ECO Cabin Debut: I'm considering Opening Weekend as the official debut of the ECO cabin. Doc (and his buddies), James and Danny worked very hard to get the cabin ready for deer camp and they did a great job. The wood stove was installed along with brand new laminate flooring. Doc was very excited, almost too excited! Either way, for the first time ever we had a warm, dry place to hang out when we weren't hunting. Patches came through big time when he arrived with an actual porta potty as his "donation" to the ECO experience. As you can guess, everyone took full advantage of the "accommodations". I was able to spend the night on Saturday night. It was a great time. I'm looking forward to many more sleepovers at the cabin.
Opening Weekend Hunting: Opening morning of gun season could have (or should I say should have) been one of the best opening mornings in ECO history. It was a beautiful morning. Cris p, clear, slight breeze, and ~31 degrees. Well, Mike didn't waste anytime taking aim at a deer when he missed a buck at around 6:20. Nothing like shooting ten minutes before legal hours Klassy!! The buck and two does made their way towards Danny who was sitting in the Sand Box. A few minutes later, Danny missed a difficult shot on one of the does, so by 6:40 we were 0 for 2! I was perched in the Tripod Stand overlooking the far south swamp. Around 7:10, I caught movement to my right and a spotted a doe making her way along the tree line about 60 yards ahead of me. She had no idea I was there as I got ready for a "perfect shot". She made her way directly in front of me as found her in my scope. I moved the cross hairs to her shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The deer crashed to her side and I was sure I made a good hit. As fast as she hit the ground, she was back up on her feet cruising towards Tunnel Road. I shimmied down the stand and went to look for blood. Unfortunately I only found a few drops of blood and was unable to find the deer. I can only guess that I just grazed her and didn't make a lethal shot. A few minutes later, Patches came down to help me look for my deer. While we were searching for additional blood, we heard a single shot ring out from above the quarry. It didn't take long for Danny to call Patches and give us the news that Mike had a second crack at the buck he missed earlier this morning and sealed the deal. Patches and I took his four wheeler up to check out Mike's deer. It ended up being a nice 10 (or 11) pointer that was one of the "Big Boys". We were all excited for Mike, however we were quick to somehow take credit for Mike's success! Ironically, Mike had physically moved the ladder stand he was sitting in to a different tree only ten minutes before he shot his buck. This was the first deer that Mike had shot at, let alone kill, in the ten years I've been hunting at The Land. Overall, we could/should have had three deer by 8:15 opening morning, however things didn't work out. I didn't see another deer the rest of the gun season.
Until next time....
Jason
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