December 1, 2008 ~ Call me Ranger Joe ~

Well, I did it! I hunted. Charles picked me up from Barbs Friday night around 6:30pm. He showered at her house then we loaded my stuff in the truck. I’m always one to be overly prepared. I’d rather have too much than not enough, so when he pulled my large suitcase outta the car I guess it was a shock. He said “I had all your clothes, babe, what else did you need?” Two days in the woods you never know what could happen. I had to have extra undies, socks, bra’s, clothes, hair dryer, towels, toilet paper, makeup, shoes...DUH. After about a 40 minute drive…15 of which was dirt roads, we made it to the camp site. They had the fire going in the pit so we sat around and chit-chatted by the fire. It was during this time I was informed that when I went to the bathroom, I couldn’t flush the toilet paper. It had to go in the trash can..UGH! I was also informed that when I took a shower I had to get wet, turn off the water to soap up then turn it back on to rinse off so we wouldn’t run out of water. *SIGH*. Anyway, we all got tired and decided it was time for bed. Charles, his sister, her boyfriend and I were all in one camper. We watched a little bit of a movie then it was time to turn off the generator and go to sleep. Let me just tell you…there is no quiet like quiet in the woods. I’m talking ears ringing quiet. Took me a minute to adjust. I didn’t sleep well the first night cause we had about 5 blankets and I kept getting hot and cold. Then at 5:15am…in the dark…before the sun came up…before the early bird even woke up to get the worm…I hear “It’s time to get up”. So, I put on my thermals, hot pink fleece pants, pink socks Charles bought me, camo shirt, camo bibs, orange jacket…pulled my hair back in pigtails threw on the orange toboggan (snuck some make up on), boots and out we went! I really don’t know how anyone shoots anything. I could hardly move in all that get-up. After about 10 minutes on the ATV and hiking up a hill, through pine trees I might add, we finally get to the stand. I faced my fears and climbed up the ladder, get situated, sit for about 4 minutes and say “so this is what you do for 4 hours?” He enthusiastically answered, “yep”. Literally…nothing, people…NOTHING! I tried to be as quiet and still as I could but I have to say, I got bored and restless. I had some hot chocolate then I got hungry and had a pop tart. Then I wanted my book. I read a little of it and decided that I didn’t want to do that. I took a lil nap on his shoulder. Then I decided to get my word search book and do it. I even had Charles doing it with me. I mean really, word search is much more fun than looking at some trees. He informed me that he would not be a happy camper if he missed a buck because of doing a word search. J We had a contest to see who could find the words the fastest. Of course when I was losing I decided we weren’t keep track of it. A little later I had the bright idea to carve our initials in the tree. Charles wouldn’t let me use his hunting knife so I just wrote A – C on the bark of the tree with my pen. After 4 hours of seeing NOTHING..not even a squirrel we went back to camp for breakfast. During breakfast I thought it would be fun to be a true hunter. So I stood by the fire in my camo and asked the guys “Y’all see anything?” They said no so I told them “we didn’t either..they just weren’t movin’ today”. HAHAH!!! It was fun. After breakfast Charles went to move his stand and I took a nap. I was good and asleep when it came time to go back out and stare at more dead trees. He said I did a little better that afternoon with being quiet and still. He said my max is about 2 hours. We finally got to go back to camp and sit around the fire and have dinner. I loved the sitting around the fire part! Then it came time for a shower. I was so looking forward to a hot shower and to wash my hair and feel like a girl again. It was an exciting thought. Charles told me to give the water time to heat up then he went back out to the fire. I brushed my teeth, washed my face and got in. The water was cold. Apparently I didn’t give it enough time to warm up. UGH! I slept much better the second night. We got to sleep late Sunday morning..and by late I mean 5:45am. *rolling eyes* This time Larry, his step dad, gave us a small heater for me take to the stand. On the way I had a pop quiz of the hunting terms I learned like what a rub and a scrape were. We get to the stand and I was pumped, this was the day we were gonna see some action and get a deer. I was SUPER quiet for about 30 to 45 minutes. Then I decided I wanted some coffee. A little later I wanted a pop tart. Then I wanted his phone to text Barb (my phone had no service). We were about an hour into it hunting when I informed Charles that I no longer had toes due to frost bite…I was sure of it. He told me he would take me back to camp, but being the trooper that I was, I didn’t go. I mean, he went through all the trouble for me to hunt…I wasn’t gonna go back to camp and look like a sissy. Instead I stayed and complained! We were sitting there freezing when I noticed he had his gloves off. I told him he need to put them back on and he said “Everytime I put them on you decide you want something”..hahah! I’m spoiled! In the mean time, he dropped my glove and I melted the bottom of his mom’s boot on the heater trying to get some feeling back into my toes. Around ten I heard some ticking and told Charles that it was sleeting. We stayed out a little longer then decided to head back to camp. We got packed up and headed home. It was a super fun time, although I told Charles I was all about the riding the 4 wheeler and camping, but I’d leave the hunting up to him. If I didn’t have him to entertain while I was up in the stand I’d have been bored to death. I only almost cried once and that was the first time I had to come down from the stand. He raised the bar and I could see the ground and I freaked. I told him I was just gonna stay up there forever. But, I did the sign of the cross like a catholic, said “help me Jesus”, and he got on the ladder and walked me through it, placing my foot on each rung! I was never so happy to be on the ground. Anyway, it was a great weekend. Charles said I did good and he was proud of me. I’d even do it again….minus the frost bite and cold shower! Pictures will come soon!!!