Pig in the WOODS!!! blog entry #5

I huffed and puffed up the steep mountain as fast as I could in the early morning hours. I was making decent time considering there was 2 inches of fresh slick snow that covered the steep terrain. I was also layered in thick hunting clothes, hunting gear, and lugging my trusty 30-06 rifle. The only thing that mattered was that I got to my morning hunting stand before some other hunter. I found this stand during the preseason scouting. I was excited to sit on this stand on the first day of the Pennsylvania antlered deer season.

It was a big moss covered rock that overlooked the wide mountain ridge below. The rock was high enough that I could see the whole mountaintop behind me. This stand was perfect! Any wise hunter will tell you to find a rifle stand that gives you the most viewing area. I was determined to get there quickly.

Finally I was almost to my perfect stand. In the glow of the moonlight I could make out the silhouette of the huge rock. Upon my approach the stand looked like it had not been snatched up by another hunter. Whew, in about 40 yards I will be settled in my perfect stand, cooling off and loading my rifle. Heck, twenty or thirty minutes till daylight, maybe even take a catnap.

Suddenly, about 20 yards from my hunting stand, my heart sank. From the top of that great rock, a flashlight started flickering. Sadly, another hunter had beat me to this rock. We both were racing to it. Almost depressed I passed by him. I stopped for a second to catch my breath. I whispered up to him that I had planned to hunt this stand also. But he beat me, the stand was his. I whispered a "Good Luck Buddy", and I was off, I now had to get far enough away and blindly find a new stand before daylight. Which was now about 15 minutes away.

Well I did find a new stand that day. Saw a few deer, but did not get a buck. Any day in the woods is better than being at work, RIGHT?!? But still... all day long my mind raced back to that perfect deer stand, that big, beautiful, moss-covered rock. I had to pass by it to get back my truck parked at the base of the mountain. It was nearing the end of the day, I would sneak by and see if the hunter had had any success, did he bag a buck from the stand?

As I approached the big rock, from a distance I could see he had abandoned the stand. Well there still was some daylight left. I was determined to hunt that stand. So I climbed it, I would be content to hunt it for the last half hour or so, you never know when a deer could sneak through... especially just before dark.

when I got to the top of that moss covered rock, my heart sank. The hunter had left a disgraceful amount of trash behind. I knelt down and gathered of this hunter's mess. I had a plastic shopping bag in my backpack. In the bag I put three empty pop bottles, two sandwich wrappers, a candy bar wrapper, used tissues, and to top it all off... six cigarette butts. That flimsy blue shopping bag was full of the hunter's trash. I was so bothered by this display, that i decided to leave, head back to my tuck. Maybe I would run into him and hand him the stuffed bag of trash.

Suddenly I glanced down and noticed two shiny objects half buried in the snow. There were two used rifle shells laying on the rock. It made me wonder... had this slob hunter been fortunate to bag a buck on this perfect stand? I did not want to find out. I sat down in disgust. I left the rock at dark, I never found out if he got a deer, but some day I hope i run into that Hunter. I will tell him want I thought he was...

" A PIG IN THE WOODS".

Most hunters respect the beauty of the woods, I won't even drop a gum Wrapper on the ground. I have encountered many hunters in the woods over the years, this particular hunter left an impression on me. The Boy Scouts have a motto about time spent in the woods, "Leave no trace".

Humbly submitted for your approval:

Jerry Strennen