The gun is no fun

Brent, Mike and I joined up early Saturday morning for a gun hunt at the R farm. I carried the flintlock, Brent his shotgun, and Mike the contender pistol.

The parking area only had one vehicle in it. I headed to the back of the property on the rocky ridge. Brent was down in the bowl in his tree stand a couple hundred yards away. Mike headed to the left property boundary adjoining the park land.

Right at first light through the foggy air, a shot booms from down in the adjoining valley. Approximately 30 turkey that were roosted and about to fly down, get startled and fly across the ridge I am on. What a sight! I watch the group that fly by calling and a sentry bird stays high in the tree at their new location guiding the rest in. The other half of the birds start gathering up and crossing the ridge in front of me on foot. I counted 13 birds that crossed in bow shot distance in front of me from that small group. What a racket they made. They continued to feed a few hundred yards away for about an hour until they finally wandered off in front of Mike. They were very loud with so many in number. When they crossed Mike he had a doe sneak in behind him and all he saw was the tail waving through the thickets. I had to take Mike back around noon and wouldn't you know there were 7 deer bedded down 10 yards from my truck. Those deer are not dumb. They knew it was safe by the houses. I dropped off Mike and went back to the woods where Brent was in the process of moving his treestand. As I eased back along the trail I heard a BOOM very close. I saw the guy in orange quickly afterwards. I looked down the trail and saw 2 deer heading towards where Brent was in the morning. Figures.

Then this lazy guy has his friend drive a pickup truck through the woods to pick up the deer he just shot. Right through the middle of the hunting woods. Thank you! Against the landowners explicit directions mind you. We sat the rest of the afternoon and saw nothing besides other hunters...lots of them! Then, I went to unload the rifle and the pan failed to ignite the charge. Then I reload and the pan fails. Then, the third time, the gun goes off. I head to hockey for my last game before my "baby break" and I end up blowing the game. Wiffed on a point shot with less than a minute left in the game and an empty net. The guy easy takes the puck and they score. Game over. What a frustrating weekend.