GROUND SHRINKAGE, Reversed.

My hunting has been limited this year by my bad knees. Probably going to do the knee replacement before the year is out.

I have been limiting my hunting this year to walking a weedy fence line between an alfalfa field and wheat stubblefield, a distance of about 2 miles. By time I get to the far end my knees hurt pretty good and walking is pretty hard. Felt pretty good this morning so decided when I got to the end of the fenceline, to head out across the alfalfa field. It was 4 hours and about 5 miles until I got to the pick up point. The wife picked me up and told me she had seen the landowner and he asked that I stop by. I really wanted to go home and rest my knees but when the person who gives you permission to use his land ask you to stop in, you stop in. We drove over to his house and on the way saw two deer laying in a weed patch about 400 yards from the road.

I looked them over with my binoculars and could see one looked like it might be little forked horn Mulie buck. About this time the landowner drove up and told me that's why he wanted to see me to tell him about those two deer.

I could tell by the way my knees were feeling that my hunting season was pretty much over. I also knew that if I drove down the road it would come up behind the deer. It would be short walk over the hill to the deer. Forked horn Mulie eats as good as a big trophy deer.

When I got to the top of the hill I had to crawl on my belly in the short grass to get where I could see the deer in the weeds. His head and face were partially obscured by the weeds. His body was mostly obscured by the roll of the land, his neck was fully exposed. He was laying facing me and looking straight at me. I don't like side neck shots, but this was a straight on neck shot and at about 65 yards at that. It was the only shot I had. I took the shot and he dropped in his bed and never moved.

I walked down to him and as I got closer he kept getting bigger until I got to him and found a 4 x 4. Ground shrinkage reversed.

Think I'll give the Doctor a call tomorrow and get set up for surgery.