The Bean Field Bird Watching Brigade

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:16 pm

It is that time of year again. Crazyfarmer is running around downloading trail cams and putting up stands. Fred Bear and kenton are franticly searching for buck fifty-two. And the Bean Field Bird Watching Brigade is holding meetings every Wednesday evening in the back of Doc's massive GMC diesel dually. The official quest for antlers has begun.

It is my turn to bring the beer for tomorrows meeting. I have 24 Shiners ready to go into the cooler. And a ritual that has taken place for the past nineteen years will once again be renewed on a hot summer evening in a bean field in Southwestern Ohio.

I am really looking forward to the meeting. I must admit that the older I get the more I seem to look forward to the company of my hunting partners. I see Doc all the time. He and his wife joined the Swede and me for dinner Sunday night at our house. I prepared deep fried cajun gator with the tail meat from the big old reptile Doc shot in Florida back in February. Grizz, you would have been proud! Midway through the meal we were all sweating like liberal Iranians on Election Day. I see Becker about once a month over the course of the non-hunting season. But I don't get to see Shrader that much. He is always off in Africa or New Zealand hunting. He has turned hunting into a year round sport. Sometimes I think the three of us are just a five month stop on his hunting schedule. But every August I look forward to his return.

Life has its phases. As a very young man I really enjoyed the time spent with my buddies. You remember those days back in high school where every weekend was an adventure and you were absolutely bullet proof. There was no fear. You and your cronies were invincible. And all through college as well as after during my stint in the Army I had my "buds." But the phases of life catch you and you marry, work and raise a family. The time for buddies becomes precious few. This phase is long but necessary. You realize the joy of children. You leave each day and spend your time to ensure these children flourish. And your buddies do the same.

But there comes a time when the world rights itself and harmony is restored. It is a time when waistlines change and ear hair appears. It is a time of grandchildren on your lap as you read them stories that were once read to you. It is a time when one trains one's self to have bowel movements either before or after the morning hunt, but not during. Yes friends, it is a time when you enter the magical land of geezer. It is the land of retirement!

Sitting in a camo director's chair in the bed of a pickup parked in a bean field drinking beer while glassing bucks is what I kind of think heaven must be like. Four men in their early sixties will become eighteen year olds once again for a couple of hours. We will laugh. We will tell hunting stories. We will speculate as to how the new season will unfold. And we will spend countless hours together over the course of the next five months. We do it because we must. It is a phase.

With the first sound of a Shiner being opened on a steamy humid night not twenty miles north of the Mason Dixon line the new season will begin. The beer will be cold. The friends will bond as if brothers. And I will look at deer though my binoculars that I know I will encounter a scant eight weeks from now.

The world will once again be right. The harmony will be restored.

Tomorrow the season begins.

crazyfarmer · Post by **crazyfarmer** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:19 pm

it wont be long my friend.. it wont be long

time to do the dance again

mikej · Post by **mikej** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:23 pm

great story mike, i can't wait for it to start here

FredBear · Post by **FredBear** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:11 pm

Mike your words are just magical! I LOVE the way you write. Thanks for sharing.

Kelley · Post by **Kelley** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:16 pm

Great post Mike. I have been driving the backroads(about 30 miles a day) within 1 square mile of my stands at dusk and dawn for about a week looking at deer. Haven't seen big bucks yet but know they are there. In about 7 weeks maybe I will get lucky enough one of the big ones will walk within 30 yrds of me. They too are mostly in bean fields.

Keep up the great reads.
Kelley

Gimpaw · Post by **Gimpaw** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:16 pm

Isn't it funny...
It wasn't that long ago when we were 18 and bullet proof. We knew that we'd get old, but it was almost beyond imagination.
Today my mind says I'm young, but my body aches, and yup, I get the whole ear hair thing.
The aches and pains are just reminders that we aren't meant to be here forever. They make heaven seem better and better.
If you get there before me, save me a cold one.

crazyfarmer · Post by **crazyfarmer** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:48 pm

FredBear wrote:Mike your words are just magical! I LOVE the way you write. Thanks for sharing.

ditto that... something about his posts make season seem like a dream coming true;)

one shot scott · Post by **one shot scott** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:26 pm

FredBear wrote:Mike your words are just magical! I LOVE the way you write. Thanks for sharing.

He knows how to write! I can picture the beanfeild, almost taste the beer.

Taking a deer is just a small part of the season that I get all fired up for.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:38 pm

Thanks for the drink, Mike P, thanks for the drink.

awshucks · Post by **awshucks** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:07 am

Another great read! Thanks.

STEELWORKER · Post by **STEELWORKER** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 1:41 am

Love reading your posts MikeP!