Still no deer.

Mark and I went and sat in the woods much of the day. Going out in the morning wasn't too bad despite the low temperature (between 25 and 30 degrees) and heavy frost. The frost actually helped soften the leaves on the ground and made them somewhat quiet to walk upon. As the sun got rid of the frost, however, the leaves became crunchy and it was like walking on cornflakes. Luckily for me, I was sitting by the time that occurred and I was able to hear the occasional red squirrel hustling across the leaves and the stray hunter walk down the trail several hundred yards away from me.

This afternoon we had the worst possible conditions for still hunting with all those crunchy leaves underfoot so I opted to sit again while Mark did some wandering.

Neither Mark nor I saw a deer all day. We did, however see at least ten other hunters either on the property we were hunting or on land adjacent to it. That contributed to my choosing to sit in one spot. I hoped these other hunters would stir the deer up and send them my way. It didn't happen. In fact, we heard only two shots anywhere near us and they were probably at the same deer as they occurred less than a minute apart around nine in the morning. Mark wandered over to the area he thought the shots came from and could hear voices raise in successful joy but never spotted the hunters nor signs of any kill.

Mark has left to go back to work tomorrow and I'll be closing up the Bolt Hole in the morning as a cold front is threatening to bring low temps and even some measurable amounts of snow later in the week. I may return to hunt over the weekends (the north zone season goes until December 2nd) but I hesitate to spend a great deal more time here on my own. First is the safety issue and second is that I would much rather spend some time with the spousal unit.

Then there is the Pennsylvania season right around the corner.