Now that the election is over we can all be thankful that most of the hype has left the airwaves. I suppose, if you’re like me, you’ll only be satisfied after Jan. 20 when the inauguration is over. At least we’ll have a short respite for the “honeymoon” before it starts anew.

    I’d like to thank one local politician for showing some concern for us sportsmen. For some time, I’ve had grief with the silly language in Title XII of the Delaware code outlining the “legal” pistols for hunting. Only in a small state like ours could politicians manage to write a tome on specific calibers when all the other states resort to a simple sentence or two. My complaints got the general runaround at the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, since they don’t write these innocuous laws to begin with and I was referred to the legislature.

    I wrote my state senator and all my legislators. While most of them simply ignored me, my senator sent me a note that there was nothing he could do since the legislative session was complete and IF he were reelected, he’d consider it next term.

    Only one man who acted as if his job weren’t complete even if he weren’t reelected. Donald Blakey didn’t come up with feeble excuses, but simply asked me to clarify the issue for his understanding. Then his office contacted me and explained that there was limited action Mr. Blakey could take at this time because the legislature was out of session, but he did want to lay the groundwork and he needed to clear the language through the legislative law offices.

    This is not the first time Mr. Blakey has come to bat for hunters. He’s the only legislator who I recall sending out a questionnaire that included a question of Sunday hunting. Even more surprising was the fact that he followed up the questionnaire with the results of his poll. Even the candidates endorsed by the NRA never took that initiative. Thank you, Mr. Blakey. It’s quite refreshing to know that someone is concerned about his or her constituents and willing to take action even in the face of the possibility they might not be reelected.

    Speaking of Sunday hunting, wasn’t the opening weekend of our shotgun deer season a great reason to consider that? Imagine waiting all year knowing that you only had Saturday to hunt and to be greeted by the Perfect Storm. I guess I’ll never understand the logic of both non-hunters and hunters who have such hard views of Sunday hunting. Even our Bible Belt neighbors have given up this antiquated attitude to some degree or another. With diminishing revenues across the board and burgeoning whitetail populations, it’s almost ludicrous to think of the mindset that allows fewer and fewer hunters in the woods.

    If the reports I got are true, most of you had a bust for the opening two days of the season anyway. All I managed to see was one red fox vixen right at daybreak on Friday and several tree rats managing to dump water on me as they ran through rain soaked branches overhead. At my age, it doesn’t take long for my fun meter needle to peg out when I sit for hours without hearing or seeing a deer.

    Though I have seen several really nice deer in the shop, the Mr. Wonderful taken by Scott Stumf of Felton is the best thus far. A man who’d never shot a slug gun before last week, had never been deer hunting and obviously never taken a buck had a deer of a lifetime walk to his stand. The 195-pound field dressed buck had 12 scoreable points on the 10-point typical rack. Rough green scored it was 159 gross (including the non-typical stickers on the brow tines) and a B&C scoreable gross of  156 1/8 with a net score of 145 2/8. The bittersweet part of the story is that Scott took the deer on the other end of the same woodlot where I hunt. I got foxes, Scott got fantasy. There ain’t no justice.

    C.J. Thompson of Hartly collected a beautiful 16-point non-typical from his family farm. Though he’d patterned a big 11-pointer, he saw no reason to let this monster pass. The deer field dressed 187 pounds and scored 180 5/8 green gross. It too is a deer of a lifetime.

    I truly fear that the warm weather that hit Thursday squashed the frenzy of the rut that had been building for weeks. I can only hope that with the cold weather that came in on Monday will reenergize this ritual of the fall if it’s not too late. If the prime was squashed, that means that the rut will have some catching up to do in 28 days. I’d rather see it resume now, but that’s being selfish I know. I can be selfish, can’t I?