Opening Day Fortune

Ritual, Physiology, Nature and Family Through Hunting

Just this past Saturday, here in Pennsylvania, the rifle portion of deer season started.

Opening day is huge here in that the woods are filled with hunters looking for deer. I set up a hunting blind, which is a type of tent, in the woods behind our house and was in it and waiting for a deer by about 6:30am. By law, you are able to shoot thirty minutes prior to sunrise, so by about 6:37, my window was open. And it didn’t take long.

At 6:45 I could hear the steady crunch of snow which alerted me to something walking my way. Off in the woods to my left, I got a glimpse of a deer slowly walking my direction. I couldn’t see any details through the messy brush — a consequence of recent snow storms so heavy they brought down trees — but I knew that I’d get a better look as it presumably got closer.

At about 40 yards away, me in my camouflage blind, I knew I could slowly and quietly lift my rifle off of my lap and get ready to shoot. The last thing I want to do is move once it gets to a position where it can see me through the gaps in my blind. So I aim my rifle in the direction that I think he will be. Yes, I said “he”.