My First Season in the Treestand
My first deer hunting season took place in my mid-thirties. Three grueling days in a tree stand wearing borrowed gear and clutching a 25 year old crossbow. As a late-onset hunter, there was much to learn.
What did I learn?
Patience, perseverance, and practice. Nothing like sitting in a tree for 13 hours to clear your mind. Or enforce the discomfort of a tinnitus affliction. Where is that deer herd?
Coffee, Gear
4am wake up call. Huntcamp flavoured wake up to boot: the earliest riser turns the lights in the bunk house and shouts "LETS GO". Voila. A cacophony of groans and grunts erupts. It's cold and the outhouse is dark. The coffee is hotter than lava and the bottom half almost needs to be chewed.
Gearing up takes 10 minutes if you planned ahead and laid everything out. The rookie move on my first season: my outdoor closes were hung over the wood stove indoors. They reeked of smoke. A deer could smell me coming the moment I walked onto the trail. The veterans all hand their gear outside, in a bus that was lugged into camp over 50 years ago (the original bunkhouse).
LESSON 1: You cannot fool a deer's nose.
Darkness, Approaching the Tree
Safety first. I was wearing several extra layers for warmth and a cumbersome safety harness. Carrying a heavy bow, walking out into the wilderness in complete darkness around 4:30am. It is terrifying. Heart rate likely doubles even when walking at slow pace. I overheat, start sweating. Too many layers!
LESSON 2: Start your walk cold as you tolerate. Within 5 mins you'll be comfortable.
The approach starts off relatively easy. A groomed two-track track wide enough for a modern truck to roll down eventually gives way to a foot / game trail where the forest canopy overhangs. Now the stars are gone, and my feet pressing against the forest floor announce the presence of a bipedal predator with each snap of a twig or crinkle of a leaf.
It's hard enough to walk silently in normal gear, wearing a backpack and holding a crossbow makes this much more difficult! More sweating, yikes.
LESSON 3: Hike as far as possible without loading your bow. Makes it safe and easier to carry in. BE PATIENT. Rushing to get to a tree and scaring away anything nearby is a waste of time. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Closing the distance to the tree where my pre-hung ladder stand sits is excruciating. I had this idea that upon cresting the hill I'd see a herd of deer smacking their lips over a pile of acorns.
Disappointing to find nothing but more darkness, I arrive at the tree.
Climbing the Tree
Creaking up the old ladder stand another exercise in precision. Slowly climbing each rung trying to make noise is a skill, too. Given the limited size of the stand -- a modest 1-seater with little extra leg room -- I was stuck in place. Swinging from a tree 25 feet above above the ground.
The Morning Sit
Sun rising nearly shooting light is a magical time in the forest. Critters start to stir with excitement over the coming warmth. Any moment now a deer will reveal itself to me...
Opening day of rifle season for deer (typically first 2 weeks of November in Southern Ontario) is a spectacle. Around sunrise the first gun shots crack off in the distance. It brings hope that my time will come. Without question there are more gunshots heard during the first two hours of opening day then another other time period. The deer get wise, start to move less during daylight very quickly.
LESSON 4: the first hunt is the best hunt
Several more hours pass with no sighting and little work from out camp on whether the shooters were in our party, or nearby? Around Noon, it's time to climb down for lunch. This feels like a walk of shame having zero news to report, but am relieved upon arriving to camp to learn everyone was skunked that morning.
Lunch Break & Evening Sit
Lunch is key to keep spirits high during the afternoon sit. We eat bacon and eggs for lunch, or yesterdays leftovers. In that moment the optimism is still sky high. Lots of action around us, hope for more luck in the afternoon.
LESSON 5: stay positive, hunting is fun, don't let no sightings get you down
Evening Sit
More of the same. Eyeing the oak tree about 30 years dead ahead, mistaking every rustle on the forest floor as deer approaching can put your mind in a pretzel. Stay positive.
Sun is fading and so are my hope for Day 1. I climb down, no sightings. Racing back to camp for dinner and drinks makes the long cold days worth it. We get back and trade stories, plan for the next days sit.