Well, it was a big deer harvest for just about everybody here but me. Had my chances, but choked. The last day, there was a deer 40 yards away. I knew I had a shell in the .270 chamber, so I clicked off the safety, raised the gun to my shoulder, and DOUGH!!, forgot to take off the scope cover. That’s all the deer needed. It was gone and I never did see it again. Had a chance at another one later in the day and missed that one, too.
I managed to beg a deer from my friend who had already harvested plenty. He was going on a planned hunt, so I told him not to come back with any unused bullets.
I butchered that deer this morning before work. There’s a certain satisfaction to skinning and cutting up a deer. I don’t know many of my friends in the lower-48 who butcher their own meat – most manage to gut the deer, then put it in the back of the truck and to the butcher they go. Here, sometimes you need to bone out a deer and bring just the meat back if you’re out in the toulies several miles or longer than you want to haul out a whole deer.
Now that deer season is over, it’s time to look at the tide book and schedule a clam dig. Looks like about the 19th of this month will work. Clamming is among the most productive harvesting treks – you always know you’ll bring back clams, the harvest occurs at a time defined by the tides, and when the tide floods or your back gives up, you know it’s time to quit and head back, usually for some coffee as the digging usually takes place in the winter evening with head lamps.