[rtread]

My opening day has come and gone this year. I have some "rituals" I go through leading up to the big day.

I mainly hunt out of a tree.....actually a platform built between two pinion pine trees. Around noon the day before, I place my target on the trail which my tree blind overlooks (25 yards) and shoot six practice arrows. If I get five out of six in the inner circle around the bullseye, I'm set. Then I move my target back to 35 yards and shoot six more. The requirement here is three out of six in the circle but none more than 6" from the center of the bullseye. If all goes well there, I'm set.

The day before I've already packed my de-scented camos in the plastic tubs I keep them in.....with the pine flavored scented wafers scattered over them. I check them out to be sure everything is in order.

I get my scent free soap and bodywash out and place them in the shower so they will be there in the morning.

I sharpen my knives once again.....whether they need it or not.

I pack my little belt bag (my wife calls it a "fanny pack".....sounds too girly for me) with jerky, an apple, a couple of granola bars, roll of orange fluorescent tape for marking the bloodtrail, Zip-Loc bags for the coffee I drank before I left the house, toilet paper, rangefinder, and knives.

I go to bed early.....so I can wake up at 1 AM to pee then lay there till 3 then go ahead and get up because I'm too pumped to go back to sleep.

Coffee, the scent-free shower, carefully getting into my pine-scented coveralls, checking out my pistola (mountain lion presence), snapping on my gun belt and little belt bag.....then I'm off.

I treasure the hour or so I'm in the blind before daylight. The sounds I hear echoing across the ridge are magnificent. Some are eerie and it makes me glad my Ruger Blackhawk accompanied me. The sound I like most is rocks rolling around on the side of the mountain as the deer make their way up the trail.

Man, I love that stuff.