Week 19:The Knees Please MeA Hunting We Will Go!

Monday marks the 19th week I've had my new knees and I must say that they have been pleasing me no end. They're doing extra fine on flat surfaces and even on the ice and snow covered slanted driveway and up stairs. The only trouble has been going down stairs--and that's getting better.

Monday morning they will carry me up the hill to sit during the opening day of rifle season for whitetail here in PA. With any luck, all the other hunters from the suddenly occupied camps will send a nice legal buck my way. It will only take one with three points on one antler to make me happy. In the zone I'm sitting in a buck with at least three points is the only thing you can shoot during the first week. I've not seen one in the yard with those requirements. Does? Yes. Bucks? No.

There have been several antlerless deer passing through the yard and even eating things off the compost heap. I've seen as many as six during one evening. Among the antlerless deer is at least one button buck who is not considered legal as a buck and, until the second week of the season, illegal as it has no antlers just little bumps on its head. (It and its sister are small to boot, having been born this spring. Not much meat on their bones.) 

I have some hope that there's a larger buck out there. There are several saplings that have been rubbed by a buck trying to get the itchy velvet off its antlers. And there are several spots along the logging road where a deer has scraped the earth and nibbled the branches directly above leaving its scent behind to mark a territory. All I need is to have that larger buck come back to its "safety zone" when other hunters start moving about.

The weather has been really cold but it's supposed to warm up starting Monday. In fact, the temperature has been rising much of Sunday evening. There's a layer of icy snow on the ground so things will go "crunch" as they walk and any blood trail--if I need to follow one--should stand out on the white.The chance of new precipitation during the day is given as 30% but it's supposed to be overcast all day.