September’s the season for bowhunting and fond outdoor memories

“Try to remember the kind of September, when life was slow and oh, so mellow….”

If I had to pick a favorite month, it would probably be September. This classic tune written by Tom Jones and performed by a few dozen different bands and singers puts me in an early fall mood. I remember singing this song in fourth grade so many years ago, and it made me appreciate my birth month even more.

I hit the big 6-0 on Sept. 3, so I guess I’ve earned the right to get nostalgic and wispy eyed when I think of mourning dove and squirrel hunting with a bolt-action .410 and my dad. We chased a few ducks in the creek at the Sand Hills, a place of childhood dreams where we shot pellet guns and .22 rifles as well.

“Try to remember the kind of September, when grass was green and grain was yellow….”

I wasn’t introduced to bowhunting for deer until around 1974, although I’d been hunting rabbits with a multicolored Plyflex recurve bow since I was 9 or 10. I bought a Bear Grizzly recurve bow at Kmart for $23, bought a few Port Orford cedar arrows tipped with Bear Razorheads and tagged along with my brother Brian, who favored a Wing Thunderbird recurve.

He later switched to a longbow and eventually tagged a deer with it. I had to wait longer, using a Browning Nomad compound bow to harvest my first archery deer around 1978.

Opening day of the bow season arrives Saturday, and I’ve advanced even farther to a crossbow. I really have no more range than a compound bow, but I feel more confident that I’ll make a quick, humane kill when shooting from the small window of a ground blind.

Our muzzleloading club is not always mindful of activities such as bowhunting, so they scheduled a cleanup day (we are still dealing with the damage from July’s windstorm) and shotgun shoot for Saturday, but I plan to take my Little Brother Troy Staerkel out Sunday for his first official crossbow hunt.

My aging ground blind survived the windstorm, but I found it last week with a collapsed roof (easy fix) and two broken fiberglass side supports (a long branch sort of fixed that). That repair came right after I stuck the branch tip through the brittle fabric roof. Note to self: bring duct tape Sunday.

Although the state says we can legally hunt deer in September, it still feels like summer with plenty of mosquitoes, ticks, bees, stinging nettles, pitchforks, cockleburs and sweaty hot weather. Sticking a deer this weekend means getting it to a processor and cooled down as quickly as possible. If you have to travel far, it’s a good idea to buy some bags of ice and stuff the chest cavity with them.

Many hunters won’t go until cooler weather, even if they have been seeing some nice bucks on their trail cameras.

“Try to remember the kind of September, when you were a tender and callow fellow….”

A good friend that I introduced to deer hunting a few years ago surprised me by telling me he’d bought a crossbow. He loves ordering from the internet for things he could buy locally, and he didn’t disappoint. He bought an inexpensive crossbow from Amazon.

He had wanted to hunt at a small family property in Forest County as soon as this weekend. I asked if he’d sighted in the $230 Center Point crossbow and he said no, but he hoped to receive the package by Wednesday and assemble it soon after!

This is where your local pro shop shines. I would never buy a crossbow online when I can get one locally and have a professional assemble it. The power of a modern crossbow is impressive, and one loose bolt could spell serious trouble. Some pro shops also offer extended warranties for free if the equipment is bought there.

Be sure you check all the bolts and screws on your crossbow or compound bow before heading to the woods. Shoot a few arrows/bolts to check your sights or scope and be sure your broadheads are razor-sharp.

Above all, make the most of your September and savor every second in the deer woods.

“Try to remember and if you remember, then follow….”

Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.

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