Well, it was time for my first hunt. I have never actually been hunting in my life. I have only shot handguns at targets. Having been married for 25 years and raising four children it seemed as though my wife and I would never be alone. Now having left Florida for Delaware, a long story for another time, I thought maybe our lives would slowly wind down and give us some time together. I was wrong. Our son got married while in the Coast Guard and has given us two grandchildren. At this time we live in a room in their home and my wife helps with the grandchildren very often. I took a job with the State and work in a maximum-security prison. I had been very much a wanna be hunter. I watched all the television shows that I could find about hunting and I even bought many magazines and did much research on the Internet trying to learn what ever I could about hunting. (I just had to wipe tiny fingerprints from the monitor. I thought I should get my glasses.) I became acquainted with a few guys at work that talk a lot about hunting and the particular seasons and what was to be hunted and how they were to be hunted. I let a few of them know that I was very interested and would like to go hunting. I explained that I had never been and that I would go to be their "boy". I would help to carry stuff into the woods and help to drag out anything that they would shoot. I bought a hunting license and made sure that I had anything I needed, accept of course a weapon for the kill. I didn't want to make a fool of myself and I tried not to show how excited I was. I actually felt like a child going with his dad for the first time together. As it would turn out on the day that was set for hunting, my new friend Bernie had a doctor's appointment and could not make it. I was a little disappointed but having raised my family I knew how it could be difficult to make such a commitment and then not be able to put your family first. The hunting day was moved to the next week. One of the other guys gave me one of his old Army camo outfits so that I would not have to put out money for that. I was very happy and excited about that. I had gotten a pair of hunting camo boots two years before for about five dollars on sale... It must have been after the season because the same boots are now selling for around thirty dollars. The week passed and I went to the firehouse to meet my friend Bernie. We were going to go in the afternoon because he had another doctor's appointment for that day. I got to the firehouse and ran into another guy from work. We talked for a few minutes and I asked if he had contacted Bernie and knew whether or not he was going hunting. He said that it was still planned as far as he knew. I waited for an hour and a half and then went home. When I got home I was so disappointed that I threw my camo clothes and my bag full of hunting things into the bottom of the closet and covered them up hoping not to ever see them again! After my weekend and attempting to over come the disappointment I went to work on my next workday. I tried not to say anything, but of course, my fellow employees found out from the other guy that I was there at the firehouse waiting to go hunting. I took some ribbing about it and thought I took it well. As the week progressed Bernie ended up coming to me and said here write this number down. He had never given anyone his cell number up to this point as far as I could tell. I was still a bit skeptical. He said if I wanted to go hunting to give him a call. He wanted to go that Friday morning. "Be at the little store at 430 am and we will go.”, he said. Wow, I was again excited but I kept it to myself. I kept the number but did not want to call until I could see how the rest of the week would go. As the day approached I didn't go to bed after my second shift schedule let out at midnight. I stayed up and prepared my things and dug out the stuff from the bottom of my closet. I made sure that I had my hunting license and waited until around 4 am to make the call. There was no answer! I left the message and set the "pager" to let him know to call that number. After about fifteen minutes I sent a text message that read, "Hunting?” I made it to the little store where his wife worked and she called him at home. She was also a little worried that the phone was not answered. After about another ten minutes a call came to the store and Bernie was on the line asking why his wife put the phone on silent and that he would not have woke up if the alarm clock hadn't done it's job. Well, it was on! I was going hunting for the first time in my life. After about half an hour Bernie showed up. His wife had told me about his hunting and how much he loved to hunt, but that their lives were changing in many ways and that time was a factor in taking away Bernie's love of hunting. We left the store in my truck and went to Bernie's to get a blind and some small stools to sit on. I was surprised when he handed me two shotguns and asked me which one I wanted to use. I had only expected to go as a spectator! I looked over the camo printed guns and noticed that the 12 gauge had only a ball at the end of the barrel and no way to line up the gun to get a good shot. The other one was a 20 gauge and was a bit smaller and lighter. He decided to let me use that one. We loaded up my truck and headed out to state land for hunting. He told me it was a "bonus" doe day and that it really wasn't shotgun season but that sometimes the state allowed for that. Before we left Bernie asked me if I wanted to be on the ground or up in a tree stand. "Well." I said. "I have never been hunting and I have read about how tree stands can be dangerous." I didn't want to become a statistic because I was "green"! He decided that we would sit on the ground and lean against a tree in the woods between a field and a stream. There was a beaten down path that he said the deer used regularly. It was dark and cold out as we unloaded the truck and began our walk along the stream to get deep into the woods. I forgot to get a flashlight but Bernie was prepared for just about anything. We left the path by the stream and went up a hill into the woods. We found a tree and Bernie told me to kick away the leaves so as to not make noise later on when the deer began to move. We set up the blind and Bernie set up his small gun holder and rested in his small stool and rested against the tree. I was on the downside of the tree and it seemed that I could not get comfortable at all. Soon the morning gave way to some light and Bernie said that we would hear the deer coming long before they arrived. We waited and waited. It seemed as though hours had passed! Soon there was some rustling of leaves and I thought a deer was coming! As I looked around I discovered that I was only a squirrel. That squirrel sure made a lot of noise in the crunching leaves. He got very close to us and never saw us. Time kept passing and no deer showed up. I looked at the time and said to Bernie, "Guess what time it is." He thought it was only around eight. It was actually after ten! We waited a little longer. I had brought along my camera at Bernie's request as he hoped that we would get a deer and I could take photos of it. I took some pictures of the woods and a few of Bernie and a couple of me. Bernie decided that it would be a good time to call it a day. We packed up our hunting gear and began to walk through the woods. Every so often we would come across a scraping. It was fresh! We also found some deer droppings that were also fresh. Well I had to document something for our trip so I took pictures of the scrapings and the droppings! We made our way through the woods and back out to my truck. Bernie was disappointed and I was also. I told him that I am sure that there are good days and that there are bad days. I wasn’t to disappointed about the hunt being a dud. I said that just being out in the woods was great and that I wish that I could build a cabin out in the woods and just move out there. Bernie seconded that motion! As we got to his house and unloaded the truck, Bernie said that anytime I wanted to go hunting I should call him! Maybe we will have better luck this next Friday? I hope so! I told my wife it was fun even though we didn't shoot anything and that I wanted to go again this next week. It is free I said! But I said for her to be prepared that soon I will buy me a shotgun once I know what to buy and what is the best for me and in our state what is legal. So my first hunting trip may not have gone well as far as hunting goes... But I made a friend that loves to hunt and is willing to help me learn about deer and their habits! I can hardly wait for my first kill and I hope that Bernie finally gets that "trophy buck" that he is dieing to get!

Tags: Hunt Deer Hunting Season Shotgun