...we need some young blood on the board.
Older I get, the more I appreciate a nice blind or a good, solid ladder stand. Especially when hunting some of the rifle zone south of here where an old high school friend of mine resides. Down in the Finger Lakes region where there's a lot of steep hills that I hunted regularly decades ago. Some of those hills now scare me when I think of climbing them with my gun & daypack and other assorted gear. Currently getting ready to do the annual set-up of a pop-up ground blind at his place, which is on the south side of the tallest hill in that county. He's about 2200 ft. above sea level and the blind gets put on a gentle slope about 150 yards below the house. We are way behind schedule this year; that blind is usually up in September. Here's a pre-season shot from Sept. 21st, 2019.
... and a picture from gun season taken 12/5/2018,
. For the slug gun & hand gun area use, this year's ladder stand has been up since August in a very thick woods a few miles south of Lake Ontario on the flat region known as the "lake plains". IIRC it's less than 300 ft. above sea level versus the 2200 ft. elevation of my buddy's place. Game plan this year is to hunt the thickest area on that land because of all the deer trails in there. A lot more work to get that ladder stand up versus a pop-up blind but at least it's up and ready.
..That picture's from this past August, and the area around there will look much more open when the leaves are down. Even then, the shot distance won't be over about 25 yards; it's a jungle in there, but that's where the deer travel, according to the trail cams. That pop-up blind is the only major thing left before the start of gun season. Almost ready!
I can sure relate to that... Although it reminded me of those big hills that I hunted a long time ago, one of which is visible in the distance in one of the pix in my previous post. The one dated 12/5/2018, showing that blind in the snow with a steep hill far off in the background. You could be sitting at the base of a tree with the breeze in your face and 20 minutes later it would be blowing down the back of your neck. We eventually figured out that the prevailing wind would come across the valley in one direction but when it meets something like a big hill it would then get disrupted and begin to swirl around which explained changes in wind direction. Eventually I learned to live with it because even when the wind wasn't in my favor I knew it was only temporary. Only exception to that was when there were high winds, and from my experience the deer don't move much in high winds anyway. So if you are on a hillside facing the prevailing breeze and it shifts unfavorably, give it some time and you may find it shifts back in your favor before long.
. The woods are on 3 sides of the blind so there's more opportunities to see what's going on around you. Got the small chair in there and soon a small folding table, too. If there are deer in the vicinity, it's nice to be able to move around a little without your movement spooking them like it would when you are sitting on the ground with your back against a tree. BTDT. Gun season opens Nov. 18th and hopefully the local critters will be accustomed to seeing this thing by then.
. Got the new CVA Scout in 444 Marlin all set to go and this may be the site of its first time out hunting. It's a great shooter and it would be great to fill a tag with it on its first season.
