Early Season Urban-Zone Hunting

Since the four-day long urban deer season in sourthern Boone County snuck up on me last weekend, I wasn’t really prepared to go afield. And the high in the mid 80s didn’t feel much like deer season. But I got in a little hunting anyway, and didn’t really have to miss anything to do it.
I just left the alarm clock set at 5 a.m., my usual wake up time for my Tuesday/Thursday run. I showered and shaved so I’d be ready to head straight to work, but instead headed to some woods south of town. I was parking the truck at 5:40, and was in the woods where I wanted to be by 6 a.m. This time of year, the sky is still full of stars at that late hour. I watched them fade away as I waited for legal hunting time, one-half hour before sunrise. I didn’t see anything but squirrels that morning, but had a pleasant time watching the world wake up. And I made it to work by 7:45 a.m.
My busy Friday had me working through lunch, but I was able to take off in time to pick Henry up from Bridge club at 5 p.m. Then I picked up Ann and Oliver, and all four of us heading to the woods for a sunset hunt. On the hike in Ann and I showed the boys some caves we had spotted earlier. While they checked those out, I went further into the woods alone, hoping to set up in a clearing where they might scare one my way.
Unfortunately I did all the scaring, thanks to a thick layer of very crunchy leaves that covered the ground. I saw that all too familiar site of the white tail disappearing into the distance as I walked on to my sit-down spot. It was too far away to get a good look at it, and it just kept going.
I met back up with the family a little while later in a clearing, and we walked back to the truck together. By the time we reached the truck those same stars that I’d watched fade that morning were coming out again.

Since it was 7 p.m. and we were all hungry, there were no Woods To Food dinners on the table that night. We instead went out to a Mexican restaurant, which is pretty typical for us on a Friday night.

It wasn’t a successful hunt, but it really worked out pretty well. If I had got one in the morning, I would have had to miss work to deal with it, and if I had got one in the evening, it would have meant the whole family having a very late dinner while they waited for me to field dress it and drag it out of the woods. Coming home empty –handed was just fine this time.