Any morning when the temperature is above 40 degrees and the wind isn’t howling, the ritual begins with a steaming mug of strong coffee enjoyed on the back porch while the world wakes up. Toenails click on porch boards as two drowsy Labs join the ritual in that inky darkness just before dawn’s first kiss.
Mug half drained, a slight southerly breeze stirs. The half dozen whitetails 80 yards off the porch catch our scent, snorting their displeasure that we’ve intruded on their morning ritual. A few moments pass on this April morning until the barely visible deer bound from the field, just their white flags jerkily glowing like a band of ghosts on pogo sticks as they fade into the distant tree line. The first crows of the morning…
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Tactical Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, October/November 2020