Rifle Season - Day 9 (The Last Day)

Growing up as a rifle hunter, I thought that my only chance to shoot a buck was during those 9 days and the closer we got to the 2nd Sunday, the more pressure I felt to shoot something. Now that archery has trumped gun season for me, I feel a lot of pressure alleviated. As I've learned more and more about deer behavior and rut activity, let alone the rut as we understand it up where we hunt, I've gotten more and more excited to bowhunt the weeks right prior to and right after the 9 day gun season. There is so much pressure that comes out of nowhere for these deer in those 9 days, that it becomes much more understandable why hunters don't shoot more mature deer up there. The week before has some sprinklings of rut activity and the week after has the peak of the rut and some amazing encounters in store for the person who weathers the colder weather. All that to say, rifle season ending isn't such a bad thing anymore.

Sunday morning, we lead worship in church. So afterwards, we had lunch with Gavin, who was home, and then headed north. I decided to sit in the same tree NW of the bus. Still saw nothing, but that spot still intrigues me. That wrapped up the 2010 rifle season where we hunt. If I want to, I can still hunt with the rifle until the 21st of November over on the east side of 310. I probably won't. We didn't see too many deer. Mom shot a yearling 8 point. I'll try not to make her feel guilty for it. Just another misunderstanding.