Anticipation

Tallboy - one of my neighborhood deer

This morning, I had a lot on my mind as I walked out of the house where I'm temporarily living in suburban mid-western city. My life is a bit in flux right now. this summer, I took a job working for a new company in the outdoor industry. It's a great job with a fantastic team and solid brand, so I'm excited to be here, but I'm also still in transition. I'm living in the new city while my wife is in our former town selling our house.

Since everything is in flux, I'm always looking for touchstones to remind me of who I am and that this situation is temporary. When I can, I find the backroads outside of this city so I can drive around and look for deer. Last night, I drove down a rural backroad and watched a pretty decent 10-pointer and some smaller bucks as they mingled with a group of does less than a hundred yards off the road. Watching the deer helped.

This morning, as I left the temporary house, I realized it was still dark as I was heading into my office. I'm leaving at my normal time, so this means the days continue to get shorter. Rationally, I get this happens every year and I know Fall is coming, but it was a big reminder this morning. This is a pretty big deal right now because my home state's archery season opener is Saturday.

Last weekend as I was home (which will not be my home for much longer), I completed my final pre-season prep. I shot broadheads instead of field points to check my final flight and zero at distance; packed my backpack with the gear I will need in the stand and did one final check of my trail cams; and washed all of my clothes, hung them outside to dry and then packed them into air-proof containers.

I'm ready for Saturday. Since I'm a hunter and not a farmer, Fall has always been my Spring. Hunting season is my time of birth, my renewal. Sitting in a tree stand is a time of solid rejuvenation for me. Wherever you are on Saturday, or whenever your archery season opens, I wish you the best of luck. Not necessarily that you'll shoot a nice deer, which I sincerely hope you will, but that you will enjoy every moment you have in the deer woods. I know I will.