Well, after a one canceled flight and another that finally got out of Philadelphia little late, I finally made it to Nashville late Friday afternoon. By the time I retrieved my luggage, got my rental car and battled nasty, standstill traffic on Interstate 24, I managed to make it to the Premier Outfitters lodge near Hopkinsville, Ky., around 8 p.m. Those hamburgers off the grill tasted mighty good, and I was pleased to have a chance to get to know my fellow hunters a bit. It seems we have a great group of hardcore whitetail hunters from all across the county – South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan and probably a couple other states I forget.

As you can see, we’ll really be suffering with rough accommodations this week. The Premier Outfitters lodge just isn’t very nice, and judging from the scrawny mounts on the wall, there just aren’t many good deer in these parts. I’ll probably be lucky just to see a doe. NOT! Of course, everyone is excited to get out for the first hunt this afternoon. Today is opening day, and Outfitter Mark Clifford explained that most of these early-season hunts are focused on the afternoon sits, because the deer bed very close to the soybean fields and food plots where they are feeding, and you risk bumping them out of the area if you try to get cute and hunt those spots in the mornings.

According to Mark and his guides, there are plenty of good bucks in the area, and everyone here is hoping for an opportunity at a velvet trophy. One of the guides told me last night that he’s been glassing the bean fields every night for the past week and he stopped counting when he reached 48 different shooter bucks! That sounds good to me, and I’ll be eager to get out there this afternoon and report what I see for myself.

Also, a very positive development for this week’s hunt is that it looks like we have dodged the worst of what’s left of Hurricane Isaac. Despite predictions of monsoon rains today and tomorrow, we have had just a good cloud cover and a few sprinkles so far. Actually, the clouds are welcome as it’s keeping it from being so hot, which will make it more comfortable for us hunters and hopefully encourage the deer to get on their feet a bit earlier in the evenings. We shall see…