Still Hanging in There

It's getting towards the end of deer season here in Arkansas. Well kind of, the season doesn't actually end until later on in February. However, most of the bucks will really start shedding their antlers before then, if they haven't already. I've been getting a little stir crazy and decided that I would go put a camera out at this place not too far from where I live. This place has not ever been known to produce really big bucks, but there are always a few decent bucks. I've had the camera out for about 5 days now and got pictures of this buck two nights ago...

Now this buck might not look like much to some, but he might look like really nice to others. I guess it just depends on where you are hunting. Where I hunt in Arkansas, this is a shooter. So I decided to go put a stand up. I found a tree that I thought would be good and got to work...

I don't think I have met anyone that is as picky when it comes to trees for tree stands as myself, and I know it gets on my Dad's and Sarah's nerves A Lot. I don't know why I'm like this but for some reason if there is just one little thing wrong, it really bothers me. A few hard minutes of climbing and 5 rapid rails later, I got to the spot where I thought the stand should go.

However, there were two problems. One, There were two big limbs that were making it really tough to hang the stand and leave enough room for a hunter. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, just cut them off right? That brings me to the second problem. If I cut the limbs down, I felt like I would be way to exposed and probably get busted. So, being my usual picky self, I pulled all the rapid rails down and started looking for another tree. Finding the "perfect" tree is no easy task. I stood and looked around, analyzing each foot up each tree. Finally, I decided the only tree that would work was a big cedar tree. So I pulled out the saw and began trimming my way up. It ended up being a pretty good tree and I like cedars because the have lots of cover. The only downfall is, it takes A Lot of limb cutting to get up one. Needless to say, I was worn out and by this time Sarah was getting fed up with my quest for perfection. That is why there are no photos of they cedar tree. We are supposed to get snow all night and most of the day tomorrow. Even though we don't have a picture of this buck during daylight, I'm hoping the weather will bring him out early. After all, we are cutting it close to the end of the season.