The highly anticipated opening week of deer season got off to a slow start for me.

I came down with a virus and it made me feel like a train wreck for the opening weekend and the first day of buck season.

I’ve never missed an opening day and I wasn’t about to make it the first one because of a virus was working me over.

I went to the range one last time and shot in my rifle at the 50 yard and the 100 yard targets and had my Remington shooting bulls-eye on the target.

No excuse for a miss, unless human error was the blame.

You do get a certain amount of confidence when you are on the mark right away.

Normally I wish for snow and colder weather for the first day of buck but the way I was dragging the mild and sunny forecast made welcome news.

Monday morning found me up earlier than usual and there was no way to go back to sleep now.

I guess when I stop feeling that anticipatory excitement it is time to hang up the rifle. A few friends were going to meet at my house and we were going to head over to a spot that we have hunted many times.

There is a thin line between too much activity and not enough activity in the woods. This spot produces some nice bucks but it’s hard to keep everyone else from pinching in on your spot when they realize that some nice bucks come out of this area each year.

Monday morning started out with me in the woods before light and heading to a favorite hollow.

The next half hour saw three or four hunters file past me. The general message in the woods is that if someone flashes a light at you need to give them some space. Not these guys, that was like giving them a landing beacon at an airport as they settled in nearby. One fellow walked up to me and asked me if I was Matthew…with the croaking voice that I had left I responded…nooo! Day light came and I was feeling compromised when I heard a nearby shot and then some whooping and hollering as a fellow bagged an 8-point buck. The rest of the day was filled with a few meandering does and a small fork horn buck. Not exactly the kind of day that I had hoped for but it wasn’t due to my lack of effort.

Tuesday found me meeting up with the professor and his son for some small drives and still hunting. The key to this hunt is to quietly work toward your partners and hope that you can push a deer toward them.

The plan was working out great and we had deer moving around in the woodlots.

The first deer that I saw was a nice buck who had his head turned away from me.

He had a thick dark rack that extended out past his ears…but alas and alack I could not confirm that he had the mandatory point requirements of three up.

He walked away from me until out of sight and no one else in our group saw him again.

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.