Story by Shane Jahn

With scorching three-digit temperatures currently tempering much of the Lone Star State, it takes a little imagination to recognize Texas’ fall hunting season is right around the corner. Some seasons will be underway when this issue hits newsstands and your mailbox.

The weeks preceding opening weekend fill our minds with anticipation of heading to the field to spend quality time in the great outdoors. There’s nothing like sitting in the stand as Mother Nature awakens on a brisk November morning. Right now, it’s even difficult to remember what a cold front feels like, but they will get here again!

As we sit in cool, dark silence, increased chattering of songbirds announces the coming of dawn as the eastern sky slowly fills with crimson luminescence. Dark objects in the brush line transform into sleek profiles of white-tailed deer and a mob of blue quail hurriedly cross openings spattered with prickly pear and mesquite brush with hopes of picking up kernels of golden breakfast that will be scattered from the deer feeder in coming minutes.

These are the simple and wondrous events that bring a smile to this outdoorsman’s face. The worries and stresses of daily life lift from our camo clad shoulders as we watch the outdoors awaken from night’s slumber.

As we mature in life and field experience, gathering countless hunting adventures under our belts, hunting with a scoped rifle from a blind might seem a bit too easy for some.  That doesn’t mean it is, but you know what I mean. Shooting an animal from a solid rest at a known distance with a powerful optic can make the contest a little less challenging than it once was.

If you are fortunate to hunt big country, we always have the option of leaving the blind and hunting afoot. When doing this, the odds rapidly rise in favor of the game we are pursuing. Our native whitetail is extremely hard to fool when our boots are on the ground.

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