“Three years later and I LOVE IT!”

Just finished our third season. The tree stand for bear hunting has now become a tall enclosed wooden structure with windows and ladders. I have named it, “The Playboy Mansion.”

— I have since shot a cross-bow – LOVE IT!

— I have my own Eva Shockey bow and I am a great shot (at Targets).

— I have my Florida Hunting; Bow License and I have my New Hampshire Bow License for deer and bear.

— This would have been my first bear season, but Doug said I wasn’t ready yet.

Boy oh boy....do I have a story to write about ... my first ever visit to a taxidermy shop. Remember, I'm not a hunter, first year I've participated in this Sport. He started me on tree stand with 300-pound bears below me looking up. Who does that? I'm a shopper, a native NYer, a talker and I wear perfume and pearls ... I'm just trying to learn what makes my boyfriend tick about this whole hunting bow and arrow stuff. I'm learning he's a little obsessed, but also learning how groovy most of this is! I refuse to wear that No Scent and Downwind stuff. I like to name all the deer and bears I see. And don't even get me started on that stupid grunt tube thing.

4-7 pm. There we were, sitting in a tree ... and no, not k-i-s-s-i-n-g. HOWEVER, 'bout 15 acres away at the neighbors someone was k-i-s-s-i-n-g! An outdoor wedding, replete with a large tent, loud festive crowd and loud classical music. ThankayoumyJesus, the noise took the focus off of my whispering (albeit minimal, honest!) and my fidgeting and wiggling.

So, here's what I learned this past weekend, I learned what it's like to be out in the woods and look up and see branches intertwined with like a canopy of gorgeous leaves in every color green imaginable. I learned what it's like to just be outside, be still, no phone, no radio, just the sound of your footprints on branches and the ground and the sound of birds. I swang on an old rope swing in a tree even!

In Chapter One y'all heard about my first outing in the world of getting to know the woods and land in preparation for the upcoming BOW AND ARROW bear season. So, this is going to be up close and personal looking down from a tree! I hope my reading glasses don't fall off and hit BEAR in the head! Did I mention I have a condition called Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)? That's why the photo (to the right) is so blurry, no worries, he's getting me a SPYDER harness system so if I fall out, I will just dangle and bounce off the tree. I mean this is just practice, I have two or three weeks to learn and be an expert! No problemo!!!!

I'm not really sure what I think about this bow hunting. Tree stands, HUGE bears walking below. I know I enjoy being with Doug up in the tree stand. I enjoy nature, that's totally new! I enjoy hearing noises and finding out what they are now, whereas, when I started 10 days ago, I heard any noise, and I just knew it was something out there that was going to kill me. Now granted, a lot of these things can kill me, and probably want to at this point, but I'm a lot calmer about the whole thing.

You came back to read more!  Congratulations!!   Now, as they say in all great scripts, “Let’s start at the beginning….”

Follow me on this part journey through my first experiences in a tree-stand, in the woods, with wildlife, hunting, camo – having to be quiet, not being able to wear perfume and more odd stuff to me…at the time…which now three years later is all as natural as my blonde hair-colour. Okay, my stories are true, the blonde in my hair?  Well, you’ll have to ask Ms. Clairol about that!

January 24, 2022 – I am sitting here in the warmth of our cabin-like lodge home that sits high up in the hills of Northern New Hampshire.

Also known as ‘The Great North Woods’. It’s been in the negative numbers, temperature-wise, for the past week – but the wood stove is cranking, and I am cozy and happy!