Good luck to everyone on the opener Saturday. My little hunting party is falling apart, but me and my uncle will definately be there Saturday morning no matter what. Good luck to everyone and have fun! I will post when I get back..

Well folks here it is opening day of the 2005 gun season in the Southern zone. I unfortunately will be heading out to work instead of heading to the woods. My opening day will have to be on the following Monday. I always liked hunting the second week better anyway. Lets a lot of the yahoo's go home with their high powered rifles. But I never minded hunting opening week either and yes I wish I was joining all you lucky sportsmen that are hunting this brisk morning. Good luck to all of you, especially to the newer hunters. I hope everyone gets their buck today, with the lack of doe tags in the western zones I hope there are a lot of bucks. Just remember one thing, hunting starts when you scout the woods in the spring and summer and ends at the end of the season. Being successful has a lot to do with the hours you put into it as with any other activity. But the hunt is about being with friends and enjying exagerated stories from yesteryears hunts, it's about the smell of the wood stove starting up, it's about cooking a meal with whatever you happen to have in the kitchen (hunters stew), it's about getting out of bed before the sun peaks through the blackness outside and getting breakfast going for the camp, it's about seeing the GREAT WOODS wake up in the morning and come to life as though someone turned on a switch and finally it is about the pounding you get when you hear a twig snap behind your stand or blind. The strain in your neck muscles as you attempt to look over your sholder without moving your head or body. Only to see a fat grey squirrel sitting atop a branch stuffing an acorn into his jowels. Yet maybe for that brief moment it was that 175 class deer you had read bout in a outdoor magazine or watched on The Outdoor Network. That my friends is what hunting is all about. Getting a deer,bear or whatever other game we pursue, that is just an award we get now and again for being a part of nature and caring enough to be a part of early AMERICA. So to all my hunting friends, good luck, safe trip and enjoy this hunt as though it were your first time out. Every time I go to the woods it is a first time out. Every time I share a story it is my first time out. Share this day with your friends and family because they are memories that will last a life time. Especially after a few years of exagerating them. Thank you Airborne for the forum where we can come year long and enjoy the hunt from start to finish as though it was our first time out B) B) .

Great post, you summed it all up, at least for me. Too bad I have no exagerrated story to tell! My uncle got a spike walking out on the second day (yesterday), but other than that, the woods were dead. There was almost no other hunters and the deer weren't moving at all. I saw three does the whole time (no tags of course). Going back next weekened to try again!

I got mine! went up friday got out early saturday set up my stand,climbed up and waited, no luck saturday or sunday. monday i'm securely in my stand and after a couple of hours. i saw him. an 8 pointer slowly making his way toward my stand. i waited for him to come closer and when he was in my range he looked up at my stand and i fired hitting him in the neck. he staggered off about 30 yards and went down. i gutted him and brought him back to my friends cabin where he dressed out at 205 and had a 17" spread. since i butcher myself(not cheap just smart with my money) i packed in tin containers and brought it home for the wife to wrap and store. tonite i had vension cutlet parmesan, venison sausage stuffing for thanksgiving and saturday my favorite:spaghetti and deer balls. the best part is very small butcher bills this winter.i'll be eating good plenty good this winter. well there you have t coots i wish all my fellow hunters good luck and i hope you all get yours. now i'm off to take a shower since its been a few days since my last one. B) B) B) B) B) B)