A weekend in the woods

Merrick had Friday off, but I still had to work before we drove to the hunting woods with plans of arriving in the dark.  Evan was already out there and Brad and Nolan showed up a little bit before us.  Joe and Paulo a little after, and Ramblin' wouldn't make an appearance until Saturday afternoon.  Merrick and I ate along the way at the Bowl & Grill just off H.  I thought it was cool, including the barefooted bowling lady, but Merrick was less than impressed.  Classic country bar with friendly locals sharing BS around a Horseshoe bar and four lanes in the back...again our opinions differed but the burgers were decent.  We set up the tent in the dark and headed to a surprise fire the Bryans had started.  Evan said the fire ban was lifted and we didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.  I hung out around the fire until 10-11ish with plans of bowhunting in the morning while Merrick came to the tent later.  By the time I got back from the stand on Saturday morning camp was starting to stir and coffee was being made.  Merrick packed a lunch and wandered off to his stand to clear some trails and maybe flush a bird on his way.  He later told me that he got spun around..(even after I asked if he had his GPS...no, do you have a compass...no....how you going to get back?....walk back the way I go in...okay I will look for you if you aren't back by dark.)  He did make it back in the early afternoon about the time Grandprize rolled in to see what was up.  The Bryan's packed up early and left, Evan for a wedding and to buy a suit; Brad and Nolan because Nolan was puking in his tent.  Georges went to work on stands and I left Grandprize and Merrick at camp to scout the south end and look for birds.  Scored a woodcock for the second year in a row and we curried that up before dinner and after shooting off some various guns just because we could.  Did try a large load of tannerite in a split tree, but the ammonia nitrate had gathered moisture so the it wasn't going to explode no matter how many times we hit the small target and watched the gray dust poof out the other side.  Sunday morning was as expected, essentially a slow breakfast and coffee and then packing up and on the road by about tenish back to home, back to day dreaming about the next time we get back out there of the big hunt