Lol .... BTDT I'll say one thing you are intertaining for sure love reading your post..... Still laughing !!! Have found out over the many ...many years of hunting the white tails ..... They never do what ya think they will do 😝😝.. I have a neighbor still trying to fill his doe tag but think he will happy when it is all over. I just ordered a new fishfinder today from Gander Mountain , so I can't wait until Spring... Good luck out there the last few days....

Well, I can see you didn't learn anything since I been GOne! I don't know if there is any hope at all. I'll have to talk to the Captain to see what he thinks!!

Good gosh don't get the Captain involved, he still thinks ya gaotta get outta bed before the roosters to catch fish.
 
Thanks for luck wishes Steve, one more day of hunting then I'll need another hobby so my wife doesn't kick me out of the house for getting under foot.
 
Do tell of this new fish finder you speak of, I'm all ears.  Besides, after tomorrow this thread will need conversation.  10-4.
 
Walcat good to hear.............  ummm never mind. 

It's Sunday morning, my U.S. flag gently waving in the south wind as I sit in the kitchen having my first fix of caffeine to start my day.  
 
Far too early to read the Sunday news papers, they haven't arrived yet and most likely won't because, I don't get the Sunday news papers.  No need of course, you silly gooses, I have "The Internet" where one can get all the 'stupid crap' anyone could want to read including a gazillion and one half spins on, the very same subject.
 
The weather, of course, being my first interest for the day says it's 43 degrees with rain to be expected this morning followed by high winds (20-30 mph/gusting to 50 mph) and dropping temperatures through this afternoon.  The Weather Channel, where everyone is a meteorologist including the custodial staff, has named this new storm "Hera".  How wonderful, naming all the storms,  ingenuous idea there and you can bet  "Hera" is proof that "climate change" can happen, within in a matter of hours.
 
I'm sure by now you are asking yourself why I would be discussing my morning, plus the weather, on a hunting thread and you can rest assured.........  I don't know.
 
I think it might be do to 'withdrawal',  last night closed out another exciting and productive season of seeking the ever elusive White-Tailed Deer in the Pennsylvania Wilds.  I say productive; even though it has created a nasty (soon to be broken) habit of getting out of bed before the sun rises at 10:00 AM,  because I learned of new hunting grounds where I can get lost by merely turning around.  Not to worry, my survival training I learned as a kid kicked in and I immediately clicked my heels three times and began screaming I want to go home.  It worked, I think, or maybe it was the wild mushrooms I don't know but, some bearded dude pops-up wearing a cape and offers me a ride in his balloon.
 
Just kidding of course, about the balloon but I did find a creek and, everyone knows following a creek will eventually bring you to a bridge.  So down stream I go and did find a bridge on a road I recognized and was happy that I was only 5 miles (as the crow fly's) from my car.   The irony of the story, my car was parked less than a 1/4 mile north of my initial wrong turn where I became somewhat disoriented but I forgot, which side of the tree the moss grows on and my stupid compass must of broke cause I could not get the needle to point to N. no matter which way I turned.  Now, for those doubting me, I know I was five (the way the crow fly's) miles from my car when I found the bridge because I used the GPS on my phone to measure the distance.
 
I should mention here, being of sound mind and having more bull crap then a rodeo barn, parts of my story may contain a bit of fiction because......  no way in hell would I ever admit to becoming lost.  The mushrooms, on the other hand, do taste good on a roasted baloney and cheese sandmidge.
 
The area I hunted Saturday opens new opportunity and does in fact have a creek running through it.  As I slowly stepped through the area, stopping for minutes at a time, I could hear the the water flowing and bubbling as it passed over gravel and rock.  Brought back memories of Two Mile run, between Rocky Grove and Reno in Sugarcreek Boro, where I fished for trout as a kid.(Hey, I was a kid, what can I say?).  At times I found myself looking at the water,  instead of the woods, thinking about time passing like the the frog spit floating by, on the surface of the pools.  That's when and where I became lost and there was no bearded dude in a cape, just memories, memories of friends and relatives who have, like the frog spit, meandered on.  But that's why memories are made, so we don't forget and, to fuel dreams of memories yet to be made.
 
As the last minutes of daylight faded and heavy fog began drifting toward me from across the fields, I slowly leveled the cross hairs of my scope, I squeezed the trigger and my arrow found it's mark, for the last time this season, as I de-cocked the crossbow.  Then I heard something, something that never caught my attention before, something I had no memories of until now.  From all directions around me I could hear shots, shots fired by the flint lockers as they touched off the black powder in their guns as if in a tribute to close yet another chapter in the journals of White-Tailed Deer hunting  The Pennsylvania Wilds.  
 
A memory I hope to relive for years to come.
 
 

I THINK YOU MISS OUT IN LIFE. BTDT Your stories,are very enjoyable,and entertaining. Did you every think about writing professionally. Really could publish some short stories. And make money. Keep them coming. I'm always ready to enjoy them. Thanks for the memories.

I'm impressed for a diesel sniffing short circuit I must admit your story writing is pretty darn good.Too many hours in a sleeper?

BTDT: You ARE the MAN !!!!!!! ( Just like Johnny Cash)

Agree with the others BTDT. Always entertaining to read your stories. Here's to better luck with the "elusive PA whitetail" next year.

Walleye jigs
I'm impressed for a diesel sniffing short circuit I must admit your story writing is pretty darn good.Too many hours in a sleeper?

I think in a tree, Jigs.
 
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Thanks for the flowers fellas, but something tells me, yinz have BTDT and have some good stories yinz can tell yourselves.
 
It's not difficult to see the passion in your writing or to understand your feelings when reading your opinions.  Emotions are easy to detect be they happy or sad and, in my book, are brought about by memories.   Passion, as I see it is brought on by dreams, dreams for another time to build memories.  Be that time with family, friends, afield or, afloat dreams build memories and memories can make for some wonderful stories.
 
Among those that have a passion for hunting and fishing;  who doesn't dream for the next season, the lunker or, the hat rack that will give us "bragging rights"?  Which brings me to the question; why would anyone want to take an animal or fish for the sole purpose of "bragging rights"?  I purposely shied away from this type of hunter or angler until I realized, these people have a passion just as I do, they just haven't learned to hunt/fish and their dreams build no memories but of, what's hanging on the wall.
 
 
 I remember, all to well, the days of making my living, working in a pressured atmosphere, then returning to my home in a neighborhood being overtaken by "slum lords" renting to drug dealers and the like.  I couldn't wait until I could get out into the woods or on the water where I thought I was fishing or hunting.   Turns out, I was relieving stress and anxiety from dealing with reality and was only going through the motions of hunting/fishing.  I seem to have little recollection of those days, oh maybe a fish here or a deer there but, no real fond memories.  
 
I couldn't wait to accomplish my real dream of living in a house in the middle of a 50 acre field and being able to fill my passion for hunting and fishing when and, where I wanted to.  Then reality hit me one day, my dream house will only ever be just that, a dream if, I don't change my passion and make my dream, a goal.
 
Of course with goals come hurdles that require some serious thinking and changes to overcome these obstacles.  Changes in employment, changes with other activities that I so enjoyed and even the near complete shutdown of hunting and fishing.  So, I did, and for fifteen years I could only dream of the days where I could once again fill my passion for hunting, fishing and accomplish my goal of a house in the middle of a fifty acre field.  
 
I have to mention, I'm not making this trip alone, I'm not the only one involved in making such big sacrifices as my wife has her dreams and goals also.  Her goal, to make my dreams come true; her dream, to live in a log style home in the middle of a fifty acre field.
 
My only regret, I wished I would have set my goals when I was 25 instead of 45 years old but, as they say in the old country, "it's never too late.........."
 
Anyway, TOUCHDOWN, we made the goal with one exception and that being, no fifty acres.
 
So now, I do other goofy things like sit at a computer reminiscing about days gone by, and other stupid stuff I can do to irritate one person yet, put a smile on the face of another.  But, my passion remains and grows stronger for hunting and fishing as do the dreams of getting out into the field and water.  Some days seeing game or catching fish while other days, I just wonder who or what was here before me, who and what will be here after me, what that big old tree in the middle of the field, or boulder on the hillside would say, if it could talk.  And sometimes, I just stare into a pool of water along a creek and I wonder if the bubbles will make it to the next pool when I hear someone say, "those ain't bubbles, it's frog spit........  frog spit"!
 
I may not "bag" game or fish each time I'm out but I sure do know how to enjoy, hunting and fishing.
 
 
Time to store the hunting gear, prep the fishing gear and,  think spring!

Garmin echoMAP 44DV Chartplotter/Fishfinder

BTDT MAN I LOVE YOUR STORIES ! This is the fishfinder I ordered should be here tomorrow ...I have an old One that is ready to bite it so figured I would give this one a try. Sounds like it's just a little bigger then a cell phone but has GPS so we will see has to be better then what I have right now... Spring will be here before you know it ... Stay warm my friend hope to see ya on the water soon...