Land and Cabin For Sale???

After an eventful trip to the land on Sunday, November 22 and Monday, 23, 2009, I was ready to put my cabin and land up for sale. Trouble started upon my arrival when my wife purchased a new cell phone. The sales representative had to get my permission to change my account and I was fine with that. However, I did not know that my service would be cut off. I was at the cabin at that time so I figured it was all about the wife's phone so everything should be fine! Wrong. Something came up and I needed to contact my wife so I had to drive 20 miles to the closest gas station to get to a phone. Fortunately, a young woman offered her cell phone so I reached the wife. At that point, I found out that the phone company changed my service accidentally and now I would have to go home to have a new chip in my existing phone.

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon, I was deer hunting with a rifle and within an hour of getting in my stand, I saw a good sized buck rubbing and scraping about 45 yards to my left. I already had a good buck this year but this one looked like it could be about the same size so I decided to take the shot. I leaned my rifle on a branch that rests to the left front of my shooting lane and decided to take him. Thoughts of the need to get another freezer popped into my head but that was not going to be a big deal. Like the last dear, I expected my shot would drop him on the spot. Instead, when the shot rang out, the buck reared up and took off running with the left front leg being limp. I shot again and he fell but got back up. I just figured he would go to the other side of the field and lay down. I wanted to get to him as fast as possible to put him out of his misery. That didn't happen. I hunted my hillsides and the valleys between me and Monte (owner of the land to my west) but saw nothing. I hunted for the buck until dark and settled into the cabin to get rested so I could continue looking for the deer in the morning. I was pretty upset because I had the deer down but couldn't find him. All I could think of was his suffering overnight.

At first light, I took a flashlight and went back to where I last saw the deer and blood sign but couldn't find any other sign. I covered my entire property, expecting to go around a bend and find the deer dead. But it never happened. I next moved over to Monte's land that borders mine in hopes that I would find the deer in a ravine on his property. My last search for the day was to go on the other side of the hill on Fergusson's land to see if I could find the deer laying in the creek, cooling his wound. Before I could start off my road to the left and head toward Fergusson's property, I heard two large dogs that sounded like they were attacking something. I knew immediately that the dogs were at the buck. I went crashing down the hill and I made so much noise that I scared off the dogs. As I got closer to where the sound came from, the buck jumped up and hobbled across the creek and up on the hillside on the other side. I shot one more time but missed.

After hunting two hours on Sunday night and six hours on Monday morning with no success, I went to Bob and Robby to ask permission to go on their property to find the buck. We rode up a trail that went up the side of a hill that was in the middle of two deep ravines. The ravines were covered in very thick brush. Bob got to the top and I went straight up from where I saw the deer last. By the time I reached the top, Bob fired and I felt relieved that the deer had been put out of its misery. But, Bob missed too. I ask Bob to wait in his area and find somewhere that he could get a good shot. I then walked to the top of the ravine and came down through the bottom. I went back to the ravine and began working down toward Bob and Robbie. I jumped the deer again but it was too thick and I did not want to shoot because I didn't know where Bob & Robbie were located. We looked for another couple of hours with no success. Bob said now that he knows where to find the deer, he would be back for a hunt this week and try to find the buck.

In the mean time, I am wrestling with the shot I took and why I didn't get the deer. I finally had to give up but could not shed the heavy burden of crippling an animal and knowing the deer will die a horrible death if no one kills it. I truly hope they do.

This situation caused me to again consider selling the land. I go to the land a couple of times each month and love the time I spend there, whether hunting or just working. I've decided to sell the property if a good offer is made. I consider a good offer to be $50,000. If I don't get that price, I'll probably just keep it until we get closer to moving to Australia in a little over two years.

Several years ago, we moved to Tennessee and for the first time in many years, began deer hunting again. After hunting on public land and then private property, I decided to buy my own land. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford a purchase and looked for over a year before finding what I was looking for. There was a large property in southern Tennessee an I was able to purchase 26 acres on the back side of the property. It is isolated and way off the road, just what I was looking for. There is a gate at the main road and I have an easement of one mile to the beginning of my property. I put up a gate at the beginning of my property and had a small cabin built half a mile from the gate. The 26 acres are surrounded by other larger properties and all the land is posted. Therefore, no one gets back to the property unless they have a key or go with me.

When I hunted in Ohio years ago, I always hunted with a friend or a group of friends. It was great comradery and enjoyed the camp life. However, when I purchased the land and had the cabin built, I didn't know anyone in Tennessee so I just started hunting and spending time at the cabin alone. Five years later, I truly enjoy being at the cabin and hunting alone.

I go to the land every or every other weekend and stay at least one night. The cabin was built for me by the Amish and is just a one room 10 by 20 room with a covered porch. A picture of the cabin is posted on the blog. Inside it a loft with four windows and I put a deck around the north side. My brother bought a solar panel for me and it charges two marine batteries that give me a small amount of power for lights, radio etc.

Shortly after purchasing the land, I bought a game camera and have captured many deer, turkey, squirrel and coon. I have taken at least one deer a year since 2004 but the land and cabin is not really about hunting. More than anything else, it is about owning my own piece of land with a cabin and spending time alone.

If you have a cabin you enjoy for the same reasons, I would be glad to hear your stories.