So, been hunting every night, trying like heck to get up in tree stands to get over my fears in that avenue. Win some lose some so far. I can seem to get up in trees without stands "OK" but not great, but the man-made ladder stands so far has been a real issue for me. If one has plenty of tree branches close by I feel safer, like I can grab them if something happens. I tend to start getting dizzy and feel like I'm going to be launched out of the darn tree. But a lot of the stands don't have much for branches anywhere or around or it's just small tiny branches with leaves and that's it, and I can tell, soon as I get up in them, my world starts spinning and I gotta get out of there fast.
But I've managed to get up in a few stands and last the night, so It's getting better, but It's not comfortable at all, at least until it gets close to end of season, gets a little darker out, the world seems smaller I guess, and apparently that still affects me how the world appears to me and makes it more comfortable. Plus that's when most the bucks start moving, so I have more to keep my mind occupied on something else and tend to not dwell on my issues. Otherwise I'm hyperventilating and shaking the whole night. Not fun at all.
Just have to keep battling it until I win, can't afford to lose that battle If I'm going to be hunting as much as I need to, much better to be up in a stand than on the ground, you can't see anything coming on the ground it sucks. Tonight I climbed up in the "snag" tree below Grandma's house. Now this tree, where you sit is probably 15 feet up, but to get up there, you have to shimmy up one of the big fallen branches, basically sit on the branch with your feet hanging over and slide and push all the way up, was unnerving for sure, nothing below you nothing to grab on, and it's a rotten old tree, and the branch you are going up on is broken off, with one of "It's branches stuck underneath it propping it up, the end of the branch stuck in the brush, the part on the tree is barely if at all connected and sways a bit, and that's the part I have to stand on once I get up there. With part of the left over stump as your front cover.
Well I made it up there and was just trying to get settled in, moving my stuff around so not knock anything off, and there goes my Long Bow, all the way to the bottom, and bounces around on the ground 15 feet below. *A little tear slowly dropped down my cheek*, as I shimmy back down the tree, which to me was even more hair raising, and noisy..... But I made it, but at that point, my nerves were already up plenty. SO for the first 30 minutes on stand I was a nervous wreck, breathing hard and shaking. *sigh*. I took out my camera and started clicking a few photos of my view, did a panoramic shot, and then I settled in and started feeling a lot better. And didn't have an issue the rest of the hour and half I had left to hunt.
So we're moving on, but It's a struggle for sure, but at least I'm able to attempt it, and do it alone, which is such a huge thing for me, besides being able to be out there doing what I've missed for so many years.
View from higher up in another stand.
And one of the 40 or so Puffball mushrooms I found in about 50 yard area on the way to one of the stands, I hadn't seen any for many years, then I came across the mother load and I had to laugh.
OK, so we finally broke down and had to try out our pop-up camper, thankfully we waited until it's getting in the high 30's low 40's at night to finally do it!!!! BRILLIANT!! Extra blankets here we come. But we hadn't tried out all the components enough, didn't know if the furnace worked, it does, and it heats up the camper FAST. And the refrigerator works fine.
The one thing that didn't work fine was the slide-out portion where you sleep had an issue, which was the head portion and feet portion where you sleep. there was a gap with the canvas, you could push it out about a foot and air was coming coldly up through there very easily.
Well, figured we'd try it out anyway, and the dogs took to it immediately, they curled right up in the beds and were fast asleep, and so was I. However, shortly after sleep arrived, it was rudely awaken as a scratching noise by where Thor was curled up, Jeanne shown her tablet light in that direction to see a WIDE -EYED puppy, well half of him, as he was scrambling to not be lost to the abyss of the gap in the canvas. well I was laughing so hard at the look on his face, I couldn't get unzipped out of my sleeping bag to move to get him, and down he went, feet first, isn't far to the ground, so no worry on injury, but the shock and fear was there for sure. I rushed to the door, opened it up, and saw a stunned puppy looking around, wondering to himself, "I was sleeping, then I was outside, |Mom must of pushed me out!!"
Well I brought the shaken pup back in, and he wandered around the camper for a good 30 minutes wondering if all was clear, was very nervous, and finally made his way back to the exact spot we lost him to 30 minutes earlier. I lined the trouble areas with cushions for the night to stop that from happening, and we fixed the issue the next day and attached it the way it was supposed to be and now all is fine.
But I've slept it in the camper 4 nights in a row now, and I just love it, very comfortable, the fresh air is cool but very nice, not too cold and love hearing the night time nature noises, coons fighting, coyotes howling, owls hooting. Love the outdoors. I appreciate it so much more after being stuck indoors for so many years. So outdoors I go again tonight, no it's not roughing it under the stars, or in a tent, but I'll take it!!
There is more. But gotta have material for tomorrow!
Lance
