Alabama Trip

It all started about a week ago today. I saw my friend Pat and his girlfriend Amanda's post on Facebook that stated they are getting ready to batten down the hatches for a tornado. I added in my two cents and let him know if it gets bad he could always bug out up here. No one had any idea that it would have been the disaster that it is today. I saw some more posts come up about the damage that was caused, how many missing people are being reported, how many people are without houses, power, water, food, electricity, how much help would be needed. I thought at first, I'm sure our Country will help them out. Pat, who lives about 30 min from Tuscaloosa, posted he was getting ready to see if he could help out through the guard. He has finished his second tour in Afghanistan a few months ago and had some gear we could use like water packs and boots. They would not let him because he was attached to GA. Well, just hearing about how he wanted to go help set a spark in me. I had jokingly asked my boss, hey if I had nothing going on this weekend if he minded about me going to help, he said of course not. I debated it for some time, that being about 12 hours, and when Pat called me he asked if I were serious about heading up I said I was. He let me know another one of my friends, Bill, was going to. I discussed it lightly at first with my fiance Robyn, she was hesitant because she was not sure she would be able to handle it emotionally.  To be honest  I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking this way, but we finally came to an agreement and she wanted to come with. Pat and I talked about what we were going to be able to help with, we thought search and rescue would be something that had to be done and me, Bill, and Pat were willing to do. Pat and Amanda were going to work out the details of our assistance while we figured out how to get down there.

Robyn and I have a 7 mpg Jeep, a 12 mpg expedition, and a 96' Sunfire that could be on it's last leg. Bill has a truck that gets about 17 mpg, so far this was our best option. I asked around and our friend Trisha offered to let us use her Cobalt, thankfully that saved a ton of money on the gas to get down there. We left that Friday at 10PM and hauled it overnight, the trip was great company, but hell trying to stay awake, even splitting the shifts. I'll tell you what, seeing the sunrise as we entered in Alabama was absolutely amazing. Some of the destruction could be seen as we came across, trees tore up and snapped in half, nothing out of the ordinary from damage I've seen from tornadoes before. As we got further into the state we saw more and more. It was crazy seeing giant highway light posts, you know the big ones with like 7 huge lights at the top, just bent over halfway and twisted. If this was surprising to me I had no idea what else was in store.  We arrived at about 7AM or so. Just in time for some good food, a shower, and a nap, before we went out to see what good we could do. We geared up with what we had, water, food, some medical supplies, and headed out to a church near Tuscaloosa. As we traveled down the road we could see more and more damage, huge steel road signs bent in half, debris scattered around. When we arrived they really only had loading trucks for us to load and unload. We came a long way and were prepared to do some serious helping, this didn't seem like the best use of our bodies. There were a lot of people there loading and unloading trucks. We decided to head into town where it all happened and see if we could be of some assistance there.

I prepared myself for the worst, it's much easier than being surprised by something you weren't expecting. As we pulled into Tuscaloosa we saw more and more destruction. There was nothing, it was like the entire town had been bull dozed over. Entire buildings were reduced to nothing more than a door on a hinge. Entire walls were missing from apartment buildings. We got all our gear on and started walking. We asked around a bit to people that looked like they were in charge. The area seems like it had been setup with multiple churches and groups to help feed people and provide water. No one really had a solid answer on what we could do, just suggestions and hear say,

“I heard they needed help across the street there”. It was like a quest, with no good end result. As we walked into a neighborhood it was just a flood of emotion and speechlessness. It's weird when you hear people say that but standing in front of a town that has just been leveled and it all makes sense. What is there to say? There are no words for it just emotion, and a lot of questions. We walked some more and met up with a large group of what appeared to be media. A gentleman asked what we were doing and we let him know we were looking for somewhere to help. He asked us all where we were from and was blown away when we told him we
came down from IL. He looked frantically for a phone with service, AT&T was slacking big time out there, probably had some down towers. He wanted to get a hold of a crew he sent out with a group of students that were doing the same thing but couldn't track them down. He pointed us in the direction of a shop back across the street. We headed that way and were met by a jerk cop. Before we even approached the main road he started yelling at us. We waved him over and he started yelling more, “where are you going, you can't go this way”. Amanda said it must have been one of those cops who become a cop because they were picked on in

high school, haha, it seemed to fit. Needless to say he needed to boss someone around and he wasn't letting us get by.  We let him know an older woman that owned a shop needed help on the other side but he didn't budge, dick.We made our way back to the other side and had a little food, red beans and rice, that a local church was handing out. On our way we noticed a man with a beat up truck collecting scrap medal. The anger rose to my head, this guy is clearly not trying to help anyone but himself, just trying to make a buck, I felt like just laying him out, we just all spoke loudly about how shitty it was to see people taking advantage of disaster like that. On the other side we spoke with the pastor who was handing out food, he asked us where we were from, I was starting to think of just saying we were locals from the reaction we got. They were never bad reactions, but always filled with a lot of emotional thankfulness, truly genuine, he grabbed our hands and prayed for us to be safe and thanked God for sending us down there. It was pretty emotional but at the same time kind of awkward. He sent us

on the right path though. He let us know that a lot of the main town had been locked down, and searched, as was marked on the doors of buildings, like Katrina. He said we could probably have a big impact if we headed to some surrounding towns that may not have a lot of help. We took his advice and headed out.

As we came to the area we saw more chaos. Houses with trees through the living rooms, houses ripped from the ground, people everywhere, looking for food, belongings, family. We also say a man driving a beat up truck with a small flat bed trailer on the back with about 4 refrigerators, the sickening anger came back. This was the place we needed to be, gut check. We pulled up to a house with some parking spots and got out to see if they needed help with anything, they seemed to be ok, we offered some cold water and they accepted. We told them we were looking to help out and asked if we could park there, they agreed. We geared back up and started walking. There was no hub, no main section that said, start here, this area needs help, it was just winging it. We started going house to house. Pat took the lead on these first few and we stayed very aware, looking for structure flaws, exposed wires, anything that could cause us harm. We found a child, maybe about 7-10 years old and asked where his family was. He let us know that he didn't have a daddy and his mom was somewhere, fearing a member may be dead we started making
our way in the house and checking out the scene. Finally, a

family member came up and we let him know he was all alone in this house and we were concerned that someone may be hurt. He let us know that everything was alright and we moved on to the next house. Most of these had already been abandoned but we made our way around and kept asking if anyone needed anything, food, water, help with anything, some said they were ok, some wanted water. We came upon another group of people that appeared to be doing similar work as us. We walked to the next set of houses and they were telling us of a story where an older lady was explaining to people how she survived inside her bathtub. That was pretty intense. They said

that there were a few people in the house behind us that may need some help. We offered our services and asked a few times if we could help with anything. They had a very large tree laid out on the side of the house going onto the roof. The roof looked pretty damaged, but they were cutting the tree to make room for a tarp. We headed up the ladder and checked the structure to see if it was safe, Pat and Bill were up there before me. We helped remove tree debris and pieces of the tree that the man was cutting with his chainsaw. It was easier just to have one man cut it and put the log down the line of 4 guys and off the roof, safer than carrying it across the roof I suppose. We got some good work done on it, enough where a tarp can go over it and prevent a lot of leaking. While up on that roof looking over everything you could see it was very overwhelming. Like how many people could help make a difference here, the destruction was everywhere, as far as you could see. One thing at a time I suppose.

We headed out of that area and moved on to another road. About a mile down we could see an entire neighborhood that was leveled. We made our way down, asking if anyone needed help with anything, moving heavy items, anything it looked like needed to be done. We saw a Sheriff on an ATV and flagged him down. He said there were some people, FEMA maybe, handing out tarps for houses that we could probably help pass out. We each grabbed a few and headed back down the street. We came upon a couple that had all of their belongings out in the yard. It was clear that a tarp would not help their house, in fact a lot of these houses needed more than a tarp. We offered to cover his belongings, despite the devastation they seemed to be in good spirits and very thankful for our help. We found another family a little ways down and asked if they needed some tarps. They had asked if we could put it on the roof, with no ladder, hammer, nails, we were very limited. We let them know we could give it a shot but they need someone with the
proper tools to come by. We figured out that Pat and I could lift Bill onto the roof and we did. We threw some tarps up there and some scrap wood that was scattered everywhere. He did the best that he could up there but like many houses, it needed more than a tarp. We were pretty angry to see that the entire family was out in the front watching Bill, a few kids maybe in their late teens mid 20's just standing there eating pizza while he was up there. Why did the parents tell the kids to help, they didn't even think about helping, it was very frustrating. We decided that we've done all we would there and moved on. We passed out some more tarps and some water and with our entire body's sore from the sun and work, we headed back. We had a lady ask us if we've seen a child with a broken back around anywhere, we had not, I guess there was a missing child somewhere in the mess with a broken back. There wasn't really anything anyone could do, no description, not even a vague description, just a child with a broken back. We kept our eyes open but didn't see anything.

when all is said and done, it is what it is

The whole thing was a crazy experience, very emotional and eye opening. It really puts you in your place as to where you are on the food chain of life. You hear of people preparing for disasters, having a plan and knowing what they would do in events like these. Hopefully it helped. There's not much you can do to protect from something like this so it would be more, what happens after. It really puts perspective on the petty things that we complain about in our lives. I can say that this was an eye opening experience for most if not all of us. We pray for the victims of this disaster and are more then willing to do our share when we can.

Ground Blind Attempt

I received a ground blind for Christmas and I decided to try it out.  Since I was able to sit down in a chair and set everything up nice and early I figured I would make an attempt to start documenting what I could on video.

Video

The weather was very cold.  Every breath was bitter and sharp as it passed through my nostrils.  I attempted to breath through my mouth a little bit but it wasn't much better.  Sitting down I was pretty relaxed in there but not any warmer then I had thought it would be.  My legs were the first to start getting uncomfortably cold.  I stood up a few times and tried to keep them warm but they eventually moved on to my feet until I could no longer feel my toes haha.  I gave another shot at trying to call some deer.  Then packed it in.

This area has been hunted since October so I'm not sure if the deer are all scattered now or what.  I haven't found much signs of rubs or beds so I'm thinking I'm going to move on to another area.  I had asked the local farmer if I could hunt his land and he didn't seem to interested in it, so that was a no.  I'll keep looking for some good spots but I fear the end of my season is here.

Erienna Hunt Club

Today's story takes us to the Erienna Hunt Club in Morris IL.  I was finally able to get out and try my new Mossberg Maverick 88 out.  I was also able to go hunting with my Dad, Joe Spizzirri, which was the first time we've really been able to do that, and a client of his, Don.  This would be my second time hunting pheasant and from what I was told, this location was a little different then hunting wild pheasant.  The Erienna Hunt Club manages the birds and actually places them out in the field about 15-20 minutes before you are ready to go out.  You tell them how many you want, we took 9, and you pay per bird.  It was just our luck that the day we picked to go was the first snow of the year, and a pretty heavy one at that.

I woke up around 6:30am and started the coffee.  The first time they had to hunt was 9am so I was excited and ready to head out long before then.  When we arrived I snapped a pretty nice picture to the left there and realized it was going to be a cold wet one.  I dressed as best as I could for the weather and it actually wasn't that cold out.  When we got inside the club it was filled with all sorts of different mounts, deer, pheasant, duck, you name it and it was probably up there.  The people working the club were very nice and accommodating.  They were more then happy to answer any questions that I had as well as give me some deer hunting tips on different property in the area to try out.

Map is from the Erienna Hunt Club website at http://www.eriennahuntclub.com

We had 9 pheasant thrown out for us and we were on our way.  We drove to our area Cackles End and parked.  We loaded up and made the plan to work our way over from the second field in, down to the end.  We made note of the tracks were from where ATV had dropped the birds.  We were unable to flush out any birds our first run through so we made our way to the far left area, if you are looking at the map, and were able to kick up the first bird, which was a rooster.  He took off to Don's side and I heard the two shots ring out from his over under, I attempted a long shot but it was too far out by then.  We walked the rest of that field and headed back over where the rooster took off to.  We were able to track it into some tree's along a creek where my Dad scared it up and took a solid shot.  That was the first bird we took.  We made our way through the rest of the fields slowly, stopping to listen for the cackle and to look for tracks.  I quickly was able to figure out the track patterns and follow them.  The snow was still coming down and pretty good I would say.  We were walking into the snow which made it difficult to take a shot when the store hit your eye.

The third field in we made our way up and down the rows.  We flushed out another rooster, this time it came up near me and made it's way over to my Dad's side.  The first shot I took feathers kicked up but the bird didn't go down, I then heard a shot from Don and my Dad; each time more feathers flew off.  The bird struggled in the air, went down, then out of nowhere went right back up in the air, over a fence and some train tracks and out of reach.  All three of us hit that bird and it still made it, it was very impressive to see.  As we continued to make our way through the rows of the field a rooster came up in my area.  Don took a shot which missed, I took aim and pulled the trigger and the bird dropped.  That was my first bird of the day and second pheasant of my hunting career; it was very exciting.  We kept working the rows and another bird came up, a hen, I was told that hens were legal here and I did not hesitate.  I raised my Mossberg almost as fast as the bird left the ground and instantly put it down.  I should have waited a second or two because the feathers were everywhere and a good part of the rear was M.I.A.  We made our way down the rows once again and a hen came up on Don's side which he was able to take down.  It didn't sound like the shot killed it so my Dad attempted to spin the neck, and now I understand why they say to press on the chest, because that head came off about as quick as he spun it.

We kept on going to the farthest part of the field.  We took a detour into some tree areas, following some deer tracks, and was able to find about 4 fresh beds, too bad they didn't allow deer hunting here, it was shotgun weekend and everything.  We made our way back to the fields and flushed out a rooster, this time everyone missed.  As we continued to walk I could feel my thighs burning and the snow from the brush was starting to seep through my pants.  We made another pass back to where our cars were and continued to follow the tracks.  This was getting a little harder to remember where we had already been and if we had followed the pheasant tracks already.  The snow made it easy at first because we were the first ones out there.  As we made our way down I found what looked like some more tracks and approached it slowly.  Not knowing for sure if they were tracks or fallen snow I kept approaching the brush and out came a rooster.  It took flight in front of my but caught me by surprise pretty good.  I took two shots at it, I heard Don's two shots and I heard at least two from my Dad, all missed.  Then out comes a hen to my right back and behind my Dad.  I took my last shot but missed.  I explained that another one had flown up behind us and they had no clue.  I suppose I should have said something but everyone had taken their shots and it wouldn't have done much good.

We went back with 4 birds; two roosters and two hens.  Afterwords we sat at the table near the fire they had and warmed up and dried off while enjoying some peanuts and a cold beverage, while they cleaned our kill.  Overall it was a great time, I got to get out there and hunt with my Dad, which I hear and now know is always a great thing to do.  We missed a few but went home with something for dinner.

Below is the information for the hunting club if you are interested I recommend checking it out, it was a lot of fun.  Thanks for checking in!

Erienna Hunt Club
This hunt club requires no annual fees and offers a wide range of fields.  The hours are great and they also offer guided hunts with dogs.  This was my first trip out here and won't be my last.

Pheasant Hunting

So I ran into a friend of mine, Clint, on Monday and we got to talking about hunting and how I've been out in a tree stand a few times this year but have yet to find that elusive whitetail.  He gave me the option to go out pheasant hunting with him and another friend of mine Mike.  I thought it over for a few minutes, "Did I want to give up a chance to get a deer and try my luck at bird hunting?"  Since I've never gone out hunting with a shotgun, none the less, did not own a shotgun, I voiced my concern.  I was offered to use an older Mossberg pump 12 gauge and couldn't turn it down.

Mike knew a spot down 55 South near the Dwight area that we got to just about sunrise.  Mike and Clint both explained a few things to me and we got started walking the area.  We started walking slowly stopping every few steps or so to see if we could hear anything.  The wind was crisp and bit at the only openings I had, which happened to be my finger tips.  I packed a few extra hand warmers which I shared with Mike and Clint.  I seemed to have dressed and layered warm enough for the weather.  After a little while walking, out of nowhere something flew out from the brush and just about scared me dead.  I struggled to get the Mossberg to my shoulder in time to realize that it was a Hen.  Since we were out hunting wild pheasant and not somewhere that breeds them to hunt it is a no-no.  We kept walking down that side for quite some time and came to a stream that lead to some farm land.  When we approached the stream right on the other side was a good sized doe standing there, who turned tail and ran once it got sight of us.

We made our way back down the trail in an attempt to flush out anything on the other side.  When we finally reached the end, back where the car was parked, we kicked out another bird; this time a Rooster.  Another nervous raise of the Mossberg after I heard a few shots from my friends.  I saw a few feathers fly off after Mike's shot but the bird took off flying.  Sure that it had been hit we set out after it, but not before taking a breather to rest our legs and get a bite to eat out of my day pack.  It was probably about 11am by now and we headed down the other direction after the one that got away.

The long journey down took us through some great country side.  In a group of trees we were finally able to track down the wounded bird.  I heard a rustling on the side and swung to shoot, forgetting the very important rule of don't shoot the pheasant on the ground.  Luckily, I more then likely missed the bird and it was still wounded from the first shot.  Mike put the bird down and we threw it into the pack.  We made our way down as far as we could before we hit what looked like a man made river or soon to be river.  We trudged our way back to the car attempting to flush out more birds but only another Hen as we ended up back by the car.  We took a break to rest our legs and decided to go grab some lunch at the local gas station.  By now it was about 3pm or so, we've spent a lot of time walking around through some thick waist to chest high brush.  I would have never though my legs would be so sore and we weren't done yet.

We took a drive over to another spot that looked like it had some potential.  We got out and geared back up.  It wasn't about 10 minutes into walking when Mike flushed out another Rooster.  I jumped out by him and he took two shots with his over under with no report, Clint took a shot his way and the bird kept on going.  By now the bird was a good 50 yards away.  I took up the Mossberg and followed it a second or two before squeezing the trigger, one shot and down with the pheasant.  I had taken my first bird.  The excitement I felt after seeing the bird fall was almost unexplainable, it was a rush of joy mixed with a little shock.  I gave an excited yell and rushed over to verify that it was dead, and it was.  We bagged the bird and kept on moving.  We went as far as we could there and turned back around.  This time the rustling we heard resulted from a rabbit.  The first one ran out quick past and I didn't have a shot.  Not 2 minutes after that another came out, this time it was not so lucky.  I took one shot, saw some dirt kick up, thinking I missed took another.  It was a good shot and the rabbit was down.

We came out of the area across from that to meet another hunter on an ATV.  He recommended that we check out another spot a little ways away so we did.  Not thinking to ask more questions about where this spot was we headed aimlessly to were we assumed he had been talking about.  The drive was not a total loss though; on our way over in the car I was able to catch a view of a few bucks in the field fighting it out, I have not seen this in person so it was very interesting  We worked that area till sundown.  We didn't flush out any more pheasant but I did see the biggest buck of my life.  From a ways away you could see the massive build of this animal and a rack that puts many to shame.  I stood there for a few seconds and took off.  I am still thinking of going back here with the bow and trying my luck at it.  You all will be the first to know if this happens.

We took the long drive home with 2 pheasants and a rabbit.  Not bad according to how difficult I've been told wild IL pheasant can be to get.  I was very excited to have my first time out be such a great experience.  Nothing beats being outdoors with some good friends.  Below is the photo of my first pheasant taken by Clint Rife.

Area C

I wanted to change things up a little bit today and try out Silver Springs area C.  I didn't think this would be the best idea because I have never been to this area before.  I had researched it a bit as I did area B through maps and google/bing maps and had a good idea of where I wanted to setup shop.  I woke up at about 4am but unfortunately fell back asleep and woke back up at about 4:45am.  I wanted to be at check in at about 5 and on my way to setup before sunrise.  I had also forgotten that daylight savings had kicked in and sunrise was actually going to be at about 6:30am today.

I jumped in the shower, de-scented, grabbed my gear and started the Jeep; only to realize that I was out of gas.  I headed over to fill up and by the time I got to check in it was about 6am and it was already getting light outside.  As soon as I stepped out to go sign in there was a young buck just standing outside the office.  I was able to grab a quick picture with my iPhone but it didn't turn out too great.

I pulled out of the check in station and headed over to C only to see more deer off the road.  All of these deer were in areas where hunting is not permitted, go figure.

I got to area C and got all setup.  By the time I was done and sitting in my stand it was probably about 6:45 and the sun was clear up.  I was pretty sure that I missed my prime window but sat it out.  The weather was great.  The sun came up and threw some heat down my way, so much that I had to shed some layers and hang them up on some branches.  I alternated between doe calls and antler rattles and didn't hear much of anything, I thought I heard a grunt response to one of the doe calls but didn't hear anything walking my way, I gave it a few more tries and waited a bit.

I probably sat up there until about 10am before I got the itch to check out the rest of the area.  I walked around the back part and crossed a stream over a log and wandered around a while.  I didn't see anything around the back part.  I heard another hunter rattling some horns, it didn't seem like he had much luck either.  I turned back to tear down my gear and head home.  Before I left I snapped another picture of my setup.

Thanks for stopping by!

Second Hunt

I went out to Bass Pro Shops a few days before I hunted and picked up a tree stand.  After talking to a few different people I chose this over a ground blind.  I kept hearing stories that the deer are very observant and would notice a ground blind out of place and steer clear of them.  I was also told that they would be able to easily smell you from the ground blinds.  This directed me to make my decision on the tree stand.  I went with a King Kong HX Hang-On tree stand.

I took it home and played around with it.  This is my first experience with a tree stand of any sort so it was very unfamiliar to me.  It took me a few minutes to figure out the workings and how I planned on carrying it in and out of the hunting area and really didn't seem all that heavy.

The day came up a little quicker then I was ready for.  When I woke up it was about 4:30am, I showed with the Primos de-scent, sprayed down my clothes, and thew everything in my Jeep.  The morning air was very crisp and it was pretty dark outside.  It was a little awkward to be up and ready to go when it still felt like night.  I made my way to the sign in station at Silver Springs.  I was a little intimidated when I saw about 5 cars in the parking lot, after walking in I noticed they were all for pheasant hunting.  There was only one person signed in to B.

I dragged all my gear out of the Jeep and prepared myself to walk in.  After my tree stand, 2 small tree ladders, my day pack, and my bow, it was a little overwhelming.  I realized I should have geared up and practiced with everything before I got out here.  I was fumbling around trying to figure out the most comfortable and least noisy way to carry everything back.  I had a spot in mind of where I wanted to setup and found it.  I would have been in some trouble if it weren't for a headlamp a friend gave me this summer.  I put everything down next to the tree I had picked out.  I strapped the ladders to the tree and made sure they were stable.  I then realized how difficult it was going to be to climb them with a tree stand in one hand and secure it to the tree.  After a few frustrating minutes I was able to get everything all setup.  I also realized why the salesman at Bass Pro had suggested 3 ladders, I was not up as high as I had thought, but for my first time in a stand it was as high as I was comfortable.  By the time everything was good to hunt it was probably about 7:15 or 7:30 am.  Light had begun to peak over the hillside, which would have helped when I was setting up, but it seemed like I may have gotten in early enough.

I sat for quite some time with no movement.  It was a little cooler up in a tree then walking around on the ground.  My hands and feet took most of the punishment.  I found myself alternating a hand in each hunting jacket pocket and standing up from time to time to keep the blood flow through my feet.  I sprayed out some doe scent and did some calls throughout the 4 hours I was up there.  About an hour into the hunt I heard some rustling around behind me.  I got a little excited and turned to look.  Unfortunately it was a stupid squirrel.  I say stupid because it had me thinking that there was a deer walking up on me.  They did this a few times to me, running past and around the tree, through some leaves, but no sign of the deer.

I held out as long as I could up there and finally packed it in.  My feet were cold to the point where I could not feel them and my hands were getting there as well.  I think I am going to need some warmer gear.  I am planning to go back out on Tuesday and see what else this area has to offer.  I am thinking about checking out section C.  There is a lot more area and appears to have some good funnel points.  The pheasant hunting area is pretty close to so maybe they will be able to scare some deer my way.

Thanks for stopping by!

First Day at Silver Springs

Today I wanted to get up at about 4 AM and get there real early.  Little did I know a huge storm was coming through that would ruin those plans.  I was up at 4 to hear the wind pounding the sides of the house.  I checked the weather reports and not only was it a storm but a tornado watch had been issued for the greater part of IL.  I tried to get some sleep but the wind kept me in and out.  I finally woke back up at about 9 AM and stayed up.  The storm seemed like it was going to pass but it was still windy to the point where there was a wind advisory.  I waited until about 11 AM before I decided that I was going to give it a shot.  I knew I missed the prime morning hunting time but I figured the deer may be active after the storm.

I checked in and found that I was the only person listed today.  This was good because I wanted to browse around and get a little more familiar with the area.  I geared up and headed into the woods.  The weather was a little chilly with strong gusts of wind.  Once in the woods the wind didn't seem to play much part in anything besides being aware of which way my human smell as going.  I kept checking up ever so ofter to make sure a branch or tree wasn't about to come down on top of me.  There were a few spots I remembered from last year that I wanted to check out.  I found a nice little area with a little cleaning, some water, and green plants.  I sprayed some doe scent around and sat on it for about an half hour or so.  I wanted to explore a little so I left that spot and made my way up the hillside.  I found a lot of tall trees, good spots for a stand if I ever get one, and some scent packets that someone had left a day or two before.  I sat on this spot for a while.  I sprayed a little scent and used my Primos call every few minutes.  I didn't see any deer activity, a few squirrels and a hawk that was playing around with something on the ground.  I moved around until I pretty much explored everywhere I wanted to check out.  I took note of a few spots that I wanted to try out with a ground blind and a tree stand, both of which I do not own.

On my way out I took a different path.  I had seen someone the other morning with a head lamp on setting up over in that general area and wanted to take a look on my way out.  While I was walking I took note of some good spots, I went around a downed tree and heard leaves moving just in time to see the famous white tail waving good-bye to me.  I followed her into the area but was unable to locate where she had run off to.  I packed it in a headed back to the check out area, where 3 does were eating off of a tree across the street.  No hunting is allowed over there but I'm pretty sure I heard some snickering.

I had a pretty good time over all.  I was a little disappointed that I wasn't keeping my eye open and just walked right past the only deer I've seen all day to scare it off.  I'll never make that mistake again that's for sure.

Keep checking in with my progress, hopefully I'll have some interesting stories for anyone that wants to hear them.