I should've posted this a long time ago, but got involved in several other things like helping a son move and a family illness. Sorry it took so long Hangeye! I was lucky enough to fill a spot at Doug's deer shack in Nov., and had a wonderfully hilarious time. To those of you that couldn't make it, I ate your share of the fri. nite fish fry and Craigs sat. bacon wrapped pork loin,cooked over an open fire and basted with his own maple syrup. This was a serious problem by the time I headed home, because I'd worked hard to lose 15# and in 5-1/2 day, I gained 6# back. There were deserts and plenty of adult beverages that kept sliding down my throat, even though I protested, somewhat mildly after the first taste of ea.
For those of you, who have never had the experience of going to an old time deer shack, I offer my sincerest condolences. This is a part of hunting that is sorely missing in much of todays hurry up world. I went just hoping to see some neat country and meet a few guys, and I met a whole bunch of really great people, had wonderful food, and hunted in fantastically beautiful northwoods country. After getting waaaaay up there, I kept thinking how could I get my wife to move up there. It's beautiful country and if ya don't like the people, you're dumber than a box of rocks. The only thing I caught flack about when I got home was, "Quit saying Aye! all the time". The local vocabulary is contagiuos!
Doug said there weren't a lot of deer , so there were no surprises, OR dissapointments, as I went for the hunt, and comaraderie instead of the trophy kill. The deer have a hard time surviving up there to start with, with bears, coyotes, and wolves trying to eat them, hunters wanting to put them in the freezer, not to mention no crops like farther south to fatten up on. The deer I did see were either sneaking thru the woods way out of range, or running across the road on my way to my stand. You knew they were there, as they'd clean up a bait pile in no time at all, unfortunately it was always when I wasn't there. The one deer taken by a campmate was a young buck who'd had one side of his rack knocked off, than his luck got even worse, he walked out in front of a guy with a Browning BAR in 30-06 and a full clip.
I had to raz Hangeye about going back to IN. to shoot a deer. Sure enough got home and washed all my stuff, then went out on the next day and shot a nice 8 pointer for the freezer.
I was really happy I went even though Doug's wife worried I could have been a serial killer, but I explained I was only a "Cereal Killer". I had to confess that my wife asked somewhat similar questions. " What do you know about these guys, and " What if you don't come home". I pointed out that my life insurance was pd. up, which got me a lot of points on the " I got a headache" scale.
I was even offered a chance to go back next deer season, and if the economy doesn't take to big a crap, You bet your ass I'll be up there enjoying the north country and the wonderful people I got to met. I may have to come back to IN. to kill a deer, but who cares, the funs in the hunt.
