Extended TDY

No family likes it when their soldier son, husband, brother, nephew goes TDY (tour of duty).  The separation is oh-so-noticeable.  My brother was an adventurous sort, though.  He loved to travel, and travel he surely did.  This final tour, the extended one, I imagine he will be doing what he did, what he loved to do,  his whole professional career: going on ahead, preparing the way for the safe, secure embarkation and arrival of others.

The sharp new tang of this, his last departure, tends to encroach and overwhelm the reality of the necessity to keep on keeping on.  I need to remind myself of my own duty here.  He surely would remind me, in tones and words not subtle or especially kind.

As I age and friends and family leave me behind, 1 Corinthians 15 has become for me much more vivid, real, and affirming.

John Sackett III is much more able now to perform his duty than ever he was here.  The perishable has become imperishable; the mortal, immortal.

The Turkey Trot

No, not the dance; I am referring to the 19 minute hunt Jay took less than an hour ago which resulted in him bringing home another 10+ pound hen turkey and busting up the rest of the flock for the morning’s hunt.

The evidence:

As you see, Hawthorne was quite taken with her.

Here is the goose girl’s goose:

And another:

It is not just her.  It is familial.

Just for the Record

I saw three big bucks  while I was hunting during gun season. I got nary a shot.

A large 8-point snuck down out of a backyard, into a drive, as I was in a high tree stand 100 feet away with a natural buckthorn orchard between us.

One came down a steep bank into stream ravine following a doe and crossed the streambed onto a small honeysuckle filled flat.  I was over 100 yards away up on the bank  and back by a shed.  If I had immediately pulled my gun up I might have been able to get a shot off.  But I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

I watched the pair–the buck actually, for the doe just melded into the brush.  I was able to pick out the buck’s antlers intermittently for about five minutes.  They were never in a hurry.  I think they just crossed on their own and were not caught up in early stages of  the drive that was underway.

Twenty minutes later, the man hunting from a stand on the other side of the stream ravine from me fired twice.  I thought for sure  those two deer were the object of his shooting.  Turns out they were not–there had been 5-7 other deer pushed by the drive.  But those two ran out in the general confusion.

Five  to seven minutes after Bob in the tree shot, I saw another buck down on that flat piece of overgrown flat.  He was just moseying along in that thick huneysuckle.  He stood in it.  I could see his tail, his legs, his antlers, his head.  All behind thick stuff.  I could not take a shot that I thought had a good chance of hitting him.  While I was watching him, gun at the ready, Daren came up from behind, finishing the drive, wondering what I was watching.

He came over and said, “Well, there’s no deer there now”.  Bob had shot a spike horn buck. We walked around and over, and I asked Daren if maybe we should push that small piece of brushy ground down by the stream since I thought the buck was still there.

That did not happen.  Daren laughingly told me to go after it myself as he went to get his truck.

So I put three shell in the gun and walked down, picked up the fresh trail, the fresh scat, followed it around and about until suddenly, at the very tip of the area, something large jumped into the stream and crossed ahead of me up a very steep bank.

That buck had bedded down in all that brush.

Ah well.

The Horse Came in Handy

Saturday, while I was downtown doing errands waiting for Isaac to finish retaking two SAT exams, Jay was out in the cold hunting.  When he gave up he decided to take Isabelle down to ride Cherry.

As she was saddling the horse up, Jay glanced out the shed window and saw two deer out in the field where Isabelle would be riding.

So he walked back to the house for his truck,  gun and the walkie-talkies.  Then he snuck down south into A’s property , where we have permission to hunt, into the woods and around the deer to the southwest.

He then told Isabelle to ride Cherry out into the field, keeping to the north edge, and try to push the deer towards him.

She did so and discovered the entire back of the field was filled with deer; 12-15 of them.  The deer fanned out and ran in the general direction of Jay’s hiding place.

He saw them coming, and when they got near started yelling, trying to get the nearest ones to stop, to no avail.  Finally he took a running shot at a nice doe.

They used Cherry to drag the carcass to the truck.

Daren’s Deer

Forgot to brag about my Brother-in-law’s deer, a nine point:

Oops

Friday a migraine continued to plague me.  We hunted, without success.  Jay saw seven deer run into back yards from the first drive.  I saw a big buck sneak out of a back yard during the second drive.
Angela came over for supper.  We sampled the venison carpaccio.  Then we went to play games at Cornell at 7PM, dropping off a couple of the family on the way at Mom’s.  I was to return,  pick them up and take us all home.

It was such an interesting group of people and games I lost track of time.  At 9.30PM, I realized it was getting late, but stayed to play one more new-to-me game.  Then one more.  By then, it was really late and I was anxious to get home because Jay would be waiting. I figured out the shortest route home, avoided two deer collisions, arrived to a cold and dark home, got ready for bed and went to bed, thinking “Oops, everyone is already asleep!”
It was really late.  For us.

But when the bed with its flannel sheets was so cold, and I put my hand out to figure out why Jay was not warmer, he wasn’t there!

Not There?

Not there!

On, no!  I had forgotten my family!  I ran downstairs and called.  Jay’s next to first words were “You forgot us, didn’t you?”

I had.

News Flash!

While I was answering the post below, Jay came in from hunting and announced success!

He shot a doe from the stand straight back from the house in the woods.  Four came.  He, Isabelle and Hawthorne have gone to drag it home.