Thanksgiving Weekend

It was a long weekend. Wednesday night I sat out in the freezing cold, hoping that just maybe, for some magical reason,  Mr. Big would show up. There was a storm coming in for Thursday morning, and it was already cold and windy.

No such luck. The next morning was Thanksgiving, and I didn't hunt. I rarely saw deer in the morning, and had never had pictures or seen Mr. Big during the morning.

That afternoon my mom accidentally turned the oven off while the turkey was cooking...needless to say we ended up eating nearly two hours later than intended. My plans for an evening hunt were shot, but I wasn't really all that disappointed since I hadn't seen Mr. Big in nearly two months, both on and off camera. So, I stayed in the nice warm house and ate Thanksgiving dinner and caught up on gossip with my sister, while outside the snow fell and the wind blew....

And Mr. Big appeared under my stand...

The next day when I went hunting, I decided to check my trail camera since I hadn't in a few weeks. I was feeling more than a little discouraged about ever getting Mr. Big.

Opening the camera, I saw the screen read "Memory Full". Well, that hadn't happened in about a month or so. Switching the memory card to a new one, I climbed into my stand and put the card in my camera to view the pictures.

About 20 pictures in, I saw Mr. Big and nearly had a heart attack. Sure enough, there he was, under my stand for several hours, while I was at my parents house eating Thanksgiving Dinner. I swore then and there to never go to Thanksgiving again.

I've been in my stand like faithfully, every day, but still no Mr. Big. But, I'm feeling a little more optimistic now that I have some pictures of him again.

I had hoped to take him with my bow, but bow season is nearly over, and this morning was opening day of Muzzleloader season in NJ...

Now, I'm waiting for another storm to come in so I can be there when he shows up! I hope....