the hunter

I think it would usually be sometime around the first day of spring that my dad would begin long months of dreaming about deer season. He liked hunting in general, of course, but opening day of gun season was what I heard about most. Perhaps that was because that was something that he and I really did a lot of together - but I do know he could hardly sleep the night before, thinking through all the different factors and variables of our coming hunt.
All the drive up to the farm, he would quiz me on what I'd do in various scenarios:

• A doe walks in front of you, and she keeps stopping and looking behind her. What do you do?
• A deer is facing away from you, and all you can see is the tail. What do you do?
• A deer is standing perfectly still, looking at you, but there is too much brush in the way for a clean shot. What do you do?
  

He would find/set up some sort of crazy stand for me every year. We'd often hunt on public land, where you're not supposed to use permanent stands, so sometimes I'd be up an aluminum extension ladder leaned against a tall, bare-branched white pine. Sometimes I'd be standing over a deer trail on a little portable stand that was probably 1 1/2 feet by 2 feet, with a seatbelt attaching me to the tree. Here's a picture of the last stand he set up for me; I think I hunted in it for three years. He split a sapling and made a makeshift ladder with nails he'd brought along, and on opening day he'd set the ladder up, climb up and bungee cord the top to the tree, and lay down a carpet-thingy on the branch where I'd be standing. I'd climb up that into the fork of the tree and stand there most of the day. (The branch has since split, so that stand's not much use any longer.) It turned out to be a pretty great stand!

I miss my dad. And doubly-so this time of year. It's especially rough going through his stuff - his writing on boxes of bullets he'd reloaded and that sort of thing. SO glad to have my Uncle Dean & Aunt Dar, who've been looking after me since Dad's been gone. They let me crash at their place, and Dean gets me all set to go, and last year he helped me track a deer I never would have found on my own. I don't think I could go if I didn't have such a great setup with them.

So wish us luck; opening day is this Saturday! And - if you know a good hunting story about my dad - share it in the comments below - I'm sure we'd love to hear it!