Freezer Filler Shot

After talking about it for nearly 20 years, I finally made time to travel out to the Shenandoah Valley to hunt deer. My good friend and long time customer Michael Moreland invited me out to Winchester to hunt with him on the first day of the Virginia Muzzle loader season, and I am glad that I finally took time to make the trip. The Shenandoah Valley sure is a beautiful part of this state, and I realized this weekend that I don’t spend nearly enough time out there.

On Saturday morning when I woke up, the temperature was 25 degrees which is much colder than what I have been used to on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. After breakfast, Michael & I made our way out to the deer stand and got set up. As the sun came up and the animals woke up I realized again how beautiful this area is. Unfortunately, the deer decided to sleep in that morning, but it didn’t matter. I was just happy to be outside relaxing and not have to adhere to a schedule for the day. We decided to get out of the field late morning, ate lunch and headed back to the stand mid afternoon for the evening hunt. This hunt started out much the same as the morning hunt until around 6:00 when the first deer popped out into the open. During the last few minutes of legal shooting time, a deer came into my shooting lane and I decided to take a shot and connected with the target. While my deer wasn’t a moose by any means, it was a good freezer filler shot & I can’t wait to eat this deer all winter. Who knows, maybe a trophy will give me an opportunity before the end of the season.