Continuing the Chase

Friday night was clear and still, with lots of stars, and it was c- c- c- cold Saturday morning. When I finally got up enough courage to crawl out of the covers, I went to Creek Cottage. There was a freshly worked scrape at the end of the field, and a line of fresh scrapes through Creek Cottage. I set up where those logging trails criss- cross and spent the morning. It warmed up quickly and the squirrels and chipmunks scurried around, but I saw no deer. In the afternoon, I hunted out toward the front amid those cross- trails, but still no deer. I have been noticing there aren't many birds; seems it should be late enough for us to be getting robins and woodcock and all the little early- spring visitors. Sunday morning, I hunted along the pipeline trail. Something grunted at me, "unh- ahhh" as I neared the old beech tree where I always liked to camp. I kept slipping forward, and heard it again on the hillside across Panther Creek, so I guess he challenged me and moved on away. There were a few rubs in the area and some scrapes scattered along the pipeline. I want to take a stand here soon; might be that nice buck I saw last week. Back near the end of the place, I thought I heard a "tending click" and I hid for a long time, but I never saw any movement.