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First Day's Hunt

After the night at the casino, where we left around 3am, I was undecided about whether to hunt or not immediately at dawn. Several guys ended up skipping hunting to sleep, others took a nap before going out mid-morning. But some, myself included, decided to go out immediately to be out at dawn.

But, I had a bit of a plan. Recall, I was still rather tipsy, so I meandered out to one of the sites I have liked over the years, and there was a special tree that I have enjoyed and kept secret about for a lot of years. This big old white oak tree must have been damaged in a storm earlier in its life, for it grew in a split "V" fashion, which is very uncommon for the species. The left side of the "V" was further misshapen in such a way that at only about 8 feet off the ground it spread out wide and nearly horizontal for about 10 feet. It was perfect to lay upon up in the tree. And from years past, I had a little sling arrangement for my Marlin lever action 30-06 to hang safely from. The weather was exceptionally warm for November (low 40s), and my heavy hunter orange jacket and insulated pants kept me plenty warm. So I climbed up into the tree, and smoked my pipe a few times, and eventually laid down on the limb and very quickly fell asleep.

After about two hours, I awoke and the light was still in that hazy, blueish quality that happens on a wet morning shortly after sunrise. The only minor mishap was that my pipe had fallen out of my pocket and I saw it down below in the brush surrounding the tree. Gingerly climbing out of the tree to retrieve my pipe, I heard a crack down away from my site about 50 yards or so, and when I looked, I swore I saw some movement. Very quietly I picked up my pipe and carefully climbed back onto the limb of the tree to get a better view. It was a buck!

I will continue with more tomorrow.

PipeTobacco