Back in the stand…its been awhile

Written by a Hunting Mama
3 years ago my friend also known as hunting gal Joey Nelson introduced me to tree stand hunting when the 2 of us took off over east and graced the tops of some trees in search of white tail.  Although we didn’t harvest anything that weekend we had an absolute blast and I’ve been hooked ever sense.  There is something calming about sitting in the tops of the trees looking out at the world below you.  I now know what it must be like to be a bird or a squirrel with a tree top perspective on life.  I had a beautiful baby boy 13 months ago and it’s been a wonderful, challenging, crazy and amazing year being a new mom.  However, finding a few moments to myself or with my husband alone is all but non-existent. I must have got lucky this past Sunday when we called some friends on a whim to see if they could watch our son for 3 hours so we could go out to my stand and spend some time together.  We put 2 stands back to back in a tree so my husband can come and sit with me sometimes.  There is something I really enjoy about spending this time together even though we don’t talk and just sit back to back in silence.  Don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy going out by myself if I get the chance but for some reason I like having him around.

It’s been 2 years since I’ve been in my stand so we weren’t sure what disarray it might be in.  When we got out there we quickly realized there was a problem.  We’d taken down one of the stands last spring to lend to a friend during spring bear…woops! Next, there was no seat pad and the stand we did have up was positioned a little too much in the open which didn’t give me a lot of cover for drawing my bow.  However, if you’re a mom you know that you never give up 3 hours of alone time no matter what happens.  I climbed into my stand, put my jacket on the seat, clicked into my harness and made the best of the situation.  My husband found an old ground blind to hide out in not too far way where he could still see the action but be out of the way.  The evening was warm and beautiful I didn’t even need my jacket (good thing, since I was sitting on it).  Before long 2 does appeared in the field near my stand, then 2 fawns came out below me and wondered around before bedding down to wait for their mom.  I had a shot at both of them and their mom when she arrived but I don’t like to shoot fawns or moms so I passed them up.  At dusk a young 3 x 3 buck came out right below my stand I was able to draw my bow on him with the little cover I had but he busted me and blew out of there.  I probably should have given him a little more time but with daylight going quickly and knowing I probably wouldn’t be back this season I decided to take the chance. I wish it would have ended up differently but maybe next time.  The moral of this story is: enjoy every moment you get to spend out hunting, it’s about getting out there not always about the harvest.