Hello again, After lots of practice, and some great advice (http://forums.bowhunting.com/showthread.php?p=109169#post109169) I finally made it out to hunt. Life exploded a bit in the fall, so I didn't get into a stand until December, and even then only once. Still, I learned a lot and I consider it a success. Here's the story... A friend in central VA opened his land, and it was a short walk from his place to a creek bed that he said saw lots of traffic. I bundled up and left the house a couple hours before dawn. With the summit stand on my back, a pack full of crap I probably didn't need, and my bow in hand I immediately felt overloaded. Lesson 1: get in better shape, dump some gear, or both. Lesson 2: central Virginia on a December morning is butt cold! I thought I was prepared, but I just didn't have enough on my feet. I'd spend the next few hours regretting not wearing another pair of socks, or using some chemical goo to warm up my toes. There was frost on the ground which led to another potential problem... Lesson 3: noise! It was so quiet at that hour I felt like I could hear everything in the county. This wasn't so bad until I started to walk through the woods to get to my spot. With dry, frost-covered leaves on the ground every step sounded like a gunshot, and I had a big steel wind chime on my back that banged against the trees. Some dogs a quarter mile away started barking and I thought I spooked the whole forest. Not having been able to scout the location, I picked a random tree near the creek and got to work. The climber actually worked well and I was in position in no time. Later I'd see that I wasn't nearly high enough (maybe fifteen feet), but in the dark I couldn't tell. Also, on the stand I didn't have enough leverage to drive the screw-in bow-holder into the tree. I ended up holding my bow in my lap the whole time. So, finally I settle in. Once I stopped moving it got really, really cold. I alternated sitting and moving my toes around inside my boots to keep them warm, and standing up bouncing in place to generate heat. Lesson 4: more layers. Despite the cold I enjoyed my stay in the woods, listening to the world wake up. It was also a mental challenge to stay in my stand past dawn, as I knew just a couple hundred yards away the house would be filling with the smells of bacon, eggs, and coffee. Still, I was never happier to see the sun come up than that morning. Unfortunately, in the four hours I was in the tree I did not see a single living thing. Not a deer, not a squirrel, not even a bird. The forest was cold and dead. There wasn't even a breath of wind. So, when I broke out my wind bottle to give it a try, all I succeeded in doing was getting talc all over myself. Genius. Finally I broke down the stand and clambered back through the forest. No deer to blood trail, clean or drag out, and the critters of Virginia don't have much to fear from me yet. But at least I made the transition from archer to hunter. I'm looking forward to giving it another try in the fall. Thanks for the advice all. See you at the game check station.
Keep your head up hunting wouldn't be considered a sport if you won every time. Not getting something motivates me to hunt harder and longer the next season hope to see your picture with a kill next season.
