In the Field: Elliott Sadler

I know, I know -- the Chase for the Nextel Cup is coming down to the wire and everyone's wondering who's going to prevail.

At Gillett Evernham Motorsports, we're a little more involved with getting our Dodges ready for each weekend's race, but we're also wondering how this Chase is going to turn out.

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But right now, I can honestly tell you that every minute that I'm not thinking about what to do next to get my Dodge Dealers/UAW Charger in a position to go fast -- like this weekend at Atlanta, which is about the fastest mile-and-a-half that we go -- I'm thinking about the opening of deer season, which is right around the corner.

I'm part of a group that manages a 50,000-acre hunting preserve and believe me; it takes some work, and commitment.

This time of year is big preparation time. We're getting all the paths cut, we're getting all the tree stands up, we're getting all the food planted, we're getting all the dog pens repaired and ready to go.

We're getting everything stocked-up with dog food and stuff like that because all our dogs use a lot of dog food during the wintertime. Having 83 dogs to take care of, that's a lot of dog food.

During the wintertime, we use a lot of protein in our dog food because they run so much. But my guys love Pedigree dog food; and the Pedigree people are still pretty generous to me with that, which they have been since I was driving the Cup car they sponsored.

My dogs eat a lot of it, so that's a good thing. We don't feed them that much during the summer, so they stay nice and lean, but boy, during the wintertime we really pump the protein to them because they have to use a lot of nutrients and stuff to run each and every day.

We're exercising our dogs a lot, right now. I'm running them at night because it's a little warm and I don't like running them during the day. So I'll run 'em at night and get them all exercised up and get them all loose, getting their joints ready to go -- getting their pads nice and hard and make sure they've got plenty of time to heal up before the first day of hunting season.

So today is preparation time. We're sighting-in all the rifles, getting all the bullets and buckshot that we need. Getting the cabins cleaned up, getting the sheets washed -- vacuuming, cleaning -- it's just that time of the year. We've got so many things to do to get ready for the upcoming hunting season.

It's a fun time of year to do it and it's pretty cool. It's something we always look forward to.

With all the logistics and planning and preparation we have to carry out, it's exactly like getting a race team ready to come to the track and compete in one of these Nextel Cup races.

When you have around 50,000 acres of land you're responsible for, that's a lot of paths to get ready and a lot of stands to get up. There are a lot of trees and limbs to trim back to clear your sight lines.

There is a lot of food to plant -- just a lot of work getting ready for hunting season that you just wouldn't imagine if you weren't in the middle of it -- a lot more than people think.

It's kinda what operating a race team or organizing everything your team manager has to organize to get everything, and everybody to the racetrack each week is like.

We have a couple guys who work at it year-round, but this time of year everybody who's involved pretty much has to chip-in and get everything ready to go; because once hunting season starts, it's hunting season.

There's no time for preparation, then; no doing this or doing that -- you hunt. It's just like getting ready for a race. You get ready for a race during the week -- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday -- but when you're at the racetrack, you're there to race.

It's the same thing with hunting season. We get all our preparation done in advance, so when hunting season starts, we're ready to go at it.

There are seven consecutive weeks of deer season. During that time, you get one day off -- Sunday, when you can't hunt in the state of Virginia.

So we have seven weeks and we have guests coming in every week: CEOs of companies, some of our country music singer buddies and some of the wrestlers come in, along with just some other friends of ours.

We have guests all the time, so we have to make sure that the cabins and all the stuff in them is ready -- and we do all that ahead of time, so when they show up, everything is good and comfortable for those guys.

Now, that's seven hard weeks -- 14, 16 hours a day, easy. But it's pretty fun.

There are probably eight of us guys who are doing all of the work ahead of time, getting all the stuff prepared. We've got two different cabins, and each one of them can sleep about 10 people each.

So we've got to make sure all the grills are clean, because we cook for everybody when they come there. So we have to make sure every little detail is done -- we've dotted all our i's and crossed all our t's to get ready; because once hunting season starts, there are about 30 or 40 of us that hunt -- and everyone is responsible for doing their job.

It's just like a pit crew on a Sunday: Everyone's got their job during a hunt that they have to do and they're supposed to do.

You might be responsible for getting the standers in the right stands, or you're responsible for getting our guests in the right places. You might be responsible for the dogs and making sure they get let loose in the right places, or getting the deer tagged and properly signed-in, weighed and measured and the whole nine yards.

Somebody else is responsible for cooking, and then cleaning up and making sure everything is ready for the next day -- and that includes getting the dogs fed and cleaned up.

So there are a lot of different things that we're responsible for during the day. When it comes to the hunting operation, I'm kind of like an overseer, or the general manager: I kind of oversee everything and make sure it's going well for everybody.

I do try to feed my own dogs, but I'm into the planning -- like sitting at home the night before figuring out where we're going to hunt the next day and how we're going to do it and what strategy we're going to use.

I do that so when I get there first thing in the morning, I've got a plan laid out and my guys know how to follow it.

But you know, I love being, like, the quarterback of the hunt club and figuring out what we need to do and what's the best way to do it and trying to get everybody organized.

And one thing about it -- we hunt on about 50,000 acres of land, a lot of which we own and some that we rent; through friends and families and timber companies and things like that. And I have walked about every single inch of that land. So I know exactly where everybody's at all the time.

The first thing we're considering is safety, and the second is always how we can take in a really nice buck.

Bow season has just started, followed by some time for muzzle loaders; but the big season, with the dogs and all, starts the Saturday that we're in Homestead for the season finales, and then it runs through the first Saturday in January.

It's seven weeks of the most fun that you could possibly imagine. It's just a great time and a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoy it.