Dear me, no deer

Sunrise as seen from my deer stand Sunday, November 10, 2013

This scene is half of what made my weekend!
I left Friday and drove to Fargo where I had lunch with Grandma Saunders.  I spent about an hour with her and then headed to the Bindes.  I shot my rifle three times and was satisfied with my grouping so then walked out to the stand and climbed up.  All was OK and I left a camping chair there for the next morning.
Saturday the alarm went off at 5:00 AM.  I was in the stand by 6:10, 40 minutes before shooting time and and hour and 10 minutes before the sun would come up.  The day was not good in any way!!  From the get go the wind was 20-30 MPH and it seemed much more than that when one sits up 14 feet with little protection.  Through out the day it was cloudy, snow flurries and in a nut shell it was miserable!  I came down for the night about sun down.  I saw nothing, not even a mouse!  I would say I heard maybe 6 or 7 shots all day.  Usually one would hear 25-50 shots. I have to say that my Terry saved the day and the weekend as she encouraged me to bring a sleeping bag to bundle up in when I was in the stand.  I did that and if I had not brought the sleeping bag I would not have survived the weekend.
Sunday was a different story.  I arrived in the stand about 15 minutes before shooting time.  Forty-five minutes later, after I had taken pictures and the sun was peeking over the horizon I detected movement to my left.  I turned and looked straight north and there appeared to be a deer near the trees that separate Dale's land and his neighbors.  I picked up my rifle, put the scope on 9 power and there stood a 8-10 point buck, perhaps one of the largest I have seen in any hunt.  I knew I was about 400 yards away and he was standing on Dale's land but about 10-15 feet from the trees which are not Dales.  I contemplated a shot but thought I would be lucky to hit him and even if I were lucky he would most likely end up well into the trees where I could not go.  SO I enjoyed about 30 seconds of the scene.  I had hopes that he may meander over to the field on Dales land but no luck.  As he disappeared I had hope that there were hunters there and they may scare him back my way but no shots were heard and no deer was seen again.  BUT it was great and it made my weekend.  Some how it is nice to see deer like that in a national park, which we did, but to see them in the wild on a hunt is almost breath taking.  I hope he lives for another season!
We now have 2 days to ready ourselves to leave and let Travis take care of things for the next several months.  I need to check the weather in Kansas City as we intend to camp near there Wednesday night.  The Missouri travel site shows that Wallace State Park is open year round but their camp ground, not sure.  Anyway we plan to arrive at sister Helen's sometime Thursday.
I had my FP coffee at the Honda dealer today as I had the transmission fluid changed and the DVD player updated.  Also had nitrogen added to three of the tires.  After filling in $2.95 gas we should be ready to head south to warmer climate BUT first there are many things to do.