Archery Season Is Underway

Archery season got underway on Saturday here in Western New York and for most of us the weather was just not cooperating. Opening day got here with a high wind warning for most of the area and solid rain all day long. many bowhunters I spoke with did not even make it into the woods. Personally, I am not one of those guys.

As soon as I got off the air on Saturday morning, I drove straight to Caneadea. After stopping off for a quick bite in Arcade, I made it to the farm by 11:30am. The rain just would not stop. This is why you bring the raingear and tough it out. My hunting buddy Don and I got into the woods a little after 3 and we were sitting in our treestands shortly after that. The only deer I saw was a nice size doe on the way to our stands. You may think we are crazy to sit in the rain, but Saturday's hunt was actually quite enjoyable. What makes it fun is that you never know what you are going to see. I had spotted a turkey about 80 yards away from me and I watched him for about 25 minutes. About one hour after that, I had a flock of 25 turkeys come in about 20 yards from my stand. I watched this group for about 45 minutes. There were hens, jakes and toms all hanging out together which was a bit odd because normally you don't see adult toms hanging with a group like that in the Fall (at least I usually don't).

After I got out of the woods at dusk, I got back to the house to find my son had driven up from Hinsdale to surprise me. We ended up going into town and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at the Stillwater restaurant in Belfast. This is really what it's all about; spending quality time with the people you care about. By the way, none of us got a deer this past weekend, but that's OK. Hunting is really about spending time in the outdoors surrounded by those you love. It doesn't get any better than that, at least not for me.