Skip to main content

When your hunting pants don't fit



This past fall, my routine became almost comical.  I would leave my backpack on the ground, climb into my treestand, get settled and unbutton my wool pants.

Four years ago, I wore base layers with monkey-thumbs to hide the Queeze-Away bands that I wore around my wrists.  I never got sick, but those early morning breakfasts and treks to the Sky Condo were a little more challenging when I was trying to hide a pregnancy.  Dad makes sure that I am always secure and comfortable when I am sitting 10-16 feet up in my treestands but if he knew I was pregnant, I was not sure how far off the ground he would allow me to be. So, I kept my first pregnancy a secret during the entire season.

I hunted, hiked and pulled the same 10 hour days with Dad that we always did.  I would fall asleep right after dinner, but the fresh air and adventure of being in the woods kept me going.   Hubby shot his first buck ever that season; a small crotch horn and for me, the pressure was on to get one myself.  The next day, I shot my own crotch horn, which weighed more and had more bone on his head (I am slightly competitive.)  The best part was that I had had a successful season while pregnant with my son.

Fast forward to today and I have a kiddo who out eats me when it comes to meat, loves to fish and has informed everyone that he plans to shoot a Black bear, Grizzly and Wildebeest with his bow and arrow.  He overheard me talking about turkey hunting this spring and eagerly said that he wants to go. He is anxious to get into the woods and we are excited for him to start sitting and watching for wildlife.  

I did the same thing last fall that I had the first time; Dad didn’t need to know I was pregnant until it was necessary, which turned out to be half way through the season when I got sick.  I had proven that I could hunt while pregnant the first time around so I continued to climb into my treestands to hunt.  I was not dying, just pregnant.

Hubby shot a nice 6-pointer on opening day of rifle season and Dad and I continued to hunt. I had my routine and made sure to keep myself hydrated as I climbed in and out of stands and buttoned and unbuttoned my pants to keep my growing mid-section happy.  I also kept my backpack filled with snacks with me, which is something did not have four years ago.   But just like back then, I matched Hubby with his deer, shooting my own 6 pointer on the last day of rifle season.  And again, (see slightly competitive comment above) my deer weighted more and had more bone on his head.

 
I’ve successfully gone 2 for 2 for deer while pregnant and I am happy with that. No more babies for me, but hopefully a lot more deer! 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where are the women?

This week, my interview with Steve at The Maine Outdoorsman went live. Steve said yesterday 200 people hit his site viewing over 500 pages. That is a lot of people reading about little ole me and hunting. Why? When I think of women who are in the general public's eye and hunt, I can think of 2 - Country singer Miranda Lambert and Sarah Palin. Why only two? Why is the female hunter such a fascinating thing? (I should probably note that I do not have cable so any and all female hunters on the hunting stations are lost to me. I'll keep it to the general public because that's what I am familiar with.) People/media were fascinated by the fact that they could get footage of Palin and her gun, shooting (and gutting) animals but I feel like the nostalgia would be lost if they had the same footage of McCain. Lambert and her hubby Blake Shelton tweet photos of their kills, and comment on what/where they are hunting. I only know this because I follow both. That's it....
15 comments
Read more

So much to celebrate - let's give away stuff!

As you know from my last post, this month I am celebrating the one year anniversary of this blog, 10 years of hunting with my Dad and a milestone birthday. In honor of all three, I want to give away some great Maine stuff to all of you! Rules: 1. Leave a comment 2. On Oct 28 (my big bday), Dad will pick a number and the corresponding post will win. What will you win? A big basket of great Maine and outdoor things! Such as: fly fishing flies, blueberry something, Maine maple syrup, apple butter (to be made by me on Tuesday), something related to deer hunting and a couple of great books signed by local authors. (Pictures will be posted when I am back at a computer). So thank you for your support and for helping my celebrate such a great month!!
17 comments
Read more

So much for respectable stand placement

Dad has hunted on the land that houses the Sky Condo for the better part of his life. About six years ago, we built the SC and started hunting there full time.   At that time, there were no other hunters near by.  A few years ago, a hunter bought a bordering piece of property, re-did the old camp that was there and brought his buddies along.  We haven't had a lot of incidents with them (trespassing last year, putting pink ribbon on my tree seat and lying to us when we asked them what they shot - a search through the list at the tagging station said an 8-point buck).  Two years ago, Dad bought a piece of land that is separated from the Sky Condo property by a powerline and a driveway that is privately owned by our hunting neighbor.  The land was bought in May and once October came, our neighbor put a treestand up along the edge of the powerline, facing our new piece of property and right next to our traveling path.  We were cautious from that point ...
9 comments
Read more