.

Thankfully the hotel does have a small breakfast since I was able to steal a plastic spoon to eat a noodle bowl for dinner.  This was made even better once I realized that I could watch Roku on my computer, allowing me to watch Magnum PI (the original one of course) until turning in for the night.

2020 Deer Hunt Part 3

Thanksgiving is often one of my favorite days to hunt and two of my most memorable deer hunts have been on Thanksgiving.  But 2020 is not a normal year and this year brought a family Zoom gathering.  It was fun seeing everyone, if a little weird and also feeling a little like a committee meeting.

So on the day after Thanksgiving, I was back at it.  Temperatures were near perfect in the mid-40's and there was almost no wind.  After driving to Mike's I got out of the truck and was assaulted by the noise of grain dryers.  Yes, the farms are what produce so many big deer, but with several dryers running at a couple neighbor's, it was brutal.

Feeling like an opening day I packed my stand down in the dark.  The creeks were running from the all-day rains the previous Wednesday - luckily they were not so high as to be too bad to get across them.  As I got to the far ridge I realized that the creeks were nearly as loud as the grain dryers.  Whatever the source, this was not to be a quiet morning on the stand where I can hear a mouse squeak.

I tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to quietly get my stand set up and got settled in the tree over a half hour before shooting light.  Even with the din of dryers and creeks, I loved the early dark morning.  I started to keep watch as daylight brightened.  Around 8:30 a pretty nice buck and a doe walked to the west at the far south end of the property.  I was hoping this was a good sign that deer movement would be good.  Not too long after I saw 5 does milling around the south end of the property.  They hung around in one form or another for over an hour.  But I saw no deer nearby.

I spent most of the time thinking about where to put my stand for the afternoon.  In the past I have chased where deer were only to have them show up somewhere else - sometimes even where I had previously been.  And just because they were at the south end in the morning doesn't mean anything for later.  So I ultimately left my stand where it was (or maybe this was just stubbornness) when I quit for the morning to head back home.  

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After a dog walk and nap at home I was back at Mike's.  The afternoon was partly sunny and comfortably warm.  I probably would have really enjoyed the afternoon but I had a bonkers headache.  I'm not 100% sure what migraines are, but I'm pretty sure I'm starting to get them.

Not too long after getting settled I saw a few deer to the east in the little ravine.  They weren't in any hurry but made their way down into the big ravine.  Not too long after losing sight of them I saw probably the same group of deer from the morning at the south end of the property.  They sauntered around for quite some time, one even worked its way toward me staying just outside of an area where the brush thinned and I might have gotten a shot off.  I was regretting not moving my stand.  But as I constantly have to remind myself, I can't hunt the whole world.  I did hear quite a bit of shooting as the afternoon wore on, but I suspect much of it may have been recreational and not deer-hunting related.  The deer worked their way off to the east shortly before it got dark.  In a way, I was almost glad that they didn't come closer since my head hurt so much the thought of shooting and dragging a deer was almost incomprehensible.  As I made my way out in the dark, I heard the unmistakable thunder of hooves as I got very near the truck.  I never did see them, but a mess o' deer had been camped out right there.  So it goes.

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Awake early even by my standards I rationalized getting up so I could have a (single, one and only one) cup of coffee before heading out.  It was the right decision, drinking it while watching TV with a sleeping beagle in my chair. While getting ready a short time later I noticed the soles on my hunting boots were coming loose.  They will be sufficient for now, but I'm obviously on borrowed time.

I got to Mike's - it was calm and damp with temperatures near freezing and just a hint of wood smoke in the air.  I stood for a few minutes outside my truck; mornings are the best.  Even if 2020 has been a screwy year and I've squandered vacation, I can still take in those brief magical moments.  I made my way to my treestand and got situated.  The caffeine from my coffee didn't let me get in a quick nap, but I didn't mind; I just sat there enjoying the early dark.

Not much at all was moving.  There was no wind so as the sun rose high enough to be seen just a hint of fog formed in the woods.  Around 8:15 I saw movement again to the far south, but this time it was a couple turkeys.  The previous year I had seen lots of turkeys so I was glad to see at least a couple again this year.  The turkeys were followed a half hour later by a single deer to the south.  It was moving quite quickly, and I was once again regretting not moving my stand.  The rest of the morning passed quietly with even the squirrels barely making any ruckus.  After playing mental games to stop myself from constantly looking at my watch I got out of the tree late morning.  I wasn't planning on going out again so I walked the south part of the property.  There were definitely deer trails, but I didn't see anything which screamed deer sign more than where I had been sitting.  Still ... I made a mental note of a few clumps of trees that could be used in the future.  Every year is a little different, but it does seem like the general movement of the deer has been different this year.  But if I hadn't sat in my normal tree, I wouldn't have gotten the really nice deer that I did get.  And regardless of any deer in the freezer, I have thoroughly enjoyed the time in the woods.

I packed out my stand and loaded stuff into the truck.  Indiana has generous deer seasons with the upcoming muzzleloader and late doe-only season lurking out there.  As I left Mike's, headed toward home, the air inside the truck was a little melancholy.  I couldn't tell if that was because I failed to get a second deer, or because I wasn't planning on going out again, or something else altogether?

2020 Deer Hunt Part 2

 After taking some time to get my deer in the freezer, I decided to also do a European mount of the skull.  Once I had the head mostly skinned, I knew this was the right thing to do since the antler bases were so thick that they looked even larger on the skull once the skin and muscle was removed.  Creating a European mount is a little on the gross side and this one seemed to be very sinewy making it even tougher.  But with just enough boiling and some work with a wire brush and a screwdriver the skull cleaned up nicely.  I'm not sure what I'll ultimately do with it, but it is a nice enough one that it will probably go on the wall ... somewhere.

Tuesday came with moderate temperatures but a biting wind with gusts around 20MPH at times.  Normally I'd be back at work, but with much vacation I must use before the end of the year, I'm quite happy to take advantage of a few days off.  I hemmed and hawed most of the morning about whether I should go hunting again and try to get a doe for the freezer.  At nearly the last minute I decided I would and quickly got ready to go.

Once at Mike's I got my treestand set up and was sitting comfortably.  It was sunny with a temperature around 40F.  The trees blocked some wind, but my left side was quite a bit colder than my right side.  I guess the wind is both a blessing and a curse.  In addition to making it feel colder, the wind makes it really hard to hear anything.  There was also a loud combine working somewhere to the northwest.  But I do feel a little more comfortable moving when the whole world is blowing back and forth.  Overall it was a fairly comfortable afternoon all bundled up in my snowsuit.

About an hour before sunset my spidey sense went off and looking to the east I saw four does making their way across the small ravine.  I knew there is less than a 50% chance they will work my after making it to my side of the ravine.  And they did not, slowly going south and west, safe from any of my handloads.

As it started to get darker the wind quickly died down until it was just a very light breeze.  The dark shadows played tricks on my eyes as I passed the evil few minutes when I know I should not shoot, but still could probably try to.  This time passed without any deer showing.  I climbed down out of the tree and headed back to the truck.  I could see well enough to not use my flashlight - I thought.  But I ended up sounding like a noisy clodhopper on my way out, seemingly snapping every stick in my path.

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After sleeping in the next morning, I headed out again to Mike's.  The temperature was near freezing with absolutely no wind.  I was able to quickly and quietly get my treestand up to my spot.  Then I got to enjoy that magical 1/2 hour of time to just sit there in the dark.  It was so still I barely felt like I could breath.  My mind wandered - I wasn't even sure I wanted another deer, so I was there in the woods at some level to just be there.  I realized that I hadn't thought about work, or at least very little, for over a day.  This has been the several-day break that I needed.

Squirrels started their hectic running as it started to get light.  It was cold, but I was comfortable.  The sun took a very long time to get high enough in the sky to see, casting long shadows to the west.  I kept a vigilant watch while listening.  The deer were somewhere else on this morning.

I did see a mink to the south.  At first I thought it was a small cat, but after getting a better look it was obviously a mink.  There are not many of them around, but this is the third time in the past year that I've seen one.  I was quite glad I got a chance to see this one while hunting.

By late morning I was squirming and walked the back part of the property before packing out my stand.  With a decent buck in the freezer the pressure is blessedly off.  I'm still thinking of if and when I might head out again; as I dropped my stand in the bed of my truck I was already rethinking the afternoon.

2020 Deer Hunt

 I took the day before Indiana's opening day off of work.  This was Friday the 13th.  The last Friday the 13th was March - which marked the beginning of the bonkers, crazy, insane year that is 2020.  I'm not sure it was smart to take Friday off.  I tend to obsess about deer hunting, mostly the negatives - about the weather, about how I don't really like the mayhem of opening day, about how the deer hunting in the area I hunt doesn't seem to be as good as it used to be.  I was also slightly over-caffeinated in the morning which didn't help.  But taking the day off did allow me to put up my stand the day before.  This is an extra intrusion right before hunting, and I'm not sure whether this is better or worse than the trouble, noise and sweat of putting up my climber in the dark on opening morning?

In marked contrast to snow and last year's early November frigid temperatures, the weather earlier in the week was record high temperatures.  Things had moderated down to more typical conditions.  So I did need to bundle up in my hunting snowsuit.  This made the decision to put up my treestand feel a little more right.

After waking up I stared at the clock for too long before finally getting up with tons of time to get ready.  The dogs were cooperative although the younger one really wanted to sit with me in my chair while I watched TV, but I didn't want to have even more dog scent on me.  I was out the door near 5:45 headed to Mikes.  Temperature was in the mid-20's which was tolerable with the light wind.

With my stand already set up I got my stuff together and hoofed it down into the woods.  I was sitting quietly with an easy 20 minutes before shooting light.  While I don't really like the fracas that opening morning sometimes is, the still darkness before shooting is one of my favorite times (and favorite times in life, frankly).  The night animals are drawing down for the day; the day animals are just waking up making an interesting mix of noises.  I thought back to my 2019 deer hunt and how different the world seemed now looking back.  Covid infections are skyrocketing.  The election from over a week previous is over even if not everyone wants to acknowledge it.  People are being told to do Thanksgiving virtually - and the last thing I need is another online meeting.  But sitting in my treestand waiting for daylight is just right.

As it started to get light I began to look and listen for anything.  I heard a couple squirrels before hearing the unmistakable scrunch scrunch of something else; it was a little hard to pinpoint the direction.  One doe was walking close behind me with a really small one following a short ways behind.  I thought about the bigger doe in front, but the angle was awkward (behind me to the right) enough that I wasn't going to try on a doe so early in the season.  After all the work that goes into getting ready for hunting, I wasn't in a hurry.

The two does worked their way into the ravine.  I heard more scrunching which I thought was the same deer circling in front of me.  I was mentally rethinking about the bigger doe when I saw antlers breach the hill.  Looking closer as the buck kept coming on the deer trail that originally put me on my opening day stand so many years ago thought, "I have to make this happen."

The buck was calm - he must have passed within a few yards of the does but they were headed to who-knows-where.  He paused about 50 yards in front of me to the right giving me a chance to get my gun up.  Taking a few more steps, I didn't want to give him the chance to smell me or for his deer brain to decide to go back to the does.  With a clear site of him I let a bullet loose.  I knew he was hit hard and he ran forward around 75 yards and stopped.  I fully expected him to fall over then, but he just stood there.  My ammo was in a fanny pack (don't judge, my snowsuit doesn't have many pockets) and I dropped another .243 into the TC.  Still an easy shot I hit him again.  He ran forward, stopping again in some thicker brush.  I watched a few more seconds, again expecting him to fall over.  Another Hornady SST was sent his way, although with the brush I figured (correctly) the chance of hitting him was almost zero.  Then I lost sight of him.

I was sure he was dead at the first shot, just not real sure he knew it.  I climbed down and reloaded and headed over to where I last saw him.  I didn't see much blood, so slowly walked in the direction he was headed - feeling a little unease.  After a few minutes I saw him at the base of a small cliff floating in creek.  If the bullet hadn't done him in, he would be drowned by now.

Working around to him I pulled him out of the water.  He was a huge bodied deer and while his antlers weren't very wide (inside spread later measured at just over 14"), he had some of the tallest thickest brow tines I've ever seen.  I drug him farther into Mike's property before resting and heading up to pack out my stand and grab my knife.  Back at the truck I took off most of my underlayers of clothes to cool down.  I laughed as I took off my snow suit and started steaming like a Thanksgiving turkey in the still-freezing morning.

The deer had my first two bullets, both fatal, within a few inches of each other in the onside shoulder - utterly destroying it in the process.  After gutting him I began the long heave of getting him out.  He was a big heavy deer.  That last hill before the truck gets taller and longer every year.

Mike came out and helped get a few pictures as well as get the deer in my truck.  We talked for a bit before I headed home and got him hung up in the pole barn.  Dave (fishing) has asked to see how I butcher deer so I called him and he came over to hep me process the deer.  I didn't really feel like I wanted to take care of him on the same day, but temperatures were quite warm and were supposed to stay that way overnight (with heavy rain and dangerous winds forecast, making Sunday's hunting unlikely even if I hadn't gotten a deer).

It was a long afternoon taking care of the deer.  The onside shoulder was devastated, but much the rest of the deer provided tons of meat.  I even recovered most of one of the bullets in the offside shoulder - weighing 56gr (60% weight retention which is pretty good for an SST).  The burger grinding had to wait until Sunday.

I thought about getting him mounted, but ultimately decided against it since I don't have much room and while a deer with a lot of character, he didn't have a great story to go with him.  It's a bit funny to me how that becomes important to what I think about my taxidermy.

Seeing as I still have too much vacation to use, I'm still taking several days off.  I have at least a day to recover to decide if I want head out to try to get a doe yet this year.  For now, I'm just thrilled that things turned out the way they did.