Early fall of '98 I had some reconstructive surgery on my ankle...hurt it playing Navy....on 03 October. Still on crutches, I had to climb down a ladder to the basement in my Nevada cabin to get my ammo. And climb back up again. And change the oil in my truck before the trip. Packed the truck and took off about 5 days before the third season...somewhere near 27 October or so. Got to camp and figured I might have a tough go of it, but, I knew my buddies (been with them since 73 or so) would hook me up with a nice spot to sit while they mad a drive or two my direction.

Sitting on my stump....not easy to shoulder a rifle and crutch your way through trees...I must have sat there for a couple hours thinking about how good life was.


Managed to shoot and gut a cow two days later. Gotta admit I had to ask for help to get her back to camp and hung up properly.

The hardest part about this hunt was not being able to sneak through the woods for my five mile hike into the wilderness areas like I normally do....please forgive me, but I was a road hunter for most of that season....there, I admitted it. Ahhh, a load off my shoulders. [&o]