Admit it. This describes you perfectly.
The weather cools down a bit, these things start to happen, and thousands of die-hard hunters around the nation, myself included, start to lose our minds.
As we roll into November, these are the silly things that start to happen with every deer hunter.
Whether they want to admit it or not.
1. Food Plot > Yard
When your yard starts taking on a pasture feel and an after thought, but your food plots are weed free because you are out their diligently checking them...you know you have your priorities in the right place and that deer season is almost here.
2. Swervin' Syndrome
If someone were to follow you, it is a good chance they would think you are drunk. The chances of you being in a wreck or damaging your vehicle increase significantly this time of year. Hunters' eyes become peeled to those green bean fields looking for bucks rather than at the road.
When you start hearing the road shoulder and rumble strips more than the radio, you know deer season is almost here.
3. Sorry, Won't Be There
Weddings, birthdays, get-togethers, anything, for that matter, starts getting planned for October and November... and you politely tell them you won't make it, because you got one thing on your mind and one place you know you'll want to be come that time. 20 feet up, waiting for a buck.
When you start sending back RSVPs that you will not be in attendance strictly because it said October or November, you know deer season is almost here.
4. Trail Cams, Trail Cams, Trail Cams
There is a point in the summer when your brain registers trail cams before anything else. Your bank account shrinks because all of the batteries you have to buy, and you start to forget to pay bills, check trash, and feed the kids because all you care about is going out and pulling that Covert trail cam card.
Ok, that last part may be exaggerated, but seriously, I wonder what will be on the next card pull? Hopefully a new buck in the area. When trail cams become life, you know deer season is almost here.
5. The Countdown Is On
When you know the time left until Opening Day in your state down to the second, you could say things are getting pretty serious. As I am typing, the Illinois season is about 54 days, 11 hours, and 26 seconds from coming in, but who's counting?
When the countdown is fresh in your head and the year long wait becomes days, hours, and minutes... you know deer season is almost here.
6. Name Game
Velvet quickly becomes your favorite thing to look at and think about. As strange as that sounds, you, as a grown man, start acting like a little girl, all giddy with excitement when you start seeing the racks of bucks taking shape. Then, things start to get weird.
You start naming these bucks and talking about them like you personally know them and went to high school with them with all your buddies. For instance, you see a monster buck and you recognize it's that 3-year-old you passed last year. You name him "Wild Joe."
Your texts start reading:
"Dude, saw Wild Joe at the farm last night."
"Wild Joe ran off the others last week, I think he is dominant."
"Hopefully, me and Wild Joe have a hot date come November."
"Wild Joe has got one of the biggest racks I have ever seen."
Little weird, right? Don't worry, we don't judge.
And before long, you have 10 deer named and you talk about them like they're family. When the Name Game starts and things start getting weird, you know deer season is close.
7. Budget Cuts
You start thinking of all the equipment you need or would like to have. Deer season becomes priority number one, and you start to see how it is going to fit in the budget.
When your logic starts to think, "If I cut the TV bill out this month, I can buy this," or "If we go without Internet for the next two months, I can buy this..." you know deer season is getting close.
8. Group Message Explosions
Bucks' racks become visible, and all of a sudden, the group messages begin. You and all your hunting buddies begin to flood these group messages with questions trail camera pictures of your hitlist bucks. Wives become super annoyed, but the men don't notice because all they can think about is deer season.
Then in other messages, words start popping up, like "beast, pig, giant, stud, Booner, mature" because auto-correct takes control and uses the words you use every day in the group text.
When the hunting group messages heat up, you know deer season is almost here.
9. The Hitlist
The forming of the hitlist! We start to take inventory of the bucks on our properties that we have seen or that we have gotten pictures of. And before you know it, it is the topic of every conversation.
Usually taking precedent over anything else, the hitlist consumes our mind. The Name Game is already in full swing, and then the hitlist takes it to a whole new level.
When you know your hitlist better than you know anything else in life, you know that deer season is almost here.
10. Date Nights
Your significant others start to catch onto all of these things. And if date night is going to happen, it will involve driving around looking for deer, checking trail cams, and binge watching hunting shows and replaying the kill shots.
When "Date Nights" turn into what you could call "Deer Nights," or better yet, "Dear Nights," you know deer season is almost here.
11. Preparation
You start spending weekends hanging stands, the evenings are filled with arrows being flung, and your mind starts daydreaming about being 20 feet up in a tree with the sun creeping over the hillside. Preparations are in place and you patiently wait.
When this work and preparation is viewed as a blessing and not work, you know deer season is almost here.
We Are Ready!
If you are a die-hard hunter, chances are, all of these things are all to familiar and are causing you to chuckle a bit. And you are quickly sending this to buddies because it describes you all in a nutshell.
Season is close and all that is left to do is patiently wait. But until then our thoughts and minds will be consumed.
These are 11 reason you know deer season is on the mind and getting close.
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