HUNTING THE "THICIKER"

I know what you're thinking, 'that goof misspelled thicket." Wrong. I know how to spell thicket. It's T H I C K I T. Getting back to the 'thicker" part of the plot, its a patch of woods that has been logged out and has grown up into numerous saplings. It's spots like this that 'deer will enter to avoid detection by certain predators call "hunters". If pursued they will either not move until you've walked past them or they will be in the next county laughing their heads off while you're still in the "thicket". One deer might say to another, "look Mable, it's another hunter, let's let him walk by us then give him a big. snort. "Great Idea Peaches. You go first".

Sometimes, deer will come tiptoeing around the end of a knoll where you are sitting, and stare at you for about five minutes. They know you cant move or they'll be gone in less than a second. This is exceptionally hard on the hunter. He knows that he c&t move and he would never have time to shoot, but there they stand, not 20 feet away, broad side and stivfing at you.

"Hey Mable, there's another hunter, and he can't move. Let's stare at him unth he is shaking so bad he drops his gun". "Great idea Peaches".

The area that I hunt is over a mile back into the woods with a variety of cover. Near by are several open fields, pine woods, open woods, scrap lots and heavy growth. hiking back to this area carrying twin Browning Semi Automatics with a hundred rounds apiece, plus food, can be a lot of work, so I don!t. Instead, I only take one gun and food for three days. Depending an the weather, I carry this on either a sled or a 3 wheel cart, then camp near where I hunt so I can be fresh and warm on opening morning. My first stand is in a pine tree over-looking some of the thicker woods. As the opening shots ring out, those that are missed (which is about 99%) head for a certain spot entering the swamps. Sometimes it takes years to find such an area. Last year I bagged a nice 6 point buck as it tried tip-toeing past my stand. This year they came from the opposite direction, just out of view.

For a person such as myself, who is used to moving around all day on the job, its extremely difficult to sit on a stand all day long, so when lunch time comes around, I'm gone. Next year, I'm bringing my lunch so when Mable and Peaches show up to watch my stand at lunch time, I'll be ready.

Occasionally, long periods of inactivity will bring on the sensation of being cold and stiff. This is the time when mister hunter will leave his stand and go crashing through the woods, driving the deer to all the other hunters. Others such as myself will do some still hunting which is moving very slowly, due to being stiff, trying to be as quiet as possible. Sometimes I've been lucky enough to see a tail as it vanishes from view.

It was on one of these occasion. that I was tip-toeing down through the swamp that I spotted something along a deer trail about 20 feet ahead of me. A DEER!!! It's not uncommon for a wounded deer to elude a hunter and go off into the swamp to die so why should this be any different. I walked up to the unfortunate creature and as I stood there, within kicking distance, I wondered how long it had been dead, a day, at least since this was only the second day. While deliberating whether I should even mess around with it or not, I detected some movement. Well, I thought, it's still alive, it must be sick, maybe I should shoot it and put it out of its misery. Upon deciding to shoot it, another question arose, where to shoot it. Under normal circumstances this would not be a problem, but if this deer was sick, somehow that question wormed its way within. As I was about to raise my gun, it looked up at me with those big brown eyes. It's a tossup as to who was more surprised, Peaches or me, but 2 seconds and one hastily delivered round later she vanished into the swamp to plan her next trick. For the record,- a dead deer will be sprawled out

After an encounter such as this, a dazed and confused hunter became lost, wandering around in the swamp where everything looks alike, not knowing which direction is which. Its a good thing

To tell a story like this is very risky, especially to your wife. You may never live it down.

Camping while hunting has its advantages. You don't have far to go to get something to eat or maybe you might get cold. A camp fire will warm you and your food up in a hurry. If you're

getting old and are over 29, such as myself, an afternoon nap might be nice. that is if you're not hunting.

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