Great Grandpa Waldie.

Great Grandpa with a northern from the James.

Here is a conglomeration of I believe two different obituaries for my Great Grandpa Waldie. One obituary came from a newspaper and the other from a town Centennial book. For those of you who do not know, he would be my mom's grandpa on her mother's side. My Grandma Gladys Schmitz's dad. From what I hear he was quite a character. He had some unique sayings and thoughts. He would have been neat to know but he passed before I was born.

Arthur John Waldie (1891 - 1971)

Art a native of LaMoure county was born in Sheridan Township on March 15, 1891. He attended schools in Sheridan Township and the Agricultural College in Fargo, N.D. His parents were John and Jennie Waldie. Art married Mary Larson on May 19, 1910. Mary was the daughter of Knute and Andrena Larson and she was born at Eagle Bend, Iowa on April 3, 1888. She went to school at Mona, Iowa. Art and Mary lived in Dickey where they ran the livery stable until 1912. They farmed in the Dickey, Marion area until 1939. Art later worked in a logging camp in Kalispell, Mont., and at Boeing Aircraft in Washington. They returned to Dickey and Art was custodian at the Dickey School. They retired in Enderlin in 1959.

Art and Mary have 3 children: ERVIN of Miles City, Mont.; GLADYS of Enderlin, N.D.; and DORIS of Hartley, Iowa. Art passed away March 30, 1971 and Mary on August 12, 1970.

Dorothy Tangney Berg, "Art loved horses and animals. As a child we all loved to visit at his farm. He married Mary and they had 3 children. Mary was older than Art but she made a wonderful wife for him. We gave Art a Boston Terrier puppy that our male had fathered. Art always had that dog in his truck with him. They lived on a farm out of Dickey once and then later lived near Enderlin near their daughter, Gladys, and family. He loved his Grandchildren."

Glenn Verner Dill Jr. wrote in 1990, "He ran a livery stable in Dickey till 1912; farmed Dickey-Marion area till 1939; worked in logging camp in Kalispell; worked at Boeing Aircraft in Washington; and finally was custodian at Dickey school until retiring to Enderlin in 1959."

Arthur J. Waldie, 80, of Enderlin died in a car truck crash near Marion, N. Dak. on March 30. Funeral services were held April 1 at Enderlin with interment in the Enderlin cemetery.

The couple farmed in the Dickey, Marion area for many years, retiring in 1959. They moved to Enderlin to live near a daughter, Mrs. Erv. (Gladys) Schmitz.

Running the line in Dickey County.

The Waldies celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last June at the Schmitz home. Art Waldie was well known for his interest in conservation and wildlife preservation for many years.

Mrs. Waldie died August 12, 1970. Surviving are a son and two daughters Ervin Waldie, Miles City, Mont., Mrs. Ervin (Gladys) Schmitz, Enderlin; and Mrs. Verner (Doris) Christie, Hartley, IA; two sisters Mrs. Wm. (Helen) Tangney, McAllen, Texas; and Mrs. Jack (Georgia) Bush, Hudson, Wisc.; 11 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

He was preceeded in death by his parents and a brother, Clayte Waldie.

The above information was taken from the link below.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Waldie-27

Working on some Lindemann stuff and things for the next blog entry.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

New wheelchair and stuff.

A couple years ago I was getting a new backrest put on my wheelchair and Don the Occupational Therapist asked, "How old is your chair?" I really had no clue. So they looked it up and they found out it was purchased in 2001. I could not believe how old it was. They also could not believe how old it was. They were going to give me an award for the oldest chair to come through the door.

The reason why I never got a new chair was because there was really nothing wrong with the one that I had. Like I said I had to put a new backrest on it but that had nothing to do with the actual mechanics or the motor of the chair. Also over the years I have gotten new seat cushions to help with pressure and stuff but my chair was still the same old chair. The only thing I have ever had wrong with the chair was the wiring got a little brittle in one spot where they would get kinked. But my brother-in-law Brad rewired it and it was better than when it was new.

Another reason why I like my wheelchair is because I have made quite a few modifications to it. The two biggest modifications were of course related to hunting/fishing. Priorities. My crossbow mount attaches to one of the wheelchair canes. The canes are the posts that come up behind my back that have handles on them. My rifle mount is attached underneath my seat and has been customized to fit that particular chair. Also my fishing pole holder attaches to the same rifle mount. It would be hard to give up these things or to modify them on the new chair. I would rather stick with the old chair and be able to hunt then get an upgrade.

When I was getting the new backrest put on the chair the therapist said that I really should be looking into getting a new one just in case something goes wrong with this one. He said it is good to have a backup because most chairs do not last as long as the one that you have. So this spring I decided to pull the trigger and order a new wheelchair. I guess insurance will pay for a new one about every five years. So I was long overdue. For 19 years my wheelchair did me good and we did a lot of stuff and things together.

The problem with ordering a new chair was I needed to make sure that the frame and base was the same exact size as my old chair. I needed this to be exact because my pickup was built around my wheelchair. I was a little leery about ordering something and then finding out when I got it that it would not fit in my customized pickup. That would suck. But then I thought to myself if it didn't fit I would just sell it on the black market and make some cash.

The ordering process started on May 27 for the new chair. Jeanne at Altru told me that the new chair would probably come in three or four months. She was about right on because the chair came in sometime in September and I made an appointment to get fitted for the chair September 16.

I worked with Altru Performance Center in Grand Forks because they're the best at what they do. I do not deal with Scamford's Healthcare Accessories in Fargo anymore unless I absolutely have to. They suck. Altru's Yorhom Medical Essentials in Grand Forks are much better to work with.  

The people at Altru Performance Center in Grand Forks are awesome to work with. Jane the Occupational Therapist Extraordinaire, Jeanne the Assistive Technology Practitioner Genius and Luke the Wheelchair Technician Magician are top-notch. I went back up there September 16 to get my chair adjusted. Jane made sure everything fit right and was going to work for me. She even made some adaptations so I could turn the chair on and off. She also got me in and out of the chair a couple times while they were making adjustments to the new wheelchair. Luke put the new bolt on the bottom of my wheelchair that slides into the wheelchair locking device in my pickup. He made all of the adjustments and swapped the stuff and things I needed from the old chair onto the new chair. Luke also unrolled my Roll-o-Ramp and drove my old chair into the back of the pickup. Plus he tied everything down and made sure everything was secure before we left Grand Forks and headed home.

The ride home sucked. I didn’t like the new chair right away. It didn't feel right. I was in pain. My body did not like it. Especially after the two hour ride home from Grand Forks. I went to bed right when I got home and didn't get up the next day. I wanted to go back to my old chair. I was being Mr. Negative. I don't like being negative. It sucks. But like Sarah said, "It is going to take time." She was right, my body was used to the old chair. After almost 20 years it is hard to get used to something that quick.

OT Jane even checked in with me a couple days later to see how I was feeling with the new chair. This is the message she sent me, "This is Jane (the OT) – I wanted to check-in and see how you are doing since we made those changes a couple days ago?  How is your back?  Pain?" I really appreciated that. I told her that I was not feeling very comfortable in the chair and she told me to keep track of all of the things that were bothering me.

So I made a list of things I needed changed for the next time I went to Altru. I needed them to cut out some of my shell that forms the backrest. I needed them to move the wheelchair canes forward because it felt like I was slouching. Also needed them to figure out the display screen that has the clock and other stuff on it. I also needed to figure out why I was getting a red spot on my right thigh since switching to the new chair. The sound from the electronics was also too loud and I needed that to be lowered. After two hours or so at my appointment on September 29 they made everything right. It now feels comfortable and just like how I felt before but now in a new chair. The only thing that is really different about the new chair is the electronics and the new fancy shiny rims. They are a little too fancy for me. But I think I will be able to rub off the shininess in short time.

Don B and I racing. He did well for an able-bodied fellow.

With the new chair been pretty much similar to the old chair it was easy to adapt my fishing and hunting mounts. I was worried about nothing. The crossbow mount was as easy as to taking it off the old chair and bolting it on the new one. The rifle mount was another story. It would attach to the new chair but we needed to do a lot more modifications. Cutting, fitting and modifying. The new chair has a lot more electronics and we needed to make everything fit around them. But after some meeting of the minds with my dad, Don B and T-rav, everything came together perfectly. I have been hunting with the crossbow and shooting rifle with the new chair and everything works slick. Giggity…

I can't thank the people I worked with at Altru Performance Center enough. They made everything easy and they made the transition to the new chair work as smoothly as it could. They made the four-hour round-trip well worth it, three times. Service like that is hard to find and when you find it you better use it because it doesn't come around that often. Thank you Jane, Jeanne and Luke.

Thanks for reading, Clint.

Just me giving rides on the new chair doing stuff and things I do.

A Hell of a Twisted Hunt.

Sometime this summer a friend of mine, Dave sent me a text and was wondering if I would want to do a hunt with him as him as my guide. Dave was predicting that the annual Twist of Fate hunt would be canceled due to the Rona virus. I told him I would definitely be interested as long as I wasn't taking the hunt away from someone who doesn't get the opportunity as much as I do. I can pretty much go out and hunt any day I want. That doesn't suck. He told me it would be just me and another disabled hunter that would take part. He was also going to invite a couple other guides to help out. With that, I accepted his offer.

You see we have been talking about hunting together ever since we met. I think that was back in 98 when he guided another hunter while we were at the first UFFDA hunt in North Dakota. We kind of hit it off right away. Ever since then, whenever we would run into each other we would say, "One of these days we are going to do a hunt together." Well this year everything seemed to line up and it happened.

I really had no idea what his grand plan was but if you know Dave, his mind is always working on something. It is usually something neat. But I digress. I texted him the day before the hunt just to ask him what he all had planned. He told me everything is going great and things got a little bigger than he first planned. He said things just snowballed and everything fell into place.

As I said, on the drawing board Dave was just going to have myself and another hunter take part in the hunt. But then one of his fellow guides and friends heard what he was doing, they wanted to join up with him. In the end there were six guides and four hunters. Dave said, "It's gonna be  a twisted hunt full of twisted people!" That's good stuff.

A little bit of the famous bacon from Maple Valley Meats from Enderlin.

They lined up a place for us to base out of, the Kindred Wildlife Club clubhouse. This place does not suck. The clubhouse is equipped with a full kitchen, restrooms and plenty of room to sit and eat or just hang out. Their range is something to be proud of. They also lined up wall tents in case someone needed a place to stay, which one hunter took advantage of. A couple hunters brought campers and I went home every night. Landowners were also contacted and prime hunting spots were available and prepped for wheelchair access in case it was needed. Donations also started rolling in. A local landowner donated money to pay for the bow tags. Ribeyes and burger were donated by a local farmer and local rancher. Bacon was donated by Maple Valley Meats. There were also other donations of food that was just awesome. Everything was provided for three meals a day. People are awesome.

I thought we were just going to get together and do a couple nights of hunting together. I had no clue how this thing had snowballed.

The hunt took place during the same weekend as the annual Twist of Fate hunt takes place. It is always the last full weekend in September. This year's dates were September 24-26. But there would be no morning hunts during this elongated weekend. Dave texted the day before, "We are gonna feed ya and have a full line of refreshments! How does campfires and whitetail bucks sound?"

About a week before the hunt I texted Dave on how far a shot should I practice for. He told me inside of 20. So I went and practiced one afternoon. After a couple shots my Carbon Express Intercept crossbow was dialed in with broadheads. I told him I was good to go. And he replied back, "We're gonna whackem and stackem!"

For a couple weeks before the hunt we were sharing trail cam pictures of buckaroos. He had a couple doozies picked out for me on the land I was going to be on. I like doozies. But the best part about this was I was going to be hunting on stuff I had never been on before. I have written about this before but I just love hunting new territories. I don't care where it is or how many animals there are. It's like getting a new perspective on life every new parcel you explore.

I also talked to Dave the day before the hunt just ask him about what time I should be down there and what time we were going to get in to the blinds. He told me we would leave camp around 4 PM to try and get set up at least by 4:30 PM. But I should get there earlier if I could. But there was no pressure because this is going to be my hunt. He told me that many times. "No pressure. We are here to have a good time," he would say.

I explained to him that I am only supposed to be in the chair about seven hours at a time. Again he explained that this is your hunt. So I decided I would roll into camp around three the day the hunt started. When I got down to the clubhouse which I had never been to before, there were some familiar faces. I had known the guides for many years. They were Bruce, TJ, Jeremy, Dylan, Matt and Dave. I also recognized the hunters. I had never hunted with them but had seen them at the Twist of Fate banquets where I tend to blow some money and overindulge in libations. The hunters turned out to be Pat, Matt, Tom and I.

After little bit of BS'ing. We actually started talking about hunting. I asked Dave where we were going and he said he had a perfect place picked out for the wind that was blowing that night. He said he had nine different places ready to hunt for different wind directions. Preparedness doesn't suck. Dave told me we were headed to Spike's land. I had actually hunted on his land but not in the same spot. It is a bow hunter's nirvana. A lot of big deers have been taken on this property. I was happy in all of my facial region and other regions.

Spike's land wasn't too far away from the camp so we took off around 4 PM. When we got to the spot, things were little different than the last time I was there. I believe I hunted there last in maybe 2002. We first stopped by the new house because Spike wanted me to use his Ozonics while I was hunting on his land. That was very gracious and I was excited to use one. I have heard about them but had never had the opportunity to hunt with one. To the novice, they are supposed to take away human scent.

I will just say this land is southwest of Kindred. It is right along the Sheyenne River and there is quite the aroma from the local plant life. It is quite intoxicating actually. When we pulled up to the hunting spot there were three blinds. There were two pop-up blinds facing each other about 30 yards apart. They were placed this way for hunting in different winds. There was also another permanent blind a little farther away.

That first night I was in the pop-up blind facing to the east. Before getting in the blind I explained to my guides TJ, Dylan and Dave how to use the detachable hand crank on my crossbow to cock the bow. They caught on quick and within no time I was backing into the blind. Then the Ozonics and the Thermacell were turned on. Next an arrow was placed on the rail of my crossbow and the safety was clicked off. And with that they said good luck and I was left by myself. In my happy place. In the hunting blind by all by myself. I looked down at my phone and it was 4:30 PM. Perfect.

I believe there was a southeast wind that night and it was warm. It was actually toasty inside the blind. If I could sweat, I probably would have been sweating that evening. I believe the temperature hit 80° that day.

It didn't take long for the woods to settle down. In this time I got my bearings. I looked around and made some mental notes of how far I could shoot to the left and right without hitting anything on the windows. I also made some mental notes of how far the yardage was in front of me.

The blinds were in kind of an oxbow on the Sheyenne. There were trees along the river but I was in a big open area in the middle of the winding river. The field that I was in was tall grass with mowed paths going in several directions. The grass was probably 6 feet tall in most parts. So deer could sneak around pretty easily without getting seen.

As I was facing east around 5:15 PM the first deer of the night came from my right which is to the south. It was a yearling doe. I was surprised there was deer out that early seeing how warm it was. It was sunny and 75° at this time. Not ideal for deer movement. But this land is so prime evidently the deer don't care about the temperature. She milled around for a while and took off the same way she came in. At 5:45 PM, rambunctious twins came bouncing in, followed by their mother who had her mouth open and tongue stretched out. She was panting hard. She was old and it was easy to tell by her Roman nose. They sampled on some sugar beets for a while until something to the north spooked her and they took off to where they came from. Those old ones are tough to trick. But she wasn't looking at me, something in the trees was bothering her. She actually blew a couple times as she and her young ones ran away.

At this time I was glad I had remembered to bring my Thermacell because I could tell the bugs were bothering the deer. Their ears were twitching and their tails were too. Their legs were constantly moving or shaking to try and get the bugs off. But there was nary a bug inside the pop-up blind. Thank goodness.

At 6:30 PM a yearling doe came in from the south just like the others. She came directly in and munched on some sugar beets. She didn't stay long. I learned right away that most of the deer, actually I believe all of them came running in. I needed to pay attention constantly because in a matter of seconds they were right in front of you.

As I was sitting in the blind I noticed something making noise every time there would be a gust of wind. I was looking around the inside of the blind to figure out what it was so we could get rid of it in case I sat here again or in case someone else was going to sit here. Finally I noticed something spinning and it looked like the ass end of a price tag. The little square and that is usually on the inside of clothing. Anyway I could see that thing spinning every time there was a gust. This didn't get me busted but it was kind of annoying. I think maybe the old doe got spooked by it though. But I wanted her gone anyway. Old does suck.

 At 6:40 PM I heard some footprints behind me. All of a sudden a doe came from the direction I was not anticipating. She came directly downwind from me. Maybe those Ozonics do work. Usually animals do not come from downwind. They usually bust you or you do not even see them. As this doe was standing in front of me I thought to myself If Mr. Big does come, I am going to need to wait for the perfect shot because it is too warm to screw up the shot. You would not want to leave a deer laying all night and try to find it in the morning with temperatures in the 70s. The meat would be spoiled and I'm sure the coyotes would be full. So I took this time to aiming on the deer that would come in. Getting ready for a possible killing shot. That's using the old kidney…

Around 7 PM I had two deer come in. There was one from the north and one from the south. They were both does. They both met in the middle and sampled the local table fare until there was some noise from the south. At 7:20 PM another old doe came trotting in. She stayed until about 7:45 PM. Legal shooting hours were done at 7:50 PM that night. Nothing else came in after she left. There was a total of nine deer and they were all within 10 yards. That does not suck.

So I texted the boys and they came and got me. They asked if I had seen anything and I explained that there were nine does/fawns that came in. They were surprised no bucks had come in but it was only hunt number one. I then asked if anyone else got lucky and Dave told me there is a 4 x 4 that was hit and it should be in camp when we get there. On our way out the landowner, Spike was standing outside. I told him what I had seen that night and he was also surprised that no bucks came in. He was watching on his SpyPoint trail cam that sends pictures in real-time to his phone. I thanked him for the opportunity to hunt on his land and with a smile he said, "I was more than welcome." So with that we headed back to the clubhouse.

When we got back to camp the 4 x 4 was just getting strung up in a tree in front of the clubhouse. It was a nice deer. I decided to go by the clubhouse and tilt back for a while. I am supposed to tilt back for ten minutes every hour but it's kind of hard to do when you are hunting. Sometimes I cheat, sue me. I am the only one that is going to have to pay for it in the end. But some things are worth doing. You can't quit living your life just because you're in a chair. That's my theory anyway. But I digress.

While I was tilting I had mom make me a cocktail. I was thirsty. I was also tired. It didn't take long for the guys to butcher the deer and they were ready to put some pizza on the Traeger. But by that time I was beat. I had one more cocktail made for the ride home and we were out of there. It takes about a half-hour to get back home and by the time I was in bed it was around 11 PM. So that was over eight hours in the chair that day and I was beat. I slept hard.

When I woke up it was Friday. I am always thankful when I wake up. Good times. I decided that day I would wait a little longer to get to camp so I could partake in the evening festivities more. I decided to get in the chair around 3 PM and take off for the camp. This would give me about a half-hour there before we would have to take off for the evening hunt. When mom and I got there the guys already had a plan for the three other hunters who still had tags. The plan for me was to head east, almost to Minnesota. I would be sitting along the Red River. I was excited because this is another new territory for me.

When we got to the spot I was going to be hunting you could just tell this was deer territory. It was right along the banks of the Red River. There were plenty of trees probably about 100 yards of trees that went west from the bank. Where I was hunting was an old abandoned farmstead. It looked like you could set up anywhere and you would have a good opportunity at filling your tag. The pictures of deer that I had seen from this particular place were awesome. We went by the farmstead and made our way in my pickup on a narrow trail through the trees. All of a sudden there was an opening amongst all of the tall old trees. Then I noticed a pop-up blind tucked in some bushes. The back of the blind was towards the river and I was facing directly west. The bedding area was to my right, the north. To my west was a wall of trees. To the south was where we came, which was to my left as I backed into the blind. This night, I barely had to explain how to cock my bow. In no time they were wishing me luck and there they were, gone. I was back by myself, in my element. My happy place.

As soon as they were gone I looked down at my phone and it said 4:35 PM. It was perfect time for a perfect set up. We had a north wind and the deer would come from the north. To the north was an old riverbed which the deer were now using for their bedding area. Everything about this felt perfect. There were birds and squirrels moving everywhere. They kept me entertained. The opening in front of me was probably 30 yards around. There was some well-placed nourishment right in the middle. As I always do I figured out where I could shoot and how far I could shoot right and left.

The anticipation was high and before I knew it, it was 6 PM and I could hear a deer blowing to the north. It sounded a long ways off. There is no way that this deer could have busted me. It was directly upwind from where I was. I believe it blew four or five times and each time it did I could tell it was getting farther away. I have no idea what spooked it.

At 6:35 PM I could make out a silhouette in the bedding area. Every once in a while I swear I could see eyes of the deer looking around. I thought for sure this was going to be a buck and he was going to walk out right in front of me. But after about five minutes of seeing the silhouette, it was gone.

All of a sudden something caught my eye and I was looking directly east as a Robin was making a kamikaze run right for the window of the blind. Right at the last second he pulled up on the rudder and landed on one of the support beams of the blind. I thought for sure he was coming directly inside. That would have been entertaining. Just as I was collecting my thoughts there was a loud squawking noise behind me. It kind of spooked me right away. You never know what is in those woods. It made a squawking noise again and again. I couldn't think of what would make that type of noise and then I remembered that the river was right behind me. Instead of Bigfoot bellering, I bet it was probably a Blue Heron. That probably makes more sense.

As I was further to the east this night and I was surrounded by trees it got dark earlier than it did the day before. I texted Dave at 7:49 PM that I was ready. He must've texted me right at the same time because I got a message that said, "Are you ready to come out?" About five minutes later I got another text that said, "Well…" I giggled to myself because I knew what happened. I replied I was ready and within about five minutes I could see headlights making their way towards me. It was dark. Dark as the ace of spades. When Dave got out of the vehicle he checked the bait pile first and noticed that there were some tracks in it. He asked, "Did you see anything?" I said, "Nothing." He then explained that he saw some tracks in the bait and I said, "There could have been something in the last 10 minutes but it was too dark to see." We would have to check the camera to figure that out. Dave was able to check the camera a couple days later and it was a small fawn that came in when it was dark. Everyone was surprised that nothing came in. I was too. But it didn't matter. It was a grand night.

When we got back to the camp we learned that nobody else had gotten anything either. So the guides started up the oil in the fryers to have a fish fry. While the fish were frying I was tilting back and listening to the other guys tell their stories of the night's hunt. It doesn't get any better than that. A couple landowners also showed up. The land I was on that night was their land. I have known Ryan and Heather for quite a few years but never knew they owned this parcel of land. I thanked them for the opportunity as we filled our faces with fried potatoes and fried fish. That night we stayed a little longer and made it home around midnight. It was another eight hours in the chair. But well worth it.

I woke up again, this time it was Saturday. Winning. Last day of the hunt. Like the day before I decided to get in the chair at 3 PM and make my way over to the camp. The only difference was that today it was raining. It was raining pretty much constantly but every once in a while it was pretty hard. It was decided that I would go to the same place I was on Thursday night because we all agreed it was just a matter of time before the bucks would come in. So we headed over to Spike's land and he met us in front of his house before we went by and headed to the blind. He told us we should probably sit in the east blind that is facing west. With the rain the wind was unpredictable. He also said he was going to grab a bucket of corn to add to the sugar beets. We grabbed the bucket and Spike told me good luck. I said thanks and we were on our way.

We pulled the pickup as close as we could to the blind and we all got out. The rain was coming down good. TJ and Dylan untied the blind from the tiedowns and lifted up one side so I could back in. Once I was inside they got my crossbow cocked, locked and ready to rock. TJ hooked up the Ozonics while Dave was outside dumping corn. It was a well-oiled machine. In no time they were driving off in my pickup and I was all alone, again. I love it.

As they pulled away I looked at my phone and it said 4:20 PM. That's when I remembered that Dave told me to rub a voodoo doll for good luck before the hunt. Stuff and things were rubbed. So the set up was just the opposite as the first night's hunt. I was facing west, I was looking right at the pop-up blind I was sitting in on Thursday night. To my left, the south was where most of the deer came from that first night. Unlike the first night, tonight I could see probably 300 yards in front of me towards the farmyard. Behind me was a little opening, some trees and then the Sheyenne River.

For the next hour and a half there was no movement. The only sound I could hear was the rain on the roof of the pop-up blind. Every once in a while there was a gust of wind that would hit me in the face. That is a good thing when you're hunting. Around 5:50 PM two does came in from my left side. They came directly to the bait and had a little supper. They were in front of me for probably twenty minutes or so. Right after they left around 6:20 PM the rain finally quit. A little after that the sun came out and it was one of those nights when you knew something was going to happen. It was perfect. As soon as the sun came out a big old doe came out with her twins. They were little buckaroos. I could see their hair was parting where eventually antlers would be grown. Right at this time the wind also died down to nothing. Dead calm.

Also during this time when the sun came out and the rain quit there was about 15 gunshots. I figured maybe it was duck hunters. But it was hard to tell if it was from a shotgun or rifle. It was echoing so much. I later learned that it could have been a neighbor practicing his long-distance shooting. It didn't matter much though because the deer were not bothered by it at all. They didn't even flinch.

At 7 PM a yearling doe came in all by herself. She was there for a while until we both heard some blowing to the north. The wind was in my face at this time so again I had no idea what that deer was bothered by to the north. The blowing made the yearling in front of me turn tail and run back to the south. About ten minutes after that another solo skinhead made her way to the bait. She fed and fed and fed. It was pure gluttony. But entertaining to watch. Her stomach was finally full and she waddled off to the south. At 7:45 PM a doe with twins came in directly from the west. I think they would have stayed there all night but I got a text that 7:49 PM from Dave saying, "You ready to come out?" I replied, "Sure. Doe with twins in front of me." In no time I could see the headlights from my pickup bouncing over the pocket gopher mounds headed my way. The doe and twins finally put their heads up and ran back into the trees.

When the guys got out of the pickup they asked what I saw and I replied, "13 does." That is crazy to have that many deer in front of you within 10 yards and they have no clue you're there. It is also crazy that I did not see one buck. But that doesn't matter. I had over 12 hours in the blind in three days and it was pure awesomeness seeing 22 deer up close. It's not about killing. It's about nature, friends, camaraderie, togetherness, good times and no suckage.

One of the guys reached in the blind and grabbed the arrow from the crossbow rail, lifted the blind and I drove out. Next like the nights before they put in my decocking arrow and I shot it into the ground. Then TJ unattached the crossbow and its mount from my wheelchair. TJ then loaded the crossbow in the backseat of my pickup and him and Dylan hopped on the tailgate while Dave jumped in the driver seat as I was getting the batwing door shut on my side. We were a well-oiled machine indeed. On our way out of the field and into the yard, landowner Spike was waiting for us. He asked me what I saw and I told him 13 skinheads and he laughed. He was amazed that there were no bucks running around with that many females. But I guess they all turned nocturnal. It's hard to figure a buck. Bucks only need a couple things and this time of year they can do the things they need by themselves. Sounds like a good Clintism…

The guys then jumped in their Yukon and mom jumped in my pickup like we did the two nights before. In no time we were back at the camp and we learned that one of the other hunters had shot a doe. They were not sure of the shot so they decided to let it lay for a while. It was decided that we would have supper and then they would go track it.

Next the Traeger was fired up and the perfect ribeyes were waiting their fate. It was going to be a feast with potato salad, baked beans and sweetcorn as the sides. Of course I cleaned my plate like a good boy in record time. The gentlemen who donated the ribeyes was there also this night, so I thanked him for the generous, delicious gift. They did not suck. The supper was perfect, the location was awesome and the company was great.

We didn't stay long after supper because the guides wanted to go find that doe before the coyotes got to her. I thanked all of them for everything they did for this awesome three-day hunt. It could not have been more perfect.

By the way, they did find that doe so the hunters went two out of four, for filling their tags over the weekend. 50% is pretty dang good for any hunter on a three-day hunt, disabled or not. Also, I was picky and was waiting for Mr. Big to fill my freezer.

I can't thank everyone who made this twisted hunt possible enough. You all don't suck.

Thanks for reading, Clint.