Saturday, December 7, 2025

   When Dad and I headed out this morning, it was 22 degrees. There was a fresh powder of snow, so any tracks we would see would be fresh. It was calm and perfect to sit. However, the snow hanging not he branches made it almost impossible to see very far. 

  On my way in, I got out of whack and ended up walking a lot farther than I would have liked. I got off track in some thick stuff that looked vastly different with all the snow hanging on the branches. When I finally figured out where I was, I couldn't fathom how I could've gotten there. I made the correction and ended up getting to the place I wanted to be before daylight. 

  As soon the woods became light, I caught a glimpse of a deer sneaking across the ridge in front of me. After a closer look, I thought I was going to encounter a good buck. Then, as it came closer, I saw that it was a doe and it had a fawn in toe. I really got surprised with the lead deer. It acted like a buck and got me a little excited. 

  Around noon, I saw two does and a fawn. They fed for about 10 minutes out in front of me before moving on. I was hoping they would tow a buck along behind them, but it never happened. Eventually, I decided to head back toward the road for the evening. Upon getting back to a familiar area, I was pretty irritated when I saw that, once again, someone followed Dad and I from the road for a very long way. They actually followed me to a place where I left some stuff on my way in because I knew I would be back there later in the day. WTF is wrong with people? I'm assuming it was the same people who followed us last Saturday. Why happened to ethics? Why in the world would you park next to someone and follow them that distance in the woods to hunt right on top of them. I tend to go places to get away from people. These people obviously love to crawl up other people's asses and be on top of them. What happened to finding your own place and keeping it to yourself. It's really no different than giving people pins and telling then to go hunt there. Maybe you should consider what you're actually doing. People like the Adirondacks because it's "big woods." They don't want people up their asses while hunting. Please be respectful of others and just go somewhere else if someone beats you to the parking area. It's not that difficult. Ethics and respect seem to have been a thing of the past. 

  Dad had a better day than me. He saw a few deer and messed up a great opportunity on an 8 pointer. He saw it walking toward him with a doe and decided to let it keep walking, not taking the first good shot he had. When it got to 30 yards, he didn't feel comfortable with the shot due to a few branches and brush blocking the shoulder. Then, the doe bolted and the buck went with her. Dad never got a shot. 

  We will see what tomorrow brings. It will be the last day of the rifle season. While I'll be sad to see it go, I'll be glad to let the frustrations of the stuff I experienced today go with it. 

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