Getting high....

Those of you who know me, know that as I've gotten older I've become less comfortable with heights. This year we decided to put up a couple of 15' high ladder stands on the one farm. The first time I tried to climb up one I got 1/2 way up and came back down. The second time I tried I got all the way up, but was pretty tense about it. My hands were sweating and I couldn't let of of the little bit of metal at the seat. I have to add that we bought the cheapest, smallest stands they have - just a little seat and a small place for your feet. Not much to them. When you're up there you can't really see the ladder below and it's a pretty freaky feeling... well, for me anyways. In fact, my hands are all sweaty just typing about it. lol

The 3 of us have had the nasty bug that's been going around and it cut into our hunting season. So far neither Tim nor I have been able to go out. Yesterday was our first day in the woods - Tim was out in the morning.

In the afternoon I climbed up into one of the stands and tried to make peace with my fear of heights. At first I was awful. Being attached to the tree by the safety harness helped though. After a while I found it easier to look down and not have to fight the feelings of queasiness and vertigo. Eventually I could look over at the other tree trunks moving in the wind and not feel that extra surge of fear when my tree moved. By the time I climbed down I was feeling much better than when I first climbed up. There is hope.

Here's the view Tim had when he was out hunting yesterday morning from the stand at the other end of the woods:

Here I am in the other stand once I got my heart rate down and felt comfortable enough to take some pictures....



In my face net:

My Excalibur Vixen xbow is ready for action:


This is the view through the scope. It's only 2.4 x magnification but it has calibration for various yardages which makes for more accurate shot placement. It's a little tough to hold the bow level and position the camera for a picture at the same time so yeah, the bow & the crosshairs are canted.I'm sure you'll notice the absence of deer pictures... that would be because I didn't see any. I did see 3 noisy riders on horseback coming through the woods which I'm sure didn't help the deer situation any. I pulled up stakes and headed home before dark yesterday because my brother flew in from out west and we were to meet him at my Mom's in the evening. I didn't mind leaving early as it was getting plenty chilly up in the tree and I'd started shivering pretty hard. Still, it was absolutely wonderful to be out in the woods again. Even just walking to the stand wearing my camo and carrying my bow felt so very right. The few short hours in the woods left me feeling like a totally new person. Therapy of the best kind! I'm ready to climb back up for another hunt again and tackle that fear monster.

Hopefully those deer photos will be coming soon. :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety.

~Henry H. Tweedy