Mixing Business with Pleasure.

Having just finished a riveting seminar on the in's and out's of aluminum extrusions, a view of the Pennsylvania hills (they're mountains to me) is a great place to reflect on the first month of the season. Unfortunately, the view is from the table of an airport bar and grill in Harrisburg and not a tree stand, but it'll have to do. Looking back, it was a pretty good start kicked off by the nice 8 pt. that the Outlaw (Tim) and I both saw opening morning. However, it would be the last buck I would see for the remainder of the month (6 days on stand). Pretty typical to see a drop off come October, but this year's drop off was a bit steep for my taste. I look forward to November's unpredictability and excitement.

Having spent the last couple days in a small down in the middle of PA, I had the opportunity to stop in at a local pub for a quick unwind upon my arrival the first evening. As I stepped to the small bar for my libation of choice, I could feel the gaze of ~30 locals occasionally turn my way. They were primarily engaged in what appeared to be an important pool tournament pitting one local pub vs. one about 2 miles down the road. I wasn't sure how the locals would treat this obvious outsider, who happened to pull up in a black convertable sports car (not sure why the rental place gave that one to me),wearing business casual attire.

But, within ~20 minutes I was invited to pull up a recently vacated bar stool by a local gentlemen by the name of Jim. A gray-bearded, thin man, who recently changed jobs from blue collar worker to full time retiree/hunter. I was happy to see the camo hat with the name of a local taxidermist upon his head. I just had to ask the simple question of "So, how's the whitetail season so far?", which then sparked the next hour of conversation comparing and contrasting the whitetail hunting practices, season structures, barriers to hunting lands, etc between our two states. The time flew quickly and helped with the pain of missing family and business travel during the most important season of the year...autumn....well, whitetail season...which happens to be autumn...you get it.

I think it's great to be able to be plopped down in the middle of nowhere, not knowing a soul, and be able to instantly connect on the subject of hunting. It was the highlight of the trip. Thanks, Jim, for the hospitality and sharing a bit of your hunting experience.

Almost boarding time. I can only hope my next entry here is the exciting story of my November bow kill.

Continued luck this season,
Brian