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I didn't have a "Swamp Rat" this year and depended on my cousin to haul me in and out of the woods during hunting season. We had some close calls but no one connected yet. The day before Thanksgiving was cold and the weather man was calling for 3 to 6" of snow over night and into early Thanksgiving morning. No big deal, there would be a friend hunting with us and it isn't like we've not done this before. So we went to bed and got up at 3:00 am knowing we would need some time getting me into my hunting spot. We checked the snow and the ruler said 3" so we figured we were good to go as the snow was supposed to taper off about nowish....
We met up with our friend Sonny at the entrance of an old farm I had permission to hunt. It was a great spot just off Wood River with the opposite side all State land, deer would cross the river and come into our little spot when heavily pressured. Sonny slung and carried all three guns while my cousin pushed my chair through the 3" of snow down the long dirt driveway. That would connect with an old tote road in the woods just beyond the old farm house. That tote road hooked around an old cranberry bog and died right up at the rivers bank. It was just about a half mile to my stand by the cranberry bog.
It took a while but between the two they got me setup where I wanted to be with plenty of time before day light. I wished them luck and they went to their spots. It was still snowing and damn cold. As I sat there with my T/C White Mountain across my lap, I had it's lock safely tucked under my coat. Even though it was still dark I could feel the snow hitting my face and see that my arms and legs were already blanketed white. Geesh, never trust a weather man...with the darkness turning grey I could start to see the snow was actually falling harder now than when we left the house. Everything was blanketed white as the sun light started to poke through the tops of the trees. I did a quick scan of the woods when I could see well enough and then shook off the snow that was rapidly piling up on me...
It was pretty much uneventful for me. I spent most of my time shaking off the snow before it got to deep on me and at some point I realized we were in for a long haul in getting me back up to the truck. This was a heavy wet snow coming down hard and I was sure I'd be soaked and frozen to the bone before I saw home again. I figured my hunting was over for the day unless a deer jumped in my lap because all around me the trees branches were sagging under the weight of the snow cutting my visibility way down to just yards.
At about 9:00 am I heard a POP! And just hung my head and sighed. Barely a minute later, POP! Oh lord when will they listen and weather proof their guns...If anything it did perk me up for a few minutes as I now paid attention to the woods again. About a half hour went by when my cousin finally showed up and I said "ok, report..." He was shaking his head as he said "well I saw a buck..." "Yeah, I heard haha". "Oh no that wasn't me." I walked out to Sonny and we were talking for about ten minutes before coming to get you, when he sees a deer and sneaks over behind a tree to take a shot. He pops a cap, then looks at me. I had a clear shot at 40 yards but looked at him for the ok to shoot and he just sneaks closer and pops another cap. By that time the deer takes off and he started running after it. I waited ten minutes for him to come back but he's disappeared." I said what the hell Norman you did the right thing letting him have the first shot but once his gun misfired it was up for grabs. Oh well never mind, lets get out of here, we got about a foot of snow here, just great." Before we started I said we better unload and load fresh when we go out again. He picked out a stump and POP! Oh great...took three caps to get it to hang fire. Mine went right off like it always does...
It ended up being ten inches of snow that we now struggled to get me through. It took a long time (hours) before we saw the truck and we never did see Sonny the whole time. I got a call later when we were home. He told me about chasing the buck across the road into another property that is hunted by friends. He knew I wasn't happy about him dogging a deer with a faulty gun, right into the laps of other hunters. I told him not to worry about it as I was going to kill that buck tomorrow. Knowing full well my hunting season was most likely over. I remember him shooting back "you probably will you ornery prick."
Sitting there having a cup of coffee, my cousin suggested a toboggan would work in getting me and the wheelchair into the woods. Sounded great to me if he was sure he could haul me in, lets go shopping! We ended up hitting three stores and all we could find was a blue plastic toboggan. What the hell, it will have to do. I felt better now, if this works my hunting season ain't quite over yet....
My cousin said that deer was close to where I was sitting but instead of setting up off the right side of the tote road like I was, I should have been on the road right at the corner. I said great you take me right back to that corner then and I'll kill that deer. And off we were the next morning. I'm glad sometimes that no one is around to witness us clowns doing some of the things we do. It has over the years turned into some quite comical scenes. If you can picture a blue plastic toboggan setting on ten inches of snow with my chair folded and placed up front, me sitting on a cushion within it and two guns straddling me. It was quite a trip lol. Wasn't exactly as easy as we thought it would be but it did do the job. It would have been better if he had snow shoes on but because he did not, it was difficult for him to walk through the snow. We finally reached where we wanted to be about ten minutes before legal shooting time. He kicked out a square about three foot by three foot hole and set my chair up in it, then picked me up and set me in the chair. He pointed out where the deer was when he saw it yesterday and we wished each other luck as he headed back out behind me to his stand.
As I sat there waiting for the sun to rise, I couldn't help but think of my cousin Chris, who I found just a month before not very far from here. He had committed suicide over a girl. I was mad at him for putting me through that and I now let him know. I also let him know he owed me and if he was hearing any of this, to send a deer my way...
At 7:10 am I thought it funny there was a tree on the hill in front of me that still had a couple of leaves fluttering in the wind, and they were getting lower...Wait a minute! Those are hooves! Coming down the hill. I shouldered my carbine and shoved my elbow into my chairs arm rest. I waited for him to hit bottom, which he did and stood head on to me for what seemed like forever before turning. If he goes to my right, no shot, if he goes to my left, hes mine. He went to my left. I let him go about 30 yards putting him broadside to me in the clear at 40 yards. I rested the sights on his shoulder and BOOM! He went straight down and started flopping around like a fish out of water. I hurried and reloaded. As I squeezed the trigger he moved and I missed. I reloaded again and this time ended the matter. Well three shots is a distress signal, so my cousin came running in asking what's the matter? A buck is down, that's the matter lol. He said well hot damn and dragged the six point out to me so I could get a good look at him. Then reality set in...
How the hell are we getting me and the deer out of here? I told him the only way we can do this is to leave me here and for him to drive down to the Bait &Tackle shop I worked at, at the time and enlist help. He did that. About an hour later I was surprised by two snow mobiles! That was pretty slick, they put the deer and chair in the toboggan and one guy dragged it behind. They put me on the other snow mobile. We were back at the truck and loaded up in 20 minutes!
At noon time I got a phone call, it was Sonny. The first thing he said was "You son of a .... You shot this morning didn't ya!?" I laughed like hell. He said he was just shutting his door to his house getting ready to go to work about 7:15 and he heard a distant shot from the direction of the farm. He said I just knew it was you and he shook his head all the way to work.....
Oh god I love it! :rotf:
We met up with our friend Sonny at the entrance of an old farm I had permission to hunt. It was a great spot just off Wood River with the opposite side all State land, deer would cross the river and come into our little spot when heavily pressured. Sonny slung and carried all three guns while my cousin pushed my chair through the 3" of snow down the long dirt driveway. That would connect with an old tote road in the woods just beyond the old farm house. That tote road hooked around an old cranberry bog and died right up at the rivers bank. It was just about a half mile to my stand by the cranberry bog.
It took a while but between the two they got me setup where I wanted to be with plenty of time before day light. I wished them luck and they went to their spots. It was still snowing and damn cold. As I sat there with my T/C White Mountain across my lap, I had it's lock safely tucked under my coat. Even though it was still dark I could feel the snow hitting my face and see that my arms and legs were already blanketed white. Geesh, never trust a weather man...with the darkness turning grey I could start to see the snow was actually falling harder now than when we left the house. Everything was blanketed white as the sun light started to poke through the tops of the trees. I did a quick scan of the woods when I could see well enough and then shook off the snow that was rapidly piling up on me...
It was pretty much uneventful for me. I spent most of my time shaking off the snow before it got to deep on me and at some point I realized we were in for a long haul in getting me back up to the truck. This was a heavy wet snow coming down hard and I was sure I'd be soaked and frozen to the bone before I saw home again. I figured my hunting was over for the day unless a deer jumped in my lap because all around me the trees branches were sagging under the weight of the snow cutting my visibility way down to just yards.
At about 9:00 am I heard a POP! And just hung my head and sighed. Barely a minute later, POP! Oh lord when will they listen and weather proof their guns...If anything it did perk me up for a few minutes as I now paid attention to the woods again. About a half hour went by when my cousin finally showed up and I said "ok, report..." He was shaking his head as he said "well I saw a buck..." "Yeah, I heard haha". "Oh no that wasn't me." I walked out to Sonny and we were talking for about ten minutes before coming to get you, when he sees a deer and sneaks over behind a tree to take a shot. He pops a cap, then looks at me. I had a clear shot at 40 yards but looked at him for the ok to shoot and he just sneaks closer and pops another cap. By that time the deer takes off and he started running after it. I waited ten minutes for him to come back but he's disappeared." I said what the hell Norman you did the right thing letting him have the first shot but once his gun misfired it was up for grabs. Oh well never mind, lets get out of here, we got about a foot of snow here, just great." Before we started I said we better unload and load fresh when we go out again. He picked out a stump and POP! Oh great...took three caps to get it to hang fire. Mine went right off like it always does...
It ended up being ten inches of snow that we now struggled to get me through. It took a long time (hours) before we saw the truck and we never did see Sonny the whole time. I got a call later when we were home. He told me about chasing the buck across the road into another property that is hunted by friends. He knew I wasn't happy about him dogging a deer with a faulty gun, right into the laps of other hunters. I told him not to worry about it as I was going to kill that buck tomorrow. Knowing full well my hunting season was most likely over. I remember him shooting back "you probably will you ornery prick."
Sitting there having a cup of coffee, my cousin suggested a toboggan would work in getting me and the wheelchair into the woods. Sounded great to me if he was sure he could haul me in, lets go shopping! We ended up hitting three stores and all we could find was a blue plastic toboggan. What the hell, it will have to do. I felt better now, if this works my hunting season ain't quite over yet....
My cousin said that deer was close to where I was sitting but instead of setting up off the right side of the tote road like I was, I should have been on the road right at the corner. I said great you take me right back to that corner then and I'll kill that deer. And off we were the next morning. I'm glad sometimes that no one is around to witness us clowns doing some of the things we do. It has over the years turned into some quite comical scenes. If you can picture a blue plastic toboggan setting on ten inches of snow with my chair folded and placed up front, me sitting on a cushion within it and two guns straddling me. It was quite a trip lol. Wasn't exactly as easy as we thought it would be but it did do the job. It would have been better if he had snow shoes on but because he did not, it was difficult for him to walk through the snow. We finally reached where we wanted to be about ten minutes before legal shooting time. He kicked out a square about three foot by three foot hole and set my chair up in it, then picked me up and set me in the chair. He pointed out where the deer was when he saw it yesterday and we wished each other luck as he headed back out behind me to his stand.
As I sat there waiting for the sun to rise, I couldn't help but think of my cousin Chris, who I found just a month before not very far from here. He had committed suicide over a girl. I was mad at him for putting me through that and I now let him know. I also let him know he owed me and if he was hearing any of this, to send a deer my way...
At 7:10 am I thought it funny there was a tree on the hill in front of me that still had a couple of leaves fluttering in the wind, and they were getting lower...Wait a minute! Those are hooves! Coming down the hill. I shouldered my carbine and shoved my elbow into my chairs arm rest. I waited for him to hit bottom, which he did and stood head on to me for what seemed like forever before turning. If he goes to my right, no shot, if he goes to my left, hes mine. He went to my left. I let him go about 30 yards putting him broadside to me in the clear at 40 yards. I rested the sights on his shoulder and BOOM! He went straight down and started flopping around like a fish out of water. I hurried and reloaded. As I squeezed the trigger he moved and I missed. I reloaded again and this time ended the matter. Well three shots is a distress signal, so my cousin came running in asking what's the matter? A buck is down, that's the matter lol. He said well hot damn and dragged the six point out to me so I could get a good look at him. Then reality set in...
How the hell are we getting me and the deer out of here? I told him the only way we can do this is to leave me here and for him to drive down to the Bait &Tackle shop I worked at, at the time and enlist help. He did that. About an hour later I was surprised by two snow mobiles! That was pretty slick, they put the deer and chair in the toboggan and one guy dragged it behind. They put me on the other snow mobile. We were back at the truck and loaded up in 20 minutes!
At noon time I got a phone call, it was Sonny. The first thing he said was "You son of a .... You shot this morning didn't ya!?" I laughed like hell. He said he was just shutting his door to his house getting ready to go to work about 7:15 and he heard a distant shot from the direction of the farm. He said I just knew it was you and he shook his head all the way to work.....
Oh god I love it! :rotf:
