We made it! The 8 months of not being able to hunt is almost over, and I don’t think I could’ve handled it for another day. After one of the hottest, driest, most brutal summers on record, the thought of cool mornings and insulated camo seems like a distant dream almost too good to be true. But it’s not a dream, it’s right around the corner, so let’s start taking advantage of it, because we all know just like every hunting season before this one it’ll be over in the blink of an eye. And if you’re not already feeling your neck swell and legs get stiff, here’s a little motivation for those of you who aren’t looking forward to this season because of the aforementioned weather conditions we’ve suffered through this year.
Behind on your setup? You are not alone
For us deer hunters here in Texas and the majority of the Southern states, if you haven’t had a chance to check on your stands, fill your feeders, or maybe even put up that new stand or feeder sitting in your garage, don’t panic, you are not alone. The misery and even dangers involved in doing damn near anything outside when it’s 110 degrees with 99% humidity has kept a lot of us from venturing out to get set up for opening day, and has some of us a little depressed and not looking too favorably towards the upcoming deer season. Where we would have usually had everything ready to rock by the end of June, we are now just 2 weeks out from archery season and 6 weeks from rifle season with not so much as a game camera going on our favorite trail, and let’s be honest, that sucks.
So what do we do? Give this season up? Call the game because of the heat? Sell all of your hunting gear and take up pickleball like everyone else on your Facebook feed? Hell no! We get out there at the first opportunity and get it done! Listen, it is true that it’s not an ideal situation to be stomping around your hunting area a week or so before you start hunting, but it is also true that doing that is way better than doing nothing at all and having no place to look forward to going on opening weekend.
You deserve those days in the stand
You need that hunting time for yourself to decompress, prioritize, fantasize, enjoy the possibility that this could be your big season, and evaluate in general where you stand in the world while sitting in your stand. As spouses, parents, caretakers, and providers, those few days we get to hunt are all some of us have for ourselves the entire year, and all that keeps some of us from losing our shit during the holidays with the family or other obligatory tasks. You deserve those few precious moments in the stand. So don’t think for a minute that just because you haven’t got your hunting site together yet that it’s too late to save the season. You’ve got this!
Believe it or not, a day or two’s worth of scouting, sweating, cutting limbs, bleeding, setting up stands, yelling profanities, moving the stands you just set up, filling feeders, building pens, and in general sounding like a freight train in the woods is not going to ruin it for you. That release of frustration and feeling of fulfillment has got to happen to make this season happen.
Why hungry deer will forgive a late setup
And unlike previous years, you’re probably a lot less likely to be harshly penalized by the deer gods for doing so. For the same reasons you’ve avoided getting out to the lease this summer, deer are going to be a lot more forgiving when it comes to foraging this fall, because the food sources are just not going to be there. With a drought and temperatures like we’ve had this year, we can be sure that the acorn and pecan crop is going to be minimal and most, if not all, of the grass in their grazing area is going to be dead. This means that even though Mr. Bucky McBuckface might be on a little bit higher alert when he’s in your newly landscaped kill zone, he’s going to be hungry enough to push some of those flight instincts to the side in order to get an easy protein packed meal under your feeder.
And let’s not forget, even though it seems unimaginable after all this time, it will soon rain and your scents will be forgiven. By the time the rut gets here, your parade in the woods will be so far removed from your prey’s mind that it’ll be like it never happened, except for the fact that you’ll have your spot set up and ready to go just like you’ve imagined it. Ready for that perfect Texas 8, 10, or 12 to unexpectedly walk into your life and give you the opportunity to harvest him, and the heat induced late start to this season will just make the story even better one day when you point to that buck on the wall and tell your grandkids all about it.
So get out there, get set up, and get ready, because this season is going to be a great one and that’s something to look forward to!
Before opening day, stop by the shop in Anderson to get your rifle sighted in for $50, and if you are still picking a deer caliber, read .223 vs .308 for Central Texas hunting. Chasing hogs too? See where pigs go in the summer.
