Somehow, I still get a certain twinge when I think of the upcoming whitetail season. ÊThere is a small shot of adrenaline that courses through my veins and arteries when I think of harvesting another whitetail or simply sitting in my stand in the deep woods that sees no other intruder for eleven plus months of the year. Ê

Last week my wife bought me my 62nd birthday present.ÊIt is a used tripod deer stand. A nice lady just east of town had one for sale and my wife said "Happy Birthday" as we loaded the stand into our pick-up truck and then sauntered on home. I'd wanted such a deer stand for sometime, but had trouble rationalizing the purchase. After all, I already had a homemade stand out in the woods made up of native oak and ash trees and secured to two poplar and one cherry tree. ÊUnfortunately, one of the poplars had died and one leg of my tree stand has left for the promised land. ÊHence, I had to do something to protect the deer trails that run just below my old stand, next to the swamp.

My brother Steve and his three sons, Christian, Nathan and Shane set out for the deer woods last Saturday and after trekking through a number of muddy lowland areas, we arrived at the "north gate" of our deer hunting property. ÊThe day was clear and brilliant yellow aspen leaves quivered against the background of a deep blue, Minnesota sky.ÊThe air smelled like deer season was upon us. The fresh, sweet smell of dead leaves on the forest floor and the aroma of swamp and fresh beaver cuttings. Ê

We loaded my brother's four-wheeler with the makings of the tripod deer stand and headed north along the grass-filled trail. Christian preceded us, carrying his trusty 20-gauge single shot shotgun in case some non-observant ruffed grouse might cross our path. One did and it is still alive, much to Christian's chagrin. Ê

After chain sawing a number of downed logs that had fallen across the trail, we reached my stand site, on the northwest corner of the deer land. ÊThere has been a stand here for as long as any our hunting party can remember.ÊIt is a place that deer go. They travel through this narrow neck of land like cars travel on Interstate 94 on the way to the Twin Cities or Fargo. ÊThere has rarely been a year when some deer's luck was not up at this place. That's where we put up the tripod stand. Ê

Brother Steve's kids busied themselves building a fort in the deep woods from fallen branches they found on the forest carpet, while Steve, Christian and I put the stand together and hoisted into postition. ÊFunny how if left to their own devices, kids are be able to entertain themselves with no TV, internet or computer games to amuse them. ÊActually, their fort looked rather habitable by the time we completed our task. Ê

We didn't see much evidence of deer in the area last Saturday. ÊThe rut has just begun and will accelerate over the next month. ÊBucks will become dumb, like bachelors at Saturday night parties.ÊTheir passion will be the end of some of them. Others will learn to lay low during the day and pursue the fairer sex only during the nighttime hours. They will pass on those genes to the next generation.

Yep, after 46 some years of getting ready for and hunting the whitetail deer, I have to admit that I still get a thrill from being involved. ÊHarvesting a deer has become second-place to preparing for the season and having fun watching my young nephews stalk through the woods with their BB guns, thinking they are about to become the bring-home-the-meat heroes. Ê

The deer stand is up and we're ready for some action!

See you next time. ÊOkay?