Positive Thinking Triggers Nice Buck

   Like hunting walleyes after a lifetime of making it a science, "hunting high speed beef" is an annual passion of mine also. I think this was about my 45th opening weekend, with all but about 4-5 of those years being pretty successful. I brag about a streak of somewhere in the 20 plus year range that I got my buck on the opener. But this year, as I stepped into my modern day stand, heater in place, I was still stinging from not even seeing a deer last year, let alone shooting my buck on the opener.

  My memory of deer season goes back to the early 60's. Although I wasn't hunting until the mid to late 60's, those days haven't changed much. My dad acted as if he was going to meet the President the next day as the night before deer opener seemed to never come. There was check list jotted down and added to, starting many days before the deer opener. He'd pull those index cards from his shirt pocket every 5 minutes to review the hunting plan. He'd shuffle through and then re-shuffle through all his stuff that was laid out that long night before the big day. As the night wore on, old friends who only showed up for hunting, and a few neighbors up to the cabin for the 2nd biggest opener of the year at the lake, rattled ice cubes as the same stories were told in a better way than the year before. They paced til the moon was in the middle of the sky. They'd ask, "was the alarm set?(like they were gonna need it) Was the coffee pot "charged"? Did the Joni hand warmers have fluid in them? Do you think you can find the stand in the dark? Aim 6 inches high with the 12 guage slugs at anything over 60 yards!"

  Most of the faces have changed from those early memories. It doesn't seem to make a hoot how far the deer is from you now. The bullets are pretty flat shootin' these days. The firewood pile below the stand has been replaced with a propane tank. But reality is that nothing much else has changed. I jot down the plan just like the old man did. Literally, if one would compare the script from the old days to today's, not much changes. And I hope it never does. Somehow, I figure on needing enough index cards for another 45 deer opener set of plans.

  Okay, so one would think after all the various things that a deer can do around the same stand on 40 plus opening mornings, I couldn't make a mistake. right? Well, think again! At around 8 am., I decided to bend over while sitting on my nice swiveling office chair, to pick up my "pee jug"/empty anit-freeze jug. It was time to get rid of some early morning coffee. I was shocked when I sat back up and glanced out over the woods in front of me. Not 25 yards away, stood a nice buck, staring at me, now with both hands busy and the gun leaning in the corner of the treehouse. I thought, HOW could he have timed it so bad? HOW could this happen to ME!? I never miss. I never blow a shot or spook a deer before I get the perfect shot. NEVER! Until THAT moment. Of course, he was too shy to wait for me to put the jug down and grab the gun. There I sat. Totally whipped. In dis-belief of what just had taken place. Last year I didn't see a deer and now this year I let one get by me that I could have thrown a stick at! 

  I had two choices. One, I could sit there and feel sorry for myself. Kick myself for being distracted. Assume it was gonna turn out like last year after all those great years in a row. Or two, I could decide that since I don't kill that one, a bigger one would show up and I'll get him. I chose the latter. A half hour later, the positive thinking paid off. I was bailed out of a scene that would have haunted me the rest of the fall. Maybe for years! When the echo of the old Remington faded, that defining moment from the musical, Fiddler On the Roof shouted out at me. TRAAAADITION!!

  Now the fish house floor needs fixing. I'll think positive looking ahead to winter......and to next year for another great "high speed beef" opener. Contact  Steve by calling 651-270-3383 or email sf1954@embarqmail.com