No more 4:30 a.m. wake up calls!

Ok, I have to get this off my chest.

I'm worried about our kitten, Chubs. He didn't come in last night. He didn't come in this morning. He didn't answer us when we called and called. So, I'm afraid something has happened to the little twerp.

Chubby was born in May--and was orphaned before he was 3 weeks old. He and his sibling were so small when I started bottle feeding them, that I had to wipe their bottoms and rub their tummies to make them poop. The sibling died, but Chubs thrived. When he was 2 months old, he tried to play horsehoes with the menfolk. He caught a shoe as it was flying through the air, but broke his leg. So, we spent over $100 casting his leg and kept him in the house full time (as much as we could.) You see, Chubs discovered a small hole in the window screen, so he made it larger. We kept finding him outside, and kept telling the kids to quit letting him outside. Then, I caught him in the act, 1/2 in, 1/2 out of the window screen.

Since he's healed, Chubs has taken to sleeping with Kev and I. He curls up behind my knees, and just sings. He also watches me bathe, sitting right there, singing.

Yesterday, he was outside with us while we were cutting up deer. Haven't seen him since. I hope he's holed up out in the shop somewhere stuffed to the gills with deer meat. I hope so. But, I'm afraid he's gone. Stupid twerp.

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Part 2--deer.

Saturday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 4:25 a.m. to go hunting. I decided to sit in the new treestand that I insisted we put up. No one's sat in it, and I felt that I'd better since I was the one who insisted that it was a good spot. It was an easy walk into it, along the old railroad tracks, the moon was up and it was bright. I was in the stand well before light.

Since it was a new stand, it didn't have a bow holder which was a pain. And, it is a platform stand, so it was not what I'm used to using, so it seemed like it took me forever to get settled. I never did get my safety belt wrapped around that dang cottonwood tree, so tied off to the ladder. If the platform fell, I would still be hanging there 15 feet off the ground, but, I'd be safe. I finally settled down in the comfy chair, to wait for daylight.

Just before shooting light, I saw a doe walking down the railroad tracks. She came toward me, from the east. She was kind to stop and give me a nice broadside view of her, but it was too dark still to shoot. So, I watched her, heard her, and listened to her leave. She headed south.

Shortly after daylight, I had a buck come by. He was out of my shooting range, but he just trotted from south to north. A little while later, I saw a doe come from the south, she was 50 yards out. She also just moseyed on by, also going north. Gene, one of our hunting buddies was sitting to the north east of me, and I hoped some of these guys would go by him.

Then I saw a doe coming hard--running. About 15 yards behind her was a nice 4 x 4 buck. Running after her, hard. She was not remotely interested in him. They went right on by. Gene rattled, but he was to intent on his girl to stop for competition. It was so cool to see this rut behavior! Way cool. (Last weekend, Gene rattled a deer in, he walked by me, I shot, but missed. But it was cool watching that deer look around to see just who was over there making that noise!)

I'd been standing, but decided to sit awhile. I was relaxed, watching the general direction all these deer had come from, when I heard some leaves rustle. Directly south of me, not 15 yards away was a nice 4 x 4. He was nice. On the railroad tracks. Looking straight at me. Dang. I'm really in the open, because if the deer is on the tracks, he's almost eye level with me. Probably foot level, but he defiantly will see me if I move. He turns to look away, I stood up, but he spooked and took off.

Gene rattled for him too, but he didn't stop.

I decided to stay standing up for a while. I looked back south and saw another buck in the trees. He was just wandering around, and I kept watching him. He finally cut way to the west and then walked straight north to me. He was smaller than the last one, but I was determined to get a shot off. He jumped the fence, walked up on the tracks. I pulled back. I was watching him, but not through my peep sight. Had to tell myself to watch through that peep sight. He turned to the east, I finally watched through the peep sight. Told myself which sight pin to use, (the first one), then I remember telling myself "now." I heard the arrow hit, thought to myself to watch where he went. But he didn't run off. Instead, he fell down the embankment and laid there.

"Ok, that's cool, we won't spend 3 hours tracking this guy." I said to myself. Saw the arrow, it was to high, and in his neck. But, he wasn't getting up. I'd severed his spine. His back legs were paralyzed. He tried to get up, but couldn't. I thought I heard him rattle in his lungs, but I didn't think my arrow looked like it was deep enough to hit a lung. So, I let him lay there --10 yards from my tree--for over an hour. I watched him, thinking he'd die. He didn't. Gene came over at 9. I got down and put another arrow through him, but we decided to slit his throat.

Kev, Lynn, and Andy showed up, we loaded him up and then had to go get Kev's deer. We'd both gotten one. Both bucks. Both 4 x 4's. But Kev's was a little bigger than mine. And, Kev had a better shot--a perfect shot. I'm disappointed by my shot, I'm disappointed in myself for not making a better kill. The guys all assure me that they've had bad shots too, but told me that any deer brought down with a bow is good. Maybe they are trying to make me feel better, maybe I'm too hard on myself. I'm proud that I got one, that I hit him, but sure wish I'd made a cleaner kill. He didn't suffer and hurt, because he was paralyzed, but I sure wish he'd died sooner. But, he's in the freezer now. We'll have fresh venison. That means more jerky, chili, fajitas, etc. And it means we can share our bounty with friend and family.

We all decided that since I saw 6-7 deer that morning, that this was a good spot for the treestand, but I told the guys we needed to move back a tree and up a tree. They agreed. I think we'll keep a stand over here, but move it to give the shooter more cover. And since the deer cut in front of me about 30 yards out, by moving up a "row," we'd have better and more shots, and would be farther away from the railroad tracks, making it harder to be seen. But, me, I'm done for the year. I might go back out with a camera, especially next weekend, because it's rut. And next weekend, we should be able to see LOTS of rutting behavior.

And hey, it also means, no more 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls! Unless I go camera hunting. Dang. Sleep or deer. Sleep, or deer. Sleep. No, deer. No, sleep. No...