Curran's Outdoor Journey: Christmas eve bowhunt

Lee & I returned to the "G" farm to try and stick a deer on the morning of Christmas eve. He would be situated in the ground blind with his crossbow and bi-pod shooting stick, while I would press further back and hunt near the backside of the property, and to the north of the boot's inside corner. Weather conditions were fairly mild for our hunt that morning with the temperature in the mid 30's to lower 40's, and the winter winds of December barely blowing at all. When they did push through the barren branches of the woods they were streaming in from the WSW.

There was good sign right in front of the trail camera with the trail pounded from fresh tracks of various sizes, so hopes were high as we parted ways and exchanged "good lucks" about a half an hour before the sun's light would be scheduled to crest the horizon. And that's about it.... really. We sat vigilantly until about 9:45 when I shot off a text before climbing down from my perch. I met Lee again a short while later as he climbed out of the blind, and we confirmed each other's observations that squirrels can be a pain in the butt, crows are migrating like crazy, and the geese weren't honking that much as they flew seemingly just over the tree tops that morning. "Shoulda brought the guns and shot some squirrels."

A quick swap of the memory cards showed that deer actually did inhabit the woods, just mostly in the afternoon, and early evening. Not in the mornings, when we've decided to be there. Oh well. That's hunting when you've got other obligations, and family matters to attend to. You just try and make the most of the time you have, and pray that the deer Gods just help put you in the right place, at the right time, at least once this season. So far though those prayers to the deer Gods have gone unanswered. The good news is that there's still time.