The wait is finally over!

For the most part I'm a patient man, sometimes and when I put some effort into it. That being said I've had my patients tried and tested, and I passed.

Thanksgiving week of 2011, after a long path of elderly family care, my wife and I agreed that I should take a hunting trip and enjoy myself for a week. And so the story goes-of course I picked Saskatchewan.

2011 was the last year that the outfitter had a full hunting season, after that they cut back in an attempt to sell the property and turn it over to the new owners. I planned the trip to coincide with some friends and then at the last minute I moved the trip a week so I could be there over Thanksgiving week, my personal favorite. Long story short-I harvested my buck on Thanksgiving morning.

Outside of that story is an underlying story, of family. A year or so before the trip we put my Mother in Law in a care home. Resting and cared for through the final stages of Alzheimer's. My wife and Father in Law were diligent in her care and visited to feed her every day that she was in the care home. Nanny passed the day after Thanksgiving 2011-while I was in Saskatchewan.

I told you that story to tell you this one-The wait is over. From childhood I've been an avid deer hunter. My issue has always been that I'm a dollar short and a day late. I couldn't afford to go on paid hunts or to lease land so I hunted state grounds and whatever land I could beg for. I've had a great time over the years but there's one thing I know-if you want to shoot big deer, you have to go to where the big deer are, and thus Saskatchewan.

It was the fourth day of the hunt, I hadn't seen one shooter in the previous three days. As you can read in a previous post, I was on stand about 10 minutes and had to wait about 10 more for it to be legal shooting time. A moment passed and I harvested a 155 class buck that came in early to visit.

The wait that the title refers to all started when I returned to New Jersey and sent my antlers and cape to my taxidermist in Ohio. After a long wait I contacted the taxidermist only to find out that his freezer gave out and he had lost my cape. I called the original outfitter and he was able to get me another cape from a big buck in Saskatchewan that had just been harvested. I sent it to the taxidermist and we were once again on our way-not quite. After about 6 months of waiting I called the local Sherriff's Dept. and asked them to pay a visit to the taxidermist. They did and about 2 weeks later the antlers (broken in half) and the cape arrived on my door step. I was referred to a local taxidermist and paid him a visit. Four months later-The wait is over!

Although an IPhone takes pretty good pictures, this picture doesn't come close to showing the amazing detail that the taxidermist put into this project. It is truly a work of art!

I've spent most of my life dreaming about the day that I would hang one of these on the wall, yesterday, Aug 8th, 2013, that dream came true! He's not a Boone and Crockett record book buck, but he's the one I've longed for most of my life.

It all seems like a blur now, almost two years later and the wait is finally over.

Kevo

Restless Warmth

With just over 130 days left until I depart for Ontario I can't seem to get into the hunting mood. It's been in the 90's here and the air feels like your walking under water. So it goes with those of us who live for those special few fall and winter months of hunting season.

Lately I've been thinking more and more about minimizing my hunting days and maximizing my fishing days. As I grow older it seems to get just a little bit harder to get up and go if you know what I mean. Somewhere the hunt left me and the outfitters came into play. It's become so much easier for me to pay someone else to do the work. I don't enjoy it as much but such is life.

My thoughts lately have turned more to the old days than usual, I expect it has something to do with the passing of my Mother in March. Both of my parents are gone, the memories stay. Seems the old days are getting farther and farther away, and just as troublesome is that making new days doesn't seem much nearer.

I'll dedicate this post to those cold early mornings in Nebraska as we prepared for the days hunt. Regardless of species the anticipation was much the same. Can't wake up fast enough, can't get my hunting clothes on fast enough and can't get into the truck and out of the driveway soon enough. My father behind the wheel, shotgun by my side and the defroster just beginning to replace the dew on the windshield with a clear view. It was hard to bend my legs with long john's, sweat pants and blue jeans on. It was cool to wear your hooded sweatshirt under the insulated flannel shirt, with the hood hanging out of course, still is.

I don't remember doing much in the way of shopping for hunting clothes, blue jeans and sweat shirts did then what a billion dollar enterprise does today-sorry Cabela's. Funny thing-you can still spot hunters a mile away, regardless of camo pattern. I admit that there were days when I could have used some of the $10,000 worth of hunting clothes that I have today back then, but back then we needed the $10,000 more. Knitted stocking caps, leather gloves and with any luck wool socks, but usually-two pairs of sweat socks were the outfit of the day-made it easier to do chores when you got home.

I'll mark this day as the day it all began to change, I've been searching fishing guides/trips across the US. The Old Man metamorphous is beginning, I'm becoming a boat sitter! I can't say that I don't like the idea, I think there's a fish or two out there for me to talk a little bit about, nothing like a campfire story.

As for this year it's on to Ontario followed by Manitoba, a pair of very interesting Whitetail hunts and a good chance to put two more on the wall. For me it's more than the hunt, I have some friends joining me in Ontario-I'm looking forward to sharing the hunt with them. And then it's on to Manitoba with a camp that will house only three hunters for the week. I look forward to the solitude, some time to reflect I guess, to balance the past and settle with the future. Retirement isn't that far away now and the thought of spending my days on the water with reel in hand feel pretty good.

With the dreams of catching a big eyed Tuna rolling around in my head it will be but a smile on my face as I cast just one more time for that big Crappie behind the log.

And so it is, the fall thoughts of a hunter at heart in the restless warmth of June.

It's on the Wall!

It's been slightly over a year since I placed my order for my fourth Leon Stewart Longbow, 56" @ 50lbs, well, it's on the wall! I've hung my longbows on the wall of my office not only to protect them but also so I can admire them while I'm in the office. A grandiose gesture of an egotistical hunter.

As I sit today, fighting off the affects of an upper respiratory infection of 2+ weeks I'm mourning in sorts. The passing of my Mother on March 6th, 2013 has me thinking a bit off keel. I often reach for the phone to call her. She was the 4th of our parents to pass, and the last. She'll be missed.

With thoughts of spring departing and summer arriving there's work to do outside, neither my wife nor I feel up to the task however there are things to be done-today I build a cover for our garden to keep the deer out-sort of apropos don't you think?

There is a bit of excitement in the air, my Saskatchewan Buck of 2 years ago is finally in the hands of a qualified taxidermist and is being worked on. It's been a long time coming which included a call to the local Ohio Sheriff's office to get the antlers and cape back into my hands. That issue is laid to rest. I have a spot on the wall readied for the delivery in a couple of months. Sad things had to come to that.

At present I'm focused on work and preparations for Canada this fall. As noted in the past post I've installed muzzle brakes on my 270wsm and 300wsm, the 270wsm for Ontario and the 300wsm for Manitoba. This fall is somewhat exciting in that the first outfitter is just getting into business and the second comes highly recommended by past patron's. I have high hopes for both hunts however I'm in it more for the trip than I am the harvest. A pair of 145 class bucks would suit me fine, but then so would a pair of 170+ bucks!

With the passing of my Mother and recent changes at work I had been a bit out of sorts, that's past and I'm looking forward to the near future. Settled as I can be I'm moving forward with those events. Outside of that I celebrated my 25th sober year in AA on April 1st, 2013. No small task however all has worked out for me. As a treat I decided to take myself fishing in Florida, I'll not embellish the event however as you can see by the picture, I was successful!

 

 

God has been good to me and I often find his Grace and Strength outside of my success', fact is my catching this fish only made me feel a bit bad for the gentleman I was fishing with, I truly would have celebrated more had he hooked it. God has his ways and I'm often humbled that he chooses me for gifts. A true gift this was-it was my last cast of the day!

 

I hope you and yours find the good in everyone and everything, there's no time for negatives!

 

Kevo

 

It's been awhile

 
It's been awhile since my last post, much has happened in our household-all for the better. It's early February and light snow is falling, we don't get very much here in New Jersey. A friend has traveled to Ireland to lay to rest a Mother in Law. All is as good as can be.

As the days pass I'm nearer my planned fall hunts-Ontario and then onto Manitoba, both are firsts for me. My expectations are high yet balanced, I realize that a 150 is a trophy there-a 150 is fine with me! The success of the trip will lie within the day I hit Omaha and hopefully hand off the venison to my brother for consumption. It will be a long ride home from Omaha this year if I'm to be home by Thanksgiving Day.

At the same time I'm filled with excitement as Friday I pick up my 7MM and 270wsm, both of which now sport a new muzzle brake. I'm not an advocate of muzzle brakes if your a range shooter, there a good way to lose friends on the range. I do however appreciate the new attitude that my 300wsm acquired once the muzzle brake was in use-it liked me and I liked it! Added to that I'm pending the arrival of my 2011 Saskatchewan mount, a new Winchester Model 70 Extreme Weather in .243 Caliber and hopefully a long awaited longbow, ordered over a year ago, still pending. Add it all up and there is much to be grateful for-God is Good!

It's been a little over a year since my Mother in Law passed, 7 months since my Father in Law joined her-they are missed. I think that we often overlook how much a person, especially a parent, plays in the roles of our lives. I find myself saying things Poppy said or moving my hand like Nanny did, and so it goes. I'd be proud if they'd live on through me.

It's been awhile, awhile since I sent my mount to the taxidermist, awhile since I put my rifles in the shop, awhile since I ordered the new longbow, awhile since I sent my deposits for Canada and awhile since I made the deal for the new .243. All should come to be in the near future. But more importantly, it's been awhile since I watched a Philly's game with my Father in Law, awhile since I took Nanny for a wheelchair ride or fed her lunch. It's been awhile since I've had to worry about what they thought about me marrying their daughter. Still it's as real as it was over a year ago. I still see it, feel it, smell it, they are still here with me everyday-and for that, I'm grateful.

I often look at the past as if it's still here, I reminisce, I cry, I smile-but I wouldn't change one detail. As my good friend Ernie would say-it is what it is! It's just been awhile.