Running:
Thursday and Friday I worked 1/2 day from home last week. This allowed me to bow hunt a little and also get my weekday runs in. Thursday and Friday mornings I ran my favorite home loop of 6.5 miles. This run is very nice. Lots of rolling hills on quiet county roads through the country and part of the State Forest. Thursday I ran it in 52:06 and Friday in 53:21. Friday afternoon I headed on my way up to Bayfield. I took Saturday and Sunday off from running. Lots of other exercise though which I'll discuss a little more below. Up in Bayfield I have a couple of favorite loops to run as well. The challenge up there is finding the flattest route you can. No way around still hitting lots of hills. Monday I ran an 8 mile loop in 1:05:28 and Tuesday I ran a 6 mile loop in 47:50 before packing up for the drive home.
Last week Thursday I was able to get out hunting near my house both morning and afternoon. Both uneventful as I saw nothing. Friday morning I again went out and was able to get my second chance at the big eight point. So many things can go haywire bow hunting. Around 7:30 the big guy made his way towards his scrape just as the previous week. This time I waited until he committed moving forward before I drew back. He headed straight towards the scrape only 20 feet in front of me. I thought for sure he would stop at the scrape so I was waiting until then for the shot when he would not be moving. My mistake. He didn't stop. He walked straight through. By the time I grunted at him to stop in the next opening he was already 30 yards away. I took the shot which sailed right over his back. I was sick. I retrieved my arrow and left. As mentioned earlier I then headed up to Bayfield for some hunting. I hunted most of the day Saturday with no result. It was rather windy. I took a break mid day to complete a few other chores. Sunday morning was a different day. It was cold, calm and quiet in the woods. About 7:30 the woods erupted with activity. A spike buck first showed up and then a doe with a buck hot on her heals. The small buck really bothered the big one and he spent time chasing him off. They chased around me for a good 1/2 hour. Lots of fun to watch, but no shot. Sunday afternoon when I got back on stand it didn't take long for a smaller buck (3pt) to make his way up the trail I was watching. He stopped right in front of me to sniff a scent canister I had put out. I decided to take this deer. I made a good shot and was able to see where it fell. It was a heavy enough deer without any snow to drag on. Plenty of exercise for the day. I spent most of Monday and part of Tuesday morning butchering the deer. The temps were so warm it needed to be taken care of quickly. This kept me out of the woods as much as I would have liked, but it was good to fill the tag. I probably won't get a chance to bow hunt up there again this year. I still have tags available for hunting here. Also this weekend I spent a bit of time putting up a couple of gun stands and repairing a couple others. Everything is ready for the gun season opener two weekends from now. It was sure strange for me not to be helping dad with his stand or having him help me. This gun season is going to be filled with loss and emotion for me.
Gardening:
Being gone I didn't get much done gardening in my yard. I did notice that a buck is frequenting my back yard again this year. He wrecked another two of my Christmas trees by scraping them up with his antlers. I also assisted my mom with cleaning and shutting down her pond for the season. I also helped rake and mulch lots of leaves from her yard. Those big maples sure drop lots of leaves.
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