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                                                  The last hunt of the year

             Here I am in January with a tag to fill, and the rut is long gone. Gun season has come and went. The weather has turned real cold. On my way to the stand, I never even seen so much as a squirrel. I go into the woods with a positive attitude, that this is going to be the day I get my buck. After about 1 1/2 hours of sitting on the stand, the cold starts to work thru my clothing. I take a chill, with an hour before dark. My positive attitude is not as positive as it first was when I entered the woods.

             It's about a 1/2 hour later. I think to myself about my stand setup, have I put it in the right place? Then I go over the facts in my head. In late season deer are looking for just one thing, and that's food. There is a patch of honeysuckle running along a pine thickett with a stand of white oaks running across the ridge, this is a good edge, the deer have to be there. My clothing has been scent treated, I've done everything I should do.

            It's about 15 minutes till dark now, and it's getting colder. Then finally I spot some movement. Then a deer appears. It's an old doe and another one right behind her. I watch the deer as they feed on the honeysuckle just to my left. After watching the deer for a few minutes, it begins to get darker. There is only one day left and it's going to be colder tomorrow.I haven't seen the buck that was in this area since gun season. Maybe someone got him. If I take one of the doe's, I can be eating tenderloin, summer sausage, or deer roast with potatos and carrots while in the warmth of my home, so I slowly pick up my crossbow and take aim at the doe that is standing about 25 yards away, perfectly broadside. I launch the bolt. It's a perfect shot. When I hear something behind me, I quickly turn and look. It was the big buck I was hunting for, running away. I drop my head. What did I do! AFter a few more minutes go by, I get down out of my stand and go to look for the doe that I heard crash about 60 to 70 yards away.

            Two weeks later, I am still thinking about the big buck that got away, but I am doing it in the warmth of my own home, sitting here writing this story, and eating summer sausage and crackers. HUH. I recon that's deer hunting

written by Scott Adkins

                                                                     A SPRING HUNT

       Turkey season came in the 18th here in Ohio. Here it is the 23rd and  I haven't even been out yet. Looks like tomorrow is my lucky day, as far as having the time to go hunting. I check my calls, check my crossbow and arrows, to make sure everything is ready to go. The weather was pretty cool today, after having a nice week with temperatures in the 80's, there are some places giving a chance of snow tomorrow. I recon we will just have to wait and see. I set the alarm clock for 6 am and get to bed. I finally get to sleep, and then I am awakened by the alarm clock. I jump out of bed and get my camo on, I go to the door and turn on the light and there's snow. I think to myself, snow! and this is the last of april and we have snow on the ground, in a bad mood, I walk around the house, then I decide to call and find out what the temperature is, 31 degrees, the last of april and it's 31 degrees!! MAN. This stinks. So I go lay down on the couch, and after a few minutes I fall back to sleep. Then about 9:30,a.m. I wake up. I get up off the couch and look out the window. It's spitting snow and raining a little too. I think well, do I go out or sit in the house all day. I decided to go out, so I put an extra sweatshirt on under my camo, grab my crossbow and take off. After walking for about 20 minutes, I'm finding my way thru a swamp bottom. Thinking if there are any turkey's out, they'll be up on the ridge above the swamp.

       Now I'm making my way up the hill toward the top of the ridge. I'm walking thru sycamore, elm and popular trees. Then I look down. Look there it's a morrel mushroom. A nice big white morrel mushroom.

                                            WARNING!!! some mushrooms are very, very

                                            poisonous. If you are not familiar with edible and  non

                                            dible mushrooms, before eating, contact someone who is.

         I think to myself, well if there's one there's probably more. I walk slowly around the hill looking for more mushrooms. After about 2 hours, I have 15 of them. In the area I live, it has not been very good for morrell mushrooms. It seems like you find fewer and fewer every year. But there's definitely enough here, to make a good meal. It's about 10 minutes till 12:00, and legal hunting time ends at noon. So now my turkey hunt has turned into a scout. I walk on up to the top of the ridge, and follow the ridge for about 200 yards. I drop down over the bank onto a bench that runs around the side of the ridge. Guess what I find? Turkey signs. Turkey scratchings everywhere. You could tell they were fresh. They had been in here this morning sometime, here's a picture.

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