The perfect SxS day ......

[SXSMAN]

I took Saturday off as a gift to myself . I feel small gifts to ourselves are important .

The day started with a pot of fresh ground coffee about 3am . Enough for a cup or two and the thermos . Couple of pumpkin muffins and a quick shower and the long dress . Layers of thermals and wool socks , grab the hunting bag and 10 ga and out the door I go .

Takes about 5 miles to get some heat but don't want too much for need to get a feel for the chill . When I leave home it's about 14 degrees , the drive is about 50 minutes and it's now 8 degrees .

The walk to the pond is labored with the snow and so is my breathing , the cool air warms my throat. I'm too warm and remove my coat . Steam rises off me in the moon lit night . The ice is thick enough to walk on and soon realize I should have brought my Chainsaw to open up a nice hole in the ice . Fog covers the pond (about three acres) and the corn field next to it . I can see where deer have been digging with their hooves to quench their thurst . The sound of a lone owl calling in the moon-lit night welcome the 1st glimpse of light of the new day . Wild turkey leave their roost and a red tailed hawk soars looking for breakfast . It's now legal time so I pull two shells from my pocket , I pause because they feel like hand warmers .
I pour a cup of joe and find it goes cold too fast and learn not to pour more than I'll drink in a minute, least it will turn to ice in 3 .

A flock of geese call as they leave for feeding fields elsewhere .
I call back and their course veers . I grab the 10 ga and draw a bead . They're too high even for the twin 32" 's . Funny....in the moment , the gun feels like a 410 , only after holding it for a few moments it mass begins to say "Put me down , I don't like being held" .
As I turn back around a single large bird soars in the morning sky . Hmmm .......too large to be a hawk .......I glass the sky .......Yes !, it's a bald eagle . Their nest is about 2.5 miles from here , I wonder if it's one of the parents or one of their offspring . 30 to 40 minutes pass and a red tailed hawk perches on a high limb in a large tree 30' away . I watch it for the next 10 minutes wishing I'd brought a camera . No action in the skies for some time and my mind returns to the ice . I wonder if the beaver are snug and warm in their lodge . I see they've been working hard this last year , not only small trees but some rather large trees they fell . The morn has worn to afternoon .

I'm rather hungry and the rifle range is only a few miles away so I thought I'd go over and see who and what they had brought to shoot , the smell of burning powder only adds to the flavor of my sandwich.

Andy's working as the rangermaster . Young man in his twenties , we talk for some time and then I notice the coyote in the bed of his truck , and it has a rabbit in it's mouth . I know there's a story behind it so I ask for it . Tells me he saw it with a female run across the road and as it returned he saw it had a rabbit in it's mouth , dispatched it on the run with a .223 . Never let go of the rabbit , even in death , will have them mounted together .

The range is almost empty and now know I should have brought something else with me to shoot , too late to go home though so I'll go back to hunting .

The rest of the day was filled with more hawk sighting , but no geese . I did see a bow hunter walking the path on the other bank of the pond , heading out for his evening hunt . Not 3 minutes later a deer followed behind him on the same trail . I laughed to myself . As the sun begins to set , I watch a pair of tit mouse flying from one cattail to another , the speed of their wings breaks the quiet with the fluttering . Sunlight is almost gone , night fall has arrived .

On the drive home my mind turns to my wife and her question of " How can you stand to do nothing all day but wait ?"

I think of how I enjoy my own company at times more than the company of others . Feel rather at home in this skin .
I think of how the day has unfolded and how it has changed my soul , sounds rather corny , saying it filled me with joy and easing the stress/worries of the week . I feel like God himself smiled down on me , warming me from within . It's nice to escape the problems of the world , and have a little weight lifted off , if even for only a short time . The overtime money I lost by not working is soon forgotten , feeling richer than the day before . With all the walking and hours I'd been up , thought I'd go straight to sleep , only to have my mind race thinking of the day .



Funny , it doesn't feel like I was doing nothing .




SxS ( The goof-off )

Ps , some of you in the days ahead will have some time off to spend with family and friends .

Don't forget to be good to yourself also .

Spend some time on yourself .


Wrote this about three years ago , thought it might be worth another look with fresh eyes .

SxS

[craigster59]

Great story.What kind of 10g were you using? I'm out here in Calif. with a LeFever 10g that's not getting used. It has damascus barrels so no steel shot, and haven't tried bismuth. I had it re-browned by Keith Kearcher (not sure if you've heard of him) and a really beautiful gun. Pretty heavy, it's a hell of a hawg leg.