On Saturday, in glorious early-spring weather, the following tasks were on the agenda:
On Saturday, in glorious early-spring weather, the following tasks were on the agenda:
tank inspection and refilling, setting up physical protection for the deployed Zeiss Secacam 7 cameras (a locked metal housing), and checking the stability of the two permanently deployed Summit Viper Pro SD stands.
In the past there was almost always some small thing – or not so small – that meant I had to ask for help from the local hunter I know there.
Just a few examples out of many.
I can’t drive in to the feeder with my car because the ground is wet, soaked, muddy. We go in with his off-roader, but I need his help getting out too – even if I want to come out at two in the morning because I can’t stand staying on the stand any longer.
I somehow got in, but on the way out even a 1-2% incline was enough to keep me from getting out.
Need a chainsaw, because the weight of snow, wind, and soaked ground brought down a sizeable tree across the path.
Need a winch or a ladder to refill the tank.
The tank’s securing chain needs shortening – or there’s cable work to be done, for which a cordless angle grinder comes in handy.
And a thousand other little things like that.
All things for which I previously had to ask for a “favor”, for help.
It works roughly the way things work at a gas station…
This time, though, I didn’t need to.
Honestly, it was a huge feeling to experience finally being independent.
Every piece of equipment I needed was on hand.
To someone else, none of this probably means much.
To me, though, it means a lot.
And in the end, that’s what counts.
Also.
I had great fun looking through tonight’s pictures. At the “acorn patch” next to the feeder – where I usually scatter acorns before a stand hunt – last year’s well-known piglets showed up, now grown into shoats.
Of the five, though, only three remain.
