I would not pretend to understand the mindset of all the folks who read The Devine News, but I am kinda/sorta sure that some portion of those, at least those nice enough to read my Tales, are in about the same mood as I am getting to be in. And that is about ready to become excited.
NOT that I have been counting or anything like that, BUT at the time of this writing, we are officially only about 8 weeks away from the start of White Tail Hunting Season in La Brasada. Much like the anticipation of the NFL season, or you pick something you are passionate about, us “nimrods” have been looking forward to the “kick off”, for a while.
With the HOPE of cooler and prayerfully wetter weather, pre-season preparations should begin WELL in advance of November 4th, AKA Opening Day. Being “down to just two” ranches that I am blessed to hunt on at will, the get ready phase is not as hard as in years past. Such mundane efforts as sendero and lane clearing, trail cam monitoring, blind clean ups, and rifle tunings are pretty much an ongoing process for Old Yours Truly. Now that Work Life is far less than in early years, keeping up with stuff is not nearly as stressful and hard to “fit into” the schedule.
It is still a little too early for me to start envisioning the outcome of 2023-2024 in terms of specific harvest goals. But I have identified a couple of candidates that I am looking forward to trying to “put eyeballs on” in terms of decisions to be made once the “whistle blows”. And Lord Willing, that will be about Sunrise the first Saturday in November.
So far this year, I have been blessed to observe a few of those magnificent animals while out and about. But I am not prone to spend much time disturbing the hunting areas too early or late in the day, when wildlife activity is typically highest. Of course, trying to pattern wildlife movement, especially whitetail who are native animals and not confined to any small and/or high fenced property, have their own timetables and is a challenge all the time.
Those Wiley Old Fellows (WOFS) behavior patterns are definitely harder to predict, especially until they get those “romantic tendencies” that come along generally starting in mid-December over in my little neck of the woods. For my purposes, WOFS means 5 ½ years or older male deer and they are not only more “ghost like” than others of the species, but there are also fewer of them as well.
So, all in all, just like those WOFS identified above, I no longer am “hot to trot” 24/5/365 like in my younger days, when it comes to hunting. But it is my hope and prayer that come this time of the year for a fair number more years, I want to start to get ready to be excited!