On Sept. 16, opening morning of Minnesota’s archery season, Al Schmidt, Paul Appicelli, Clarence Bautch and I met long before sunrise by the old schoolhouse. We then separated and headed for our chosen positions.

It took me nearly half an hour of noisily thrashing through the forest to find my treestand. Needless to say, I did not see or hear any deer that morning. But Al and his daughter, Morgan, shot and dressed out a nice buck.

After church the next morning, we set out again. The three of us were soon aloft in trees, spread out over a heavily wooded valley between the steep bluffs of southeastern Minnesota.

After an hour of listening to the sounds of the woods and reading a new book, Steve Chapman’s “A Look at Life from a Tree Stand,” I was startled by the sound of deer on the move. Somewhere directly behind me was the distinct pattern of hooves meeting leaves. Acorns had been falling and squirrels rustling, but this was different. It had the all-too-familiar cadence.

Read Full Article