Nicco and I needed some time away from the world, so I got in the book (off work) and we headed on out to the deer lease. Since planning was on the fly, the packing was somewhat haphazard. I figured as long as we had long rifles and the correct ammunition, we could fake just about everything else. We got out the door at about 10:30 on the 30th. The trip out was pretty smooth – we passed up Bass Pro Shop due to all the after Christmas shoppers and waited til we got to east side of San Antonio to get Nicco’s hunting license. Boy oh boy, mistake number one. The nice people at the local Academy gave Nicco’s license to someone else, then tried to charge us 10.00 for a replacement!!! 45 minutes later, we were on our way. We got there in time to set up a few things and get set up in our respective stands. Nicholas did not see anything, but I saw eight or so deer (a little too far off to shoot :). Evening was hot dogs, pork and beans, followed by coca cola and cigars! Temperature dropped from 80ish to 30ish VERY cold…. The next morning, i only saw one nubbin buck (who stayed in front of the feeder the whole morning). Nicholas only saw one doe, but it was a nice one and he took it. Luckily it had warmed up and we finished cleaning and quartering by noon.
Nicco took a trip around the property and came back properly tired. I went to my stand, but with the fireworks already starting in the afternoon, never had a chance of seeing anything. I took a small walk where I thought I had heard a deer snorting. I would take three steps and stalk… all very hunter-like 🙂 When I got to the spot where I thought I had heard the noise, I turned back toward the pasture. When I turned back toward the woods, three deer burst out right next to me.. I ended up on my backside in an episode reminiscent of the Three Stooges. Nice thing about hunting is that there was no one there to witness my embarassment (except the guy in the tower blind on the lease next to us :))
Dinner that night was more hot dogs, hamburgers, beans, and coke. The more fatigued you get, the better the food tastes. Nicco thought I was some kind of award winning chef (I found some seasoning for the hamburgers!!!). Seeing as there was a fire ban – we gathered around something and talked for a few hours – while ensuring the safety of the surrounding wilderness. Nicco hit the sack and I stayed up reading until it got to cold to concentrate. When I turned in it was in the high thirties. By 6:00 the next morning, the temp was up to high fifties and wet, wet, wet. Foggy drizzle had moved in – made packing a pain. We checked the hog trap, but all our fine plans were for naught…. no piggies. We drove in to Helotes where Nicco went to Our Lady of the Guadalupe, then home to Houston for New Year’s festivities at Mamie’s house. Had a great time. I got to bed early enough to get some sleep before getting back to work at 5am on Monday.
How was YOUR new year????
Chase's Ramblings 