Leaving Tioga county

Thursday 5 December 2019

No hunting today sleep in and recovery day.  We went to the Home Comfort restaurant for breakfast. Then over to Patterson's Maple Products for some Christmas shopping.  Diane did laundry and cleaned up while I dumped tanks and filled fresh water.  A nice day(for winter) partly sunny and 39 degrees. 

Friday 6 December 2019

Cool and windy day.  Diane was back out hunting.  I dropped her off at 6:00 and went back home fixed a roast, turnips, and cabbage in the crock pot for dinner.  I picked her up at 11:30 we went to the butcher in Galeton to pick up the buck and grabbed a quick lunch at the Plaza Dinner.  We were sitting at the dinner, Diane dressed in camo and blaze orange with hunting boots and of course the waitress says were you out hunting.  Oh yea.  Back to Kate and Tony's place dropped Diane off for the evening hunt.  I came home took care of Rudy.  Boy the place smells good with the crock pot cooking all day.  Back picked her up at 5:00.  No buck.  Each day she sees a lot of doe just no buck.  Tomorrow is doe season we will see how that goes.  Back home for dinner.

Saturday 7 December 2019      Pearl Harbor Day

First day of doe season.  This should be easy doe were crawling all over Tony's place all week long.  So we head out before dark to hunt.  I had already planned how I would have had both are deer gutted and hung by noon and I'd have all afternoon to clean up and pack.  We did not see a deer in the morning so cold and hungry we head in to their porch for a break.  It was sunny but cold 17 degrees.  Diane went back to Kate's hut and I walked down through the first woods I was half way down when I hear her mighty 270 ring out.  I hustle out to help her find it.  But it was a miss I found the bullet in tree just where the doe was standing.  Well now it is lunch and we have no deer.  I went home to check on Rudy and just as I returned from walking Rudy I get a text Diane hit one.  So I buzz back find her(Diane) and we start tracking the deer.  After a hour or so we had to give up the chase seems she(the deer) was still moving very well.  Tired, exhausted, and just plain wore out we head back to the porch for the last hour and a half.  At 4:30 just after I told Diane we were not shooting, gutting, and dragging a doe in after dark out walks a nice sized doe and just stands there.  Diane pulls up and fires,  nothing happens a dud bullet, she chambers another one fires. The doe runs off.  We head out to check for blood and sure enough there is a good blood trail and 25 yds away we found her.  Back to the house for flashlight and gutting knife, rope etc.  Back to the deer and now it is dark.  We are gutting and dragging in the dark.  We get it back to the meat pole, hang her up the best we could and called it a day.  It was now after six.  The moral of story is Diane missed at 50 yards, winged one at 75 yards and drops one at 150 yards.  The closer to her you are the safer you are.  No doe for me.

Sunday 8 December 2019

We ran out of propane at 4:30 this morning.  It was a sleep in day and I still had to get up at 4:30.  Diane made us a nice breakfast she is just all happy about the deer.  Then I went for propane and then over to finish up the deer.  With some help from Tony's supplies(ladder, pulley system) I had her done in no time. I still had to gather up tree stands, chairs, and cushions from around the farm.  And remember all this walking is in 8 inches of snow.  All hunting, dragging, hanging, checking for blood and tracking was done with out a 4 wheeler or anything. This has been an old fashion hunt, we'll fix that next year.  Back to the house after lunch, a little rest and then we started packing up inside and out.  I have tomorrow morning to hunt for a little before loading up the deer and getting ready to get out of here. We are both ready to get out of here.  We got new neighbors yesterday a fifth wheel with seven adult workers and three large dogs that run unleashed around the campground.  Chicken and fixing(not on the grill)  for dinner.

Monday 9 December 2019

I was up early and headed over to the farm for the last hoorah before loading everything up.  Just before daylight a car came down the driveway and parked.  No one got out and I just sat there.  About 7:30 I heard a car door and here came Cindy and Lou.  It turns out they texted Kate and Tony thinking some one was living(squatting) in the house.  So they texted Kate at 6:30, Kate called Diane at 6:45,  Kate called Lou and Cindy back and all was OK.  Everyone know Kate and Diane are not morning girls.  They were also planning on sitting on the porch for the all day rain we were  having.  They helped me load up the deer, I finished cleaning up my hunting stuff and left about 8:00.  By the time I got home Diane had the second load of laundry running and several gifts wrapped.  We had lunch around 11:00 just started to early today.  The rest of the day we spent rearranging hunting stuff and packing with a quick trip to the store.  Grilled cheese and soup for dinner and hopefully we will be out of here by 9am.