From The Tree Stand

Friday afternoon I arrived by my tree stand at 4:30 and checked the trails for fresh tracks. Only a few elk had used the trails all week but I thought it only takes one. I set up Henrietta. Oh, you haven’t met Henrietta! She is the prettiest cow elk decoy you have ever seen. I’m sure a bull would fall instantly in love with her. I climbed into the stand to be greeted by bald faced hornets which were very aggressive. My hat became a hornet swatter.

At 4:57 a bull elk bugled in the distance but I couldn’t pinpoint his location. Soon after, a pine squirrel spotted me and told me I was intruding on its territory. The little guy was busy cutting pine cones from trees and gathering them for winter. He ran out through the brush and jumped up on a log by Henrietta seeming very surprised to see an elk. Henrietta even startles me once in a while when I look up and see a cow elk and then realize I’ve been fooled by my own decoy.

The growl of an ATV on a closed road system at 5:15 raised my blood pressure a few points. I can understand folks with physical challenges using them but everyone else can walk. If they want to ride something; take up golf. Closed roads provide elk and other wildlife with security to move around without vehicles bothering them. Some people don’t get it or don’t care.

Between hornet swatting my mind wanders to other matters. I think about God and how to serve Him better. Tree stand time is a good time to communicate with the Father and listen for his reply. We all need to have this kind of time with God. I should put one up in my back yard.

Next I consider the importance of the November election outcome. Yes, I too am concerned about rising prices for food, energy, and healthcare, but only one issue decides how I vote. Abortion! Abortion is a plague on our nation which leads us down a spiral of moral decay and self destruction. No country can survive that kills its own people. If we can kill unborn babies than we can find reason to terminate life of old people. What if our government decided that anyone over 87 should report to the closet hospital for a lethal injection? It would be the same hideous mindset as abortion. Scripture says God knows us in our mother’s womb and Jesus warned about harming little children. I guess some of our judges have never read those verses.

Finally around 6:45 the hornets slow down as the shadows lengthen but I haven’t heard the bull again. The next hour is spent in silence, just me and Henrietta. As darkness descends, I climb out of the stand and gather up Henrietta and head for camp. Coyotes howl to the south announcing their hunting plans for the evening.

I arrive in camp and Ardella tells me an elk barked three times very loudly just above camp. That’s why they call it hunting.