March 20, 2011

Yeah, It¹s Good To Be A Woodsman

Well, spring is finally springing here in the northwoods. It hasn¹t quite sprung yet, 47 degrees and rain is barely a strut let alonefull fledged spring. But it¹s a beginning and you can¹t finish until  you start.

This is also the time of year when we go from cabin fever to spring cleaning. It¹s like going from a bad cold to the flu. I know it¹sabout to begin when Lori goes from sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket,sipping hot tea and complaining about another long winter, to a sweat shirt, tennis shoes and an extra large bottle of window cleaner (it always starts with the windows), That¹s when I head for the hills.

I mean, once she gets up a head of steam with spring cleaning there is no stopping her. She¹s like an avalanche with a vacuum cleaner. Today I made it to the woods behind the house and to my new stand location before she could drag the ladder up from the basement and put me to work.

Anyway, I¹ve scouted this new stand spot for years.Though its more in the woods than my last two stands near clearing edge there is plenty of shooting room. It¹s actually only a few yards from the otherstands. It¹s like when you¹re fishing and you move the boat 3 feet closer to shore.

From the new stand I¹ll also  be able to see across the back of the ridge and to my dad¹s driveway. Last year I saw two nice bucks go that way but they soon went out of my sight line. That won¹t happen from this new stand locale. I better practice with my grunt call. Which, by the way, is something Lori claims is like practicing to snore, that it comes naturally.

So what¹s her point?

I spotted the little herd of deer that runs the ridge along the lake and right behind my house. They are a tight little family of eight I call the Timber Ridge Eight.

It was good to be in the woods for an extended period of time for a change.

In winter after bow season, I usually make short forays into the woods. But when the temperature is below zero and the wind is brisk I have a warmer place to sit than under a pine or in the neighbors outhouse. But now that it¹s mid-March I can stay longer. At least until she¹s done washing windows.

I should have brought along some food. Maybe a blanket.

Yeah, it¹s good to be a woodsman.