On the first Saturday in October 2022, opening day for Texas archery whitetail, I skipped the morning hours hoping for better chances in the afternoon. The forecast called for a steady, cool east wind. I had landed a reservation for a public-land hunt, and I was excited.
That afternoon, I quietly threaded my way along a hidden trail and fended off a gauntlet of prickly cedar branches slapping me as I pushed through. I reached the zone of darkness that my loppers had carved out of a cedar thicket. My view was straight downhill at my feeder and a trace mineral block 30 yards north.
A roll of Vanish camo burlap stretched tightly from top to bottom and side to side fronted my ground blind. Black nylon crochet thread kept it taut. A small shooting port cut with steel scissors set
