For diehard Red Sox fans, Opening Day at Fenway Park is almost a religious event. If you’ve been there for the season opener, you’ve seen the field at its manicured best. The vendors’ voices are at their loudest, hawking programs or hot dogs. The familiar smells of downtown, popcorn and springtime blend together to create an odor that cannot be forgotten.
Anticipation for a great season is high.
For deer hunters, these same smells and emotions come together on the opening day of deer hunting season. But before the clock signals another starter, most hunters have spent a considerable amount of time planning and preparing for a month of hunting excitement. While some of us woke up Saturday, threw on some orange clothes from the back of the closet and grabbed the rifle from where it was stored a year ago, many of us have rituals that lead up to the first day afield.
For this hunter, prepping for deer season begins with a trip to the rifle range. While I know my aim was true last year when I pulled the trigger on a nice buck, I feel more comfortable if I’ve had a chance to pattern my gun. This year, I made a few adjustments to bring my group tighter and closer to the bull’s-eye. I probably didn’t have to be so precise, but I feel pretty certain that I can hit a deer-sized target out to 100 yards with my semi-auto Remington. For the price of a few shells, most hunters can rest assured that any mistakes in the field are not the result of their gun.
Sweet smell
After a trip to the range, the gun gets a good scrubbing and oiling to ensure it will function smoothly. Consider the punishment a rifle takes, being transported around in a pick-up truck, exposed to rain, cold and possibly snow, and having bits of forest debris end up inside all the nooks and crannies. The smell of Hoppe’s No. 9 cleaning solvent is as pungent as the beer line between innings at Fenway.
The next step in prepping for opening day is the gathering of the gear. I don’t know how my hunting equipment gets moved around, but it seems that nothing is in one central location. Maybe that’s because I used my deer knife (the same model 110 buck knife I’ve had since I was 16) to cut open a fertilizer bag this spring.
The hunting license found its way to my duck hunting field box. The short length of rope that I use to drag deer saw double duty as a pull on my children’s sled last winter. Finally, a check in my closet confirmed that I had my favorite, lucky deer cap (the one with the now-defunct Great Northern Paper Company logo given to me by my friend’s late father). My orange vest, that familiar red wool shirt and a pair of wool trousers for when the weather turns cold round out my hunting garb. With everything in one place, I feel confident that I can head out into the woods without waking up the household, frantically looking for my wool socks (a situation that my spouse considers one of the downfalls of the hunting season).
Like many hunters, I work up quite an appetite, and that’s only from pulling on my rubber boots. I require plenty of snacks when spending a day afield, so planning ahead saves me from the embarrassment of showing up at the planned rendezvous spot with only a can of soda and an apple from the refrigerator. Fortunately, deer season starts up close to Halloween. That means you always have a supply of interesting candy on hand.
This year, opening day was prior to Halloween, which meant that I was limited to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. (Hint to neighborhood kids: that’s what you will be getting at the Roth house). After Monday, I hope to secure a fine selection of treats for upcoming hunting trips, courtesy of my two daughters. I’m sure they won’t miss a few chocolate bars or Sponge Bob Gummy Crabbie Patties.
I made some caribou jerky to take along on the hunt. Along with providing energy and sustenance on the trail, it’s fun to enjoy game meat when hunting. I liken it to the pemmican that Native Americans ate when on the trail. These skilled hunters harvested game to make their jerky and used herbs and spices indigenous to their land.
Game plan
Finally, the planning of the hunt is the last step before actually heading into the woods. Just like a coach prepares a roster and makes out a batting order, I make plans with my hunting buddies. Last year, we met in Everett “Lenny” Leonard’s kitchen on opening day, well before daybreak. Lenny and son Tyler had just rolled out of bed and were in need of coffee. I made a coffee cake (well, actually my wife did, but I brought it along), and we ate at Lenny’s table discussing the plan. We would each take a stand until the sun rose, watching a spot that might have had a deer near it anywhere from last week to 10 years ago.
Once the sun was up (or we were bored, cold or just plain impatient), we would meet and hunt a few pieces of woods.
Each area has a name. Most spots are named from some previous skirmish that took place, much like Bunker Hill or Gettysburg. “Rene’s Field” is named after the field where Rene emptied his gun on a fleeing buck. “That place where Tyler shot a doe a few years ago,” is where Tyler shot a doe a few years ago.
I am hoping that this year, the orchard where I shot a nice 6-pointer last season will be named “Tom’s Orchard,” but I’m afraid that it will be called “the orchard where Tom finally shot a deer.” Or “the orchard where Tom didn’t miss a deer.”
With all the preparations that we do in advance of deer season, it seems rather sad that the actual hunting goes by so quickly. For those of us who work weekdays, we are limited to a scant five Saturdays of hunting. Maybe that’s why we spend so much time preparing and why we enjoy those menial tasks like cleaning our guns or sharpening our knives. Each chore allows us to sit back and think of all the special times spent afield with friends. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have to see if the wife will make a coffee cake.
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