txmarshmonkey

ME TOO!!

Hey fellas, I made it back home safely, but not without a couple of hitches along the way. Wednesday morning a buddy and I drove to my new lease. He had never been to this leasebefore and though he is in his upper thirties, he is very much a beginner to hunting. I wanted him along with me as I scouted for trails, and any deer sign whatsoever. I enjoy teaching him the little bit that I know. Within a couple minutes of arrival another member shows up. So before i can begin scouting for MY areas I decide to show the newbies a quick general tour of this lease and try to point out the boundries, creeks, roads, and the couple of spots that have already been marked. About 15 minutes into the "tour" a forked pine limb punches a huge hole intothe right-rear tire of my wheeler. Luckily this happens on a road that I can drive the truck to. Now, is when I need to tell y'all that I'm driving my father-in-law's truck since I'm in the middle of getting an engine-swap on my truck. His truck also has a couple of quirks about it. The main one is that you cannot put it into "PARK" or the trans will lock-up! The driver has to use the parking brake and Neutral. Okay back to the flat. I hitch a ride back the the campsite to get the truck & trailer. (can you see it coming?) The guy that gave me the ride asked me to follow him down the road in the event he had a question about something, I said OKAY. He took off fairly quickly ahead of me and a towel blew off of his wheeler rack and landed in the road, he obviously didn't notice. So, I stop the truck and hop out to grab the towel for him. As I turned around with the towel in hand I see the truck slowly rolling BACKWARDS!!! I run the short few feet and hop in slamming the brake pedal to the floor. It was too late, the short little #@*% trailer felt like going a different direction and made a mess of the rt-rear quarter panel. I did really good though. I didn't throw anything or hit anything, I just got back in the truck and loaded my limping wheeler. Went into town and confirmed that the hole was too big to plug and too big for a patch to be effective by itself, so it was patched and a tube was inserted. Back to the lease. I headed straight for the hardwoods near one of the creeks on the property.

We spotted lots of "old" rubs. Probably50-60 within a generally small area. I figure it's still a little bit early for rubbing just yet, but I liked most of what I saw. I also found what I think is part of a large shed antler. I've never personally found a shed so I was pretty excited. However, the piece I found was hallow. Is this normal?? I've seen other sheds before, but never a hallow one. This thing has been severely chewed! The fact that it has been chewed, leads me to beleive that it IS a shed and not just a bone. Does that sound accurate?? I'll post some pics of it in a few minutes.

Anyway, I marked a couple of spots that I hope will produce some action. The spots have water, hardwoods(even a few White Oaks in the mix), and extremly thick cover nearby. I also setup my new trail cam at one area. Hopefully something will show up and smile. I'll ease back in there in a couple weeks and hang my stands. Still wanting to see some "fresh" rubs. My season opens Sept. 30th!