Cold Gun Opener in Tennessee

[Cumberland Plateau Rider]

MY gun remained silent as i sat in the heated tent. 12 degrees saturday morning was a walk in the park with my little buddy and the doghouse blind. Watched 3 does mid field as the sun warmed the frosted bottoms. Ol bighorn did not show his ivory crown that cold morning nor did he dare make an appearance this cool Sunday morning. Signs were the same as 2 weeks ago, scrapes looked the same and they were still void of leaves, dont know if he's keeping em clean or no leaves had fallen in them.



Gun shots were few and far between except from the direction of the Grassy Mtn lease and it sounde like the deer were moving good over that way. 3-4 shots sounded like they were from the direction upon the mountain at the flats. Traffic was light going up the mountain as i only saw about 4 atvs or trucks heading up. You sure would not have known it was opening day of gun season back in the cove.

I had refilled one of the campers 20 gallon propane tanks and i had to immediately put it in use Friday evening as the other tank had emptied. That should have been my first clue that something was amiss. I had smelled gas occasionally during the weekend outside the camper, moreso towards the shed as that was the general direction that the wind was blowing. I checked the connections at the tanks and found them to be tight, i passed the gas as a mere abnomaly due to the cold weather. This morning around 3 oclock the heat cut off. with the heated bed we just pulled the covers over our head till hunting time. At 6 o'clock, i went out to the shabing and got one of the propane tanks there and took it down to the camper and removed both the empty tanks, installed the full tank and turned the valve on the tank. Immediately i smelled gas, it was coming out the unused 2nd tank coupling. I had a faulty (Y) connection on the transfer fitting between the tanks. Bummer

I went down to the blind and got the little buddy heater and brought it in to the camper and got it going so everyone would stay warm while i went out hunting. I thought i might get some bonus points from higher up about my surrenedering up my heater for the sake of the family.. BUT NOOOOooo

[BAJAXPIMPN]

Nice little write up! BTW- If you could give a little grunt call and see if you can turn the one on the right, I'll try and let the air out of him with my bow!

Sorry to hear about you heating problems. As it turns out for my Elk season I need to bring sunscreen and a air conditioner. It's never been that warm there during this time of year. It got to around freezing at the early hours of the morning but by 10am we were in just a long sleeve shirt. I'm usually sitting around 3-4 inches of snow around camp and then were we hunt it can get between 12 to 18 inches. For this year there would be non of that! I saw a slight drizzle of rain on the last day as we were pulling camp. Weather played a big factor in this years elk hunt for us and other groups I've talked to. With the weather being hiker friendly we were able to cover more ground than usual and some elk were seen, but a low number were taken from around this particular hunting unit this year.

I'm investing in a couple of trail cam's this upcoming year. That's only the start of the investment. For elk it's a 5 hour one way drive and then a several mile hike. It's got to be done if I want to keep track of these animals in this unit. I have places closer to home that I can hunt but those areas are a little to public, if you know what I mean. I like the solitary feeling and I believe the elk do also.

I've got a week and half left for bow deer and my hopes are running wild with the thoughts of a big black tail pushing around some does as I rattle, grunt him in close enough for what will be his fatal last steps.

-BAJAXPIMPN

[Cumberland Plateau Rider]

video link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cHhd...layer_embedded