At 4:00am, my alarm sounded. I dragged myself out of bed, went down to the kitchen, and poured myself a bowl of cereal. After eating, I hopped into the shower, threw on some clothes, and began the short drive over to Stowe Archers.
At 4:45am, with bow in hand, I began to creep into the woods behind the clubhouse. I located my tree-stand, which I left in the woods the night before, and began to climb. Once situated, I eased into my seat and began to wait.
All was quite. I leaned my head back against the tree and began to wait. A gentle breeze came along and my tree began to sway. I fought to keep my eyes open but eventually nodded off.
I woke to the sound of leaves rustling behind me and to my right. These weren’t the all too common noises of a rummaging squirrel, this was a bigger animal walking through the woods. I rolled my head and strained to see in the darkness. I couldn’t see what was making the noise but it was moving away from me.
For what seemed like an eternity the animal mulled around in the woods, slowly getting farther and farther away. Eventually the animal crossed the trail and began to climb farther up the hill that I was on and began to make its way back towards me.
I slowly stood, picked up my bow, and waited. It was still far too dark to see into the woods but daylight was beginning to peek over the hill. I stood and listened and the animal continued to move about. Eventually it began to wander off again, climbing farther up the hill and away from me.
As it continued along the hill, it finally happened. Moving along the crest of the hill was the silhouette of a doe. I never had a chance at her but the sight of the animal was something out of a nature film. It was a picturesque and beautiful sight.
As daylight broke, the squirrels came out to gather food. I watched four of them scurrying around for about an hour and half, before it was time for me to climb down out of the tree and head home.
Working from home today, I couldn’t resist the urge to get out into the woods, albeit briefly, for a morning hunt. While I may not have brought home meat for the freezer, the experience with the doe was well worth getting out early to sit in the woods.
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