Opening Weekend
This past weekend was Minnesota's firearm deer opener. What a great weekend. Great weather for the most part, although it could've been a little colder. I think it was around 35-45 degrees. Anyway, our camp only had about 7 guys up there on opening weekend, which is pretty low. Of those seven, only about 3 or 4 actually stay in their stand for more than an hour past sunrise. Those that don't are there for the camaraderie, and if a deer happens to come along within 150 yards of camp, they might get out of their chair by the fire.
For an area with a lot of deer running around, we sure didn't see much of anything. There was so much fresh sign all over the woods, we were sure we'd have quite a few deer come Sunday evening. That wasn't the case at all. Somehow, only one deer was taken all weekend, but regardless of the fact, that one deer was all that mattered. You see, the guy that heads up our camp (Tim) has a brother-in-law (Bob) that lives in the area. Bob actually helped him find the property 30 some years ago. Well, Bob hasn't been out hunting in about 10 years, even though he was an avid bow and firearm hunter before that. About ten years ago, his wife became sick, and passed away a few years ago, right after Bob was diagnosed with lung cancer. Bob's been sick himself the last few years, so he's been unable to get out in the woods. His mobility has drastically improved recently even though the doctors have given him a timeline of about 6 months to live.
Anyway, we get up to camp and Tim says that Bob might be coming over to hunt one last time on Saturday. Sure enough, he pulled in to camp around 4:45 am, had some coffee with us, and then headed out to his stand. Believe it or not, this guy spent ALL DAY Saturday in his stand. Didn't come in once for a drink or a snack. We were amazed. We didn't think he would come back on Sunday, and thought maybe he would be discouraged from not seeing a damn thing all day on Saturday, but sure enough, there he came pulling in to camp on at 4:45am in the morning. Well, he setup about 250 yards away from me, and when he shot his deer on Sunday morning, I nearly jumped out of my stand. I walked over and helped him gut the deer. He went back to his stand, and I walked in to camp to tell the others. I'm telling you, no one there could believe it.
What an incredible moment for everyone there. I've never seen a group of hunters so happy to see someone else shoot a deer before in my life, and I've never seen such satisfaction then what I saw when Bob walked up to that deer. That doe meant so much more to him than any trophy buck would ever mean to me. We drove home with nothing to show for after two days in the woods, yet we were overwhelmed with happiness. Just wanted to share that with everyone.