Bow Hunting Opening Morning

Temperature:  51 degrees at 5:15 am / 70 degrees at 9:45 am
Wind:  None

This morning marked the beginning of the 2009 Bow Hunting season.  I was up bright and early at 4:20 this morning to give myself enough time to get everything ready.  I got settled into "Baker's Stand" on the south side of the property by 5:30.  There's always a good chance deer will be seen out of this stand because it sits at the cross section of two major fence lines that are used as travel corridors.  This morning, however, I didn't see any deer movement.  The temperature rose very quickly after the sun came up so around 9:15 I decided to stalk my way back to the quarry.  I traveled down through the woods, to the south side food plot.  I checked out an old pop up blind that has been in the same spot for a handful of years.  By the tracks in the mud, it appears the raccoons have been using it more than anyone else.  I cut through the finger of the food plot and up to "The Rock".  I sat on The Rock to listen for anything moving through the woods, but after twenty minutes of silence I walked down through the swamp, along the corn field, past the foundation, and back up to the quarry.  I did notice that there were many more deer tracks along the southern corn field compared to the corn field above the quarry.