The "Steaks" Are High.

If you live in the country, are from the country or even just have friends that do, chances are you have been hunting. You have felt that hunting eve feeling. You know the one, its the great "unknown" feeling. Will we get something? Did we pick the right place? Did I pack snacks with wrappers that don't "make noise" so I don't get the "do you hear how loud you are"look?! Believe me, you don't want to be the person that ruins everything with one badly timed Snickers bar(who even knew such a thing could exist in a world). But there really is pressure. More on this hunt than ever and I have spent the last four rifle hunts punishing my liver with nothing to show for it. This time there's a freezer sitting in our garage left empty by the great screw-up and leave the door open meltdown of September 2013! It's lonely, it's longing to do the one job it's made for and worst of all it's wasting like 4 dollars a month in Energy costs. This is serious people! 

So here we are on the eve of the opener and Mother Nature has  shown her ugly side with a high of 45, low of "freeze your parts off" kind of weekend. This is where we separate the men from the boys...or the women from the girls, whatever.  Our Camo is packed, my orange beanie that looks that something Fat Alberts buddy would have worn is packed, long johns, boots, gloves, extra gloves, etc. As I have already explained, I hate to be cold! The hunting food is in there, the coffee and most importantly the booze. If I can't be warm at least I can fool myself into not caring about it for a short time. The "big gun", bullets, extra bullets, scopes, binoculars, extra binoculars(nobody can ever accuse us of being unprepared), everything. 

We'll go up tonight, scout, pick our target and wait for sunrise. We'll listen to the good camping music that really makes it feel like "the hunt". I'll even get the "how about I shoot because you shake like a 90 year old woman" talk which we'll discuss like adults and reach a "mutual" decision that I'm sure we can both laugh about someday. All that's left is the waiting, the finding, the shooting, hopefully the hitting and the filling our freezer back up part of the weekend. It's like my Dad always says, "nothing ruins a good hunt like getting something, that's where all the work starts"....wish us luck!