Hunting--- Two Weekends Pasted

Okay everyone an update on my hunting adventures so far. The young adults I took with me had a great time in the woods together and as I figured would happen none of us saw any deer on opening day (Sept. 22 ). I had another buddy come by late Friday evening and was supposed to go along but to date I haven't seen anything of him. I hunted morning and evening on Saturday then went Sunday morning by myself and got lucky enough to catch a glimpse of two deer moving through the brush just above me on the side of the ridge. This weekend I hunted from the ground by a very large oak tree and still saw nothing, however as I was walking out I took a different route following a ATV trail which crossed a creek bottom twice where I found some great tracks crossing the creek bottom. I decided to hunt these crossings Sunday morning (Sept. 30 ) which is where I headed this morning. After setting in the woods for 5 hours I was just about ready to give up for the morning when I heard leaves russeling and figures that the moon was full so it could be the deer were moving in the middle of the day. I grabbed my bow just in time to have three wild dogs walk right upon me to within 5 feet of myself. These dogs and ATVs riding the trails where I'm hunting has been my problem since the season opened. The access road to the property where I hunt has also been blocked off with a cable and lock so nobody can enter the front of the property where another group of hunters are hunting. I left them a note explaining it was an access road to the property and that I was hunting behind them to please remove the cable. With all these problems the passed two weeks I decided to pull my stands and either move locations or give up hunting altogether (more on this decision later). Sorry no photos yet.

Hunting--The Moment of Truth

Hey everybody; it's finally here the one time of year when every hunter is actually looking forward to getting up early( I mean really early) in the morning. This is got to be the best day of the year when all your dreams could actually come true. I'm talking about Mr. Big standing right beneath your stand and your actually in your stand with your bow just itching to release your arrow into a vital area on him. This day is going to be one for the books, one that you'll tell to your friends and family for years to come. Although it's not official yet you just have that feeling deep inside you that this has got to be the day when the great moment of truth finally happens. All this talk about one day that's finally come and I haven't even told you yet what day it is( of coarse I'm sure you've already guessed by now), naturally it's opening day of bow season here in Tennessee and I'm about as ready as I can get. Well maybe I can make just a few more preparations before I go to bed and oh yes I have two companions going along on this adventure. That's right one of my grandchildren Matthew Simmons and his school buddy Charles Parrish are going along so even though it's opening day I don't look to put anything on my tag but it could happen I guess. Clothes laid out,gear all together and ready, truck gassed up, new broad heads on arrows,stabilizer on bow, med. bag equipped and of coarse alarm set and coffee pot set and ready for an early morning. It sounds like I've got everything ready for opening day but I 'm sure there'll be something that I'll forget and before anybody brings it up I don't ever use a flashlight. Flashlights are to easy to spook the deer so I memorize the woods I hunt during my scouting to minimize spooking the deer I'm hunting. Anyway this post was really to tell everyone good luck and stay safe during this years hunting adventures and don't forget we all like to see those great photos even if they're not of your game.

Hunting--Work and Woodland Escape

This weekend I was busy replacing a floor for a client in his bathroom. The floor had been replaced before by someone who didn't know what they were doing.They had used all different kinds of scrap lumber to rebuild the floor and had three different heights when he finish which caused the linoleum to crack and the toilet to rock every direction you moved. Being this house was built in the 1930's I knew this was going to be a chore that would take some time to replace. The existing floor had to be removed along with the toilet,a new floor system put in due to wood rot,the plumbing had to be worked on some to bring the toilet flange down on top of the new floor, then replace the linoleum and toilet along with the trim. The floor is dropping causing a swag which is going to have to be raised. All in all I finally finished the job Sunday evening around 2:00 p.m. then was supposed to help my dad with a roof leak which got put off till next weekend. All in all the floor replacement took me approximately 13 1/2 hours and will end up costing the client $425.00 for his new floor.You can make some decent money doing this kind of work but sometimes it can cause alot of headaches and get into some serious problems if you don't know what your doing or look at the entire job before you give an estimate for the work. I love doing this kind of work but sometimes I get myself in a pickle with my time scheduling.Figuring your time for a job is probably the most important factors of your estimate which is where so many people lose their profit. If the job takes longer then estimated then there goes their profit. Of course my theory is to figure extra time then give the client a refund when possible which makes the client happy with the work they received and you get call-backs for more work. Today I have to go work on my dad's roof,work on another clients roof( just extend the overhang for gutters to be installed which I'll be doing),and of course collect from the floor replacement job then anything else I can work into my schedule before the end of the daylight hours. So much work and so little time to do it all in with little help makes me tired just thinking about it but I have a cure it's called woodland escape. When I get worn out from my work I try to head for the woods to regroup if only for a couple of hours then I'm ready for another long haul of construction work again. Good thing hunting season is close then I can do so real relaxing even though my time in the woods will be limited.I probably have to bring in some help to get the work caught up by next weekend(Sept. 22,07) which is the first day of bow hunting season but if that's what it takes then so be it cause I've planned Sept. 22, 07 as my day to do nothing but hunt those dang ole smelly deer even if it kills me. I do my best to keep everybody posted on my hunting adventures and the outcome of each one but with all the work coming in right now looks like I'm going to be really busy this fall and may not get to go as much as I'd like too. The first deer is usually to fill the tag(which I figure pays for the tag) then after that it's all mainly trophy hunting for a nice rack to put on the wall. Even though the meat does cut down on the grocery bill, it's all about being in the woods just relaxing for me.

Opening Seasons

Hunting season has finally gotten here again and with all the work I still have to do around here I just haven't had time to go yet. Dove season has opened labor day weekend and squirrel season opened already too but I more interested in the opening day of whitetail archery season which I'm hoping for a good weekend and don't plan on doing anything that weekend except hunting.It opens September 22,07 and I'm planning on putting everything on hold that I can just for hunting. I may show up here sometime during the day to update everyone on how I'm doing with my hunting over the weekend but don't think I'm going to make any special trip home just to update you folks when there's whitetail to be taken running everywhere in the hills of Tennessee. Anyway thanks for stopping by for the visit and I'll see you all soon. Oh yeah I forgot to show you I got my deerstand up,Redneck style.

Welcome New Writer -- David Knapp

Hey folks: I've just finished reading and commenting on a new site I found and I think it's really worth time to check out for yourself ( http://thetroutzone.blogspot.com/ ) it's about a young fisherman and his travels and he seems to be having a great time enjoying the great outdoors and meeting new people. I've added his site to both my sites so visit him when you can and welcome him to our society group. I've not established whether or not he's into hunting yet but with time maybe one of you can or maybe I'll get the chance to next time I visit his site. By the way his name is David Knapp and he's into trout fishing for the biggest part of his life.