Weekend of Adventure
Weekend of adventure. Have you ever had one of those? Where there are big ups and downs throughout the entire thing…nothing too bad or too good…but just enough to balance everything out, but still leaving you conked out on Sunday night?
I had one of those weekends. It all began with the plan to go hunting on Saturday. Luckily, on Friday night, I was attempting to start the truck and all I got was “click click click click.” Great. This is AFTER putting in the clutch, inching back and lodging the brush guard against the carport support. It wasn’t in there bad and if I could have kept rolling, I could have angled the truck downhill and popped the clutch…but no. I got stuck blocking the roadway. So, I ran inside and got the landlord who pulled me to a point where I could ease it into another parking spot out of the way. He jumped me once and then it died. Meanwhile, my cousin was on his way over. The landlord said, “You’re cousin is on his way? Well, then I’m going back inside.” Thanks a lot. Butch finally arrived and with his big diesel engine, it didn’t take any time at all to jump the truck again, I took off, trying to recharge the battery. On my way down a steep switchback, the engine died, the power steering gave out, and I was pretty close to going over an embankment. But, I muscled it to the bottom of the hill, got another jump, made it to a gas station down the road and it died again. “This just isn’t going to work” we both said. Butch pushed me into a parking space and he took me to a bonfire they were having. After sitting out there for a bit, and drinking a bit much, I asked if he was going to take me home. He said, “No. You are staying here and tomorrow morning we’re going to fix your truck.” Ok.
So that’s what we did. After a bunch of messing around getting a battery, finding tools, getting the wrong tools, going to Ace and getting the RIGHT tools, blah blah…we had the new battery in. After about a minute of idling with my foot on the gas, the computer finally reset itself and it ran fine! But, by this time it was about 12:00 and I really didn’t want to take the truck up into the woods. So I drove around town, starting and stopping, testing in “secure” areas where people could help me out if it decided to quit again. But all was well.
So, instead of getting firewood on Sunday I headed into the woods. I found a neat place close to town (rather than the two hour drive I normally do) that was full of tall hemlock with an open understory. Very pleasant to walk in, something I haven’t been able to say about this area until now. I poked around for a couple hours…ran into a deer scrape trail…and cruised along that for awhile. Now, I’ve seen this bowhunting video clip where this fella throws his arms in the air and whisper-yells, “WE HEARD A BUGLE! WE HEARD A BUGLE.” You know they were just getting more and more disappointed for NOT hearing something, then when they did it was a big relief. That’s what happened to me when I saw a NICE buck running through the trees. Did I mention it was a beautiful morning until I stepped into the woods? The rain started, then the wind blew about 20 miles per hour…so my scent was swirling all over the place…no chance to REALLY get on something in conditions like that. But I saw my first deer with horns over here. I will go back to this spot! Well, I tracked him for a bit, then decided I was done and plenty wet enough. So I walked back up to a spur road I had crossed on the way in and headed east for a mile...the wrong direction of course. I finally figured this out and turned around…the place I had marked when I hit the road off the ridge was 200 yards from where I came up out of the hole! But, it all worked out. (I had been starting to worry a little bit.)
I got to the truck, put on a dry coat and headed off to where I THOUGHT was going to be a pass. Nope. I ended up at some random saddle. In looking at the map, I was on a completely different road than I thought I was on! Hmmm, wrong turn at the LAST saddle I guess. In consulting the map, I decided to check out a WMA while I was over there. In driving down this road I found a grouse and made my first kill! Hitting a grouse in the head at 20 yards with a .22 pistol is some good shooting. I was pleased.
I drove down to the pavement and made a turn to where I thought I should go. Of course, again, I took the wrong road, and ended up somewhere completely different than what I thought! “Jeez, what is WITH me?” I thought. Driving on a narrow, windy road in the pounding rain…I almost got my deer! This little doe ambled out in front of me….the antilock brakes work well! But, after an hour, I was home.
So you see the ups and downs? Truck dies so I can’t hunt on the gorgeous fall day of the weekend. Got the truck going and got to hunt on the lousy fall day of the weekend. Saw a buck, found a nice area. Almost got lost in the rain and cold. Got turned around on the roads, but found a neat area. Almost hit a deer, but found a turkey, and killed a grouse. Then, realized the comfort of a warm house and bacon and eggs for dinner!
What a time.
I had one of those weekends. It all began with the plan to go hunting on Saturday. Luckily, on Friday night, I was attempting to start the truck and all I got was “click click click click.” Great. This is AFTER putting in the clutch, inching back and lodging the brush guard against the carport support. It wasn’t in there bad and if I could have kept rolling, I could have angled the truck downhill and popped the clutch…but no. I got stuck blocking the roadway. So, I ran inside and got the landlord who pulled me to a point where I could ease it into another parking spot out of the way. He jumped me once and then it died. Meanwhile, my cousin was on his way over. The landlord said, “You’re cousin is on his way? Well, then I’m going back inside.” Thanks a lot. Butch finally arrived and with his big diesel engine, it didn’t take any time at all to jump the truck again, I took off, trying to recharge the battery. On my way down a steep switchback, the engine died, the power steering gave out, and I was pretty close to going over an embankment. But, I muscled it to the bottom of the hill, got another jump, made it to a gas station down the road and it died again. “This just isn’t going to work” we both said. Butch pushed me into a parking space and he took me to a bonfire they were having. After sitting out there for a bit, and drinking a bit much, I asked if he was going to take me home. He said, “No. You are staying here and tomorrow morning we’re going to fix your truck.” Ok.
So that’s what we did. After a bunch of messing around getting a battery, finding tools, getting the wrong tools, going to Ace and getting the RIGHT tools, blah blah…we had the new battery in. After about a minute of idling with my foot on the gas, the computer finally reset itself and it ran fine! But, by this time it was about 12:00 and I really didn’t want to take the truck up into the woods. So I drove around town, starting and stopping, testing in “secure” areas where people could help me out if it decided to quit again. But all was well.
So, instead of getting firewood on Sunday I headed into the woods. I found a neat place close to town (rather than the two hour drive I normally do) that was full of tall hemlock with an open understory. Very pleasant to walk in, something I haven’t been able to say about this area until now. I poked around for a couple hours…ran into a deer scrape trail…and cruised along that for awhile. Now, I’ve seen this bowhunting video clip where this fella throws his arms in the air and whisper-yells, “WE HEARD A BUGLE! WE HEARD A BUGLE.” You know they were just getting more and more disappointed for NOT hearing something, then when they did it was a big relief. That’s what happened to me when I saw a NICE buck running through the trees. Did I mention it was a beautiful morning until I stepped into the woods? The rain started, then the wind blew about 20 miles per hour…so my scent was swirling all over the place…no chance to REALLY get on something in conditions like that. But I saw my first deer with horns over here. I will go back to this spot! Well, I tracked him for a bit, then decided I was done and plenty wet enough. So I walked back up to a spur road I had crossed on the way in and headed east for a mile...the wrong direction of course. I finally figured this out and turned around…the place I had marked when I hit the road off the ridge was 200 yards from where I came up out of the hole! But, it all worked out. (I had been starting to worry a little bit.)
I got to the truck, put on a dry coat and headed off to where I THOUGHT was going to be a pass. Nope. I ended up at some random saddle. In looking at the map, I was on a completely different road than I thought I was on! Hmmm, wrong turn at the LAST saddle I guess. In consulting the map, I decided to check out a WMA while I was over there. In driving down this road I found a grouse and made my first kill! Hitting a grouse in the head at 20 yards with a .22 pistol is some good shooting. I was pleased.
I drove down to the pavement and made a turn to where I thought I should go. Of course, again, I took the wrong road, and ended up somewhere completely different than what I thought! “Jeez, what is WITH me?” I thought. Driving on a narrow, windy road in the pounding rain…I almost got my deer! This little doe ambled out in front of me….the antilock brakes work well! But, after an hour, I was home.
So you see the ups and downs? Truck dies so I can’t hunt on the gorgeous fall day of the weekend. Got the truck going and got to hunt on the lousy fall day of the weekend. Saw a buck, found a nice area. Almost got lost in the rain and cold. Got turned around on the roads, but found a neat area. Almost hit a deer, but found a turkey, and killed a grouse. Then, realized the comfort of a warm house and bacon and eggs for dinner!
What a time.
posted by geotracker12 at 11:55 AM
1 Comments:
Oh, you and I both know the ups and downs! At least all is well now. NCD#5
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