Deer Hunting

Today was a once in a lifetime deal in the deer woods. I was about to give up and go to the house when I heard a deer walking behind my stand.

I froze and, when he walked under my stand, my first reaction was that his antlers looked like a moose's. To avoid scaring him, I had to wait until he was about 30 yards beyond me. Fortunately, I got a good shot and was able to get him. He had 18 points and weighed 150 pounds.

The bad news is that the taxidermy bill is going to be considerable. He is not something that I could pass up having mounted, though. Its extremely doubtful that I will ever even see another deer like that!

Primitive Arms Season Ends

Well, today is the last day of the season and I am "naught for naught". I think Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies" used to use that phrase. We did have a good time, however, and I'm looking forward to regular gun season.

My goal this coming week is to get my new tower in the air. I've procrastinated too long and now is the time. I already have a battle plan and will start on it tomorrow. I'll post some pictures as I go.

I opened the barn door today to let the Guinea chicks out if they so chose. They opted not to venture out but I expect that will change in a couple of days. I have 23 of them but I think I will probably lose at least three. One is a runt, although it acts OK, another has a broken or paralyzed leg, and yet another appears to have some sort of illness. Hopefully, they will all make it but the odds are long.

I did work both Spain and the Dominican Republic today on PSK-31. I had good copies on both of them. It's always exciting to work a foreign country.

Tepees

Louise and I spent the biggest part of yesterday at the Tulsa Convention Center helping set up the stage for the General Grand Chapter meeting of the Eastern Star. At last count, there were 4116 people signed up to attend from across the United States - most of them women (no editorial comment meant here).

I helped erect a 22' tepee, two smaller tepees, and move a 6' aluminum buffalo. I must say that I have never done any of these things before. The good news is that I don't have to sit through the entire weekend attending this soirée. We have two days of primitive arms season left and I intend to spend both of them in the woods.

I did dig out my "Benjamin Franklin" costume tonight in case we decide to go out tomorrow night for Halloween. I hate to brag but I make a pretty good Benjamin Franklin.

Hunting Results

Well, we've been black powder hunting for three days now and haven't done any good at all. I did see two does on Saturday morning but they were off in the bush and I didn't take a shot at them. Saturday was the best day, weatherwise, with a temp of about 38F, a light frost, and NO wind. This morning there was so much wind that you could hardly stay in the tree.

We're gonna go again in the morning and then take a break Wednesday.

I've still got to get busy and get that tower up in the air. Maybe I can work on that next week. How's that for procrastination?

Trout Fishing

We just returned from a fishing trip to Branson where we absolutely slayed the trout. We went with two other couples, one from Mannford and one from Denver, CO. Charles, who lives in Denver, has stomach cancer, and we were glad to be able to spend a couple of days with him and his wife.

The highlight of the trip was the 2 1/2 pound brown trout I caught just before we had to quit fishing yesterday. He sure was a pretty thing but was not anywhere being a keeper up there. On Lake Taneycomo, the minimum length for browns is 20".

Now its time to start thinking about deer hunting - the primitive arms season starts Saturday and I plan to be out there "among em".