Yesterday was rifle opening day, always first Wednesday after Thanksgiving here.
I haven't hunted out there for a couple of years and it's getting hard enough to do and recover one that I probably won't much anymore, but I have a honey hole tree stand in a (now dead) locust tree which has been a good producer of venison for a long time.
The act of getting into that stand before dawn and watching the sun come up over the lake waiting for a deer has become a deeply personal, almost spiritual event for me. That tree is dead and it won't be safe next year, the flood that did it in appeard to have killed off the others in that spot, so yesterday was likely the last time.
I saw a lot of does I chose not to shoot. Clear and very cold like usual, beautiful day. Stumbled into a yearling fawn on the way out, froze to see what it would do and despite being exactly down wind from me, it walked up almost close enough for me to pet it. Never did spook, just lost interest and walked away.
Shot a coyote who showed up at dusk which derailed any momentum I might have had to shoot one of the does that were visible. No deer, but it's been a long time since I spent an entire day alone in the woods, it was good, but I was worn out.
Big tract of public land, opening day and not another soul the whole day, not even a game warden. It was an unusually good day.