I settled into my stand and waited. The Kentucky pre-rut with cool afternoon temps combined with the early muzzleloader season had me hopeful. Soon after sitting down, deer poured into the CRP fields ...

A week of muzzleloader hunting and three days of firearms season for antlerless deer is now complete. In some areas, deer populations may already be reacting, either through a reduction in doe numbers ...

So the bucks have figured this thing out now. I don't know whether it's just that I am getting older or my friends are but the boundless enthusiasm that we used to have for opening day has subsided ...