End of season report

Well the 2009 whitetail deer season has come to a close. And I must say it was without a doubt one of the most frustrating seasons in memory.

It started out great, seeing bucks every time I went into the woods. Then after the third week of October, I never saw another deer the entire season. Not one deer! Forget bucks, I couldn't even find a doe. I must admit, I was rattled to my core. I visited every aspect of my hunting: scent control, camouflage patterns, wind directions, sitting for longer periods of time, hunting at different times of day. Full moon, new moon, and every moon in between. Calling, rattling, and sitting quiet. Re-scouted the area and moved some stands, sat in different locations. Hunted from permanent stands, climbers, and from the ground. I am at a total loss. I just could not find the deer this season. And I hunted hard and often. Logging 20 days afield.

As i ponder the reasons, I am sure I will be scratching my head for several weeks and months trying to figure out what happened. But through it all I kept trying to remind myself that it is the "hunt" not the harvest that I enjoy. My patience was tried more this season than any since the mid 1980's, a drought that beat all droughts in a long time. But again, I enjoyed the hunts, the silence of the woods, the sights and sounds of nature, the fight to put the puzzle together and solve the riddle. This season the deer won, and that's OK. I'll be back after them next year with a vengeance. In the mean time, I switch gears to small game and waterfowl.

In fact this past Saturday my oldest son and I went squirrel hunting and had a great morning getting five squirrels, with 4 coming from the same massive oak tree! It was a lot of fun. Sunday after church, we poured the parboiled squirrels over some rice and had a feast!

I hope to get after some feral hogs in the coming weeks so I can get something for my freezer.

As for the deer season of 2009 - it will go down in the Rogers annuals as the season when I didn't harvest a deer. But that's OK, it just gives me a reason to go back next season. So when September 15th rolls around in 2010, I will be back in the woods, with my longbow in my hand chasing whitetails once again.