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Dudley Wooten

PDT Contributor

It’s deer season.

I’ve hunted two days and I had to work today to take care of some things. I did some mechanic work and I nailed up the rafters on my new garage.

As I was finishing at dark, the huge orange moon was just rising. This was a beautiful sight and I took a picture of it as I put my tools away. Naturally there were five deer there, also.

In the headlights of Little Red, my ol’ red huntin’ truck, I lower the deer that’s been hanging in the garage for a day. I put him in the back of the truck and Belle in the cab and off we go to Art Stewart’s place in South Webster to get the meat processed. We spent about 30 minutes there socializing with Art, the hunters and the deer.

By the time Belle and I get home, that same full moon is up and shining bright white. We go in and socialize with Little Laura and call it a day.

Well, later that night, Belle and I get up and I take her out. It is now 2 a.m., a full moon and a significant frost at 30 degrees.

Belle has a big curious about the field, so I get more clothes on and away we go. You might call it “The Call of the Wild.”

Sure enough, the opossum is at the persimmon tree and she smells the deer traffic. With this full moon, clear night and frost on, it’s almost daylight out here.

“I can see clearly now.”

I don’t know where anyone would rather be than right here at this moment, with a big brown dog.

As we meander down around the pond, “The Moonlight through the Pines” takes me back to Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, or Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (The Righteous Brothers) as they sang “Georgia.”

Belle and I decide to go in and sleep from 4 -6 in front of the fireplace. At 6:30, we’re “On the Road Again.”

As we head west on Lucasville-Minford Road, there’s Mr. Moon again, shining full and white through the white pine at Flower’s Monument. As I glance in my mirror, I see a new orange circle rising in the eastern skyline.

Belle and I will be on the west side to get mulch at eight, in Franklin Furnace at 9:30, and in Wheelersburg at 11:30. We will then go to Rosemount at one and be done mulching this day at two.

By three, we will be driving nails at home and by four, we will be hunting. This must be hunting season in the great outdoors.

By next week, it will be hunting season again. I’ll be hunting some rest and relaxation.

This is like the county fair. Why do they have to crowd it all into a week? Why can’t they spread it out a little, maybe we could all enjoy it more.

Dudley Wooten can be reached at 740-820-8210 or by visiting wootenslandscaping.com.