Well, I had a great time spending two days in the woods, heard a lot of gunfire, and saw a few dead deer. Unfortunately, none of them were made dead by me, so my freezer is still empty*.

I too had mixed feelings about the cell service. On the one hand, it did detract from the wilderness experience. On the other, I was hunting alone and it was comforting to think that I had a good shot at summoning help if I needed it. Mind you, it was not a crutch - I had a full compliment of survival gear with me. I would have been cold but comfortable if I had to spend the night out (it only just got below freezing). But if I'd broken a leg, someone was going to need to come and get me, I'd rather use the Fox40 as a backup, not my primary means of summoning help.

One of my problems hunting is that while I can maintain my concentration for about 2-2.5 hours, after than I feel the need to get up and walk around. Since I have the subtlety of an Abrams tank when I walk through the woods, this tends to ensure I don't see any deer. A friend recommended taking a book with me and looking up every page, and I substituted browsing on the crackberry. It enabled me to avoid walking around for pretty much all day.

Opening day on public land in the rifle zone is an interesting experience. I quickly decided to sit low with my back to a big rock - it sounded like a war zone out there. I heard one rapid string of six shots - the maximum allowed in the gun in NY. I can't imagine those shots were well aimed. . .

I'll post some pictures of the beautiful area I hunted once I get them downloaded.


*The freezer will be full the second week in December. Some friends and I contacted a rancher in upstate NY and purchased a grass-fed, pasture raised steer. It was slaughtered this last week, and is being dry aged for us before butchering. If you're concerned about your meat, and unlucky in the woods like me, I highly suggest trying this out. It was really not terribly expensive for a very high quality product.