Livin The Dream: Water to Woods

From fishing post to hunting. Fall is my favorite time of year but as usual there just isn't enough time in a day. I kicked off my bow hunting season with a trip close to home. On the 17th of September I awoke to a warm muggy morning that felt more like fishing weather than hunting. I was itching to get in the woods so the hunt was on. Plan was to hunt my favorite ridge in Patapsco Valley State park. I did not get much scouting in prior but my nephew had and armed with his intel and my experience in the area my hopes were high that luck would be in my favor. Luck would have other plans and I guess the full moon and warm temps had the deer moving early and they crossed under my stand under moonlight and out of harms way. I had to forgo the evening hunt for family plans but it was good to get a taste of the woods.
The next weekend would be the annual pilgrimage to the western part of the state that my hunting buddy's and I have been taking for the last 20 years. Since I was absent on this trip the last few year I was really excited to get back up with the boys for a long relaxing weekend in the hills. Our camp would be set in Garret State Forest in far western Maryland. The plan, get out of work on Thursday load the truck and head west. My nephew Ryan and great nephew Dylan picked me up and we met up with one of the crew and convoyed to camp arriving about 10 pm. The rest of the group had arrived earlier in the day and had most of camp set up we just needed to get our tents up and gear unloaded. When we arrived camp was empty which was unusual for it being so late we would soon find out why . One of the crew had shot a doe and it ran in circles leaving a hard to track blood trail which got them turned around which led to a longer walk from the woods then they would have liked ( can you say compass boys and girls):). After yours truly went to locate them in the woods and we got the deer back to camp and hung up, some of us might have partook into to many adult beverages, but I'm not naming names. Needless to say I was a bit late getting in the woods on Friday and the deer were not as late passing my blind as I was watching them from atop the ridge. I at least new my spot was producing and I would have a good chance on the evening hunt. I took the youngin with me for the evening hunt which turned into a long sit watching chipmunks frolic in the leaves one turkey in a hurry and no deer until dusk. The wait it turns out was worth it I had to wake the little guy so he could watch the nice big ole buck come sauntering right up the trail towards our position. Here is where I would like to tell the story of my awesome shot and show the triumpant pictures of my trophy. But as I like to say pictures or it didn't happen and it didn't. The buck stopped at about 60 yards out bobbing his head as he noticed a big camo block where there wasn't one the day before and he was not about to test his luck. As he backed out unmolested and circled our position just out of range I realized I was shaking like a leaf in the wind. I hope I never lose that excitement and I hope that my young hunting partner gets to experience it.
Camp was great and I would see multiple deer from my tree stand the following day however luck was again not on my side as either the deer were to small or out of my bow range. In all there would be multiple misses in camp, 2 deer taken, and whole hell of a lot of great food eaten. Good talk with old friends and cold beer. We were definitly livin the dream