Bolt Hole Report, October 20, 2009

Not much to report on today. I didn't go out into the woods and just took the day off. After all the running around since last Wednesday--to the Bolt Hole, down to NJ, back to the Bolt Hole, etc.--and two disappointing days in the field, I felt the need to just sit back, read, and relax. Besides, it was damn warm out there.

I dressed in my hunting clothes--including long johns--after breakfast but before looking at the thermometer. Mistake. It was already in the forties at 7 AM. Not a breeze moved, either. Needless to say, there was no crunching of frost when I walked over to see if Mark was up and about. He was, but he was also packing to go back to his apartment for the day. I decided to try and walk up the jeep road to the old beaver dam and back through the woods. I made it about four hundred yards before realizing 1) I was way over dressed and 2) the little bit of rain we may have gotten over night had done nothing to soften the leaf litter and it was like walking on corn flakes strewn upon a layer or two of bubble wrap. No way was I going to be able to still hunt under those conditions. If I had been sitting in a tree stand it would have been great for I would have heard anything that moved within a hundred yards. So I turned back to the cabin, changed into lighter clothing and put my feet up. There's always tomorrow. And, even if it's going to be another warm day, I'll dress properly this time and go and sit somewhere instead of trying to walk.

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I mentioned that I didn't see any deer while in the woods neither Sunday afternoon nor all day on Monday. But when I went to bed last night around 9:45, I flipped on the outdoor light to peek at the thermometer on the deck and spotted three antlerless deer in the yard behind the house. From their size and behavior I surmised that it was Mom and the Twins. The Twins are nearly full grown but decidedly smaller than Mom. That they are so large and traveling with an experienced doe may be the reason they have managed to survive any marauding from the fairly large coyote population--some of which I heard yapping and barking off in the distance this morning when I left Mark's place on my abbreviated walk.

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Terry called today to report that she had some visitors at the Aerie. Her cousin had given me a package of Cajun flavored peanuts which I was not going to eat (I prefer to have mine just salted, thank you), so she had put them out on the bird feeder. Well, did you know raccoons like Cajun flavored peanuts? He'd probably enjoy ettufe (or however it's spelled) as well, but he ain't getting that from me! I like my Cajun crawfish. He cleaned up what the birds had left in the tray on the deck overnight leaving just his paw prints to tell the tale. And this morning, Terry says, there was a turkey in the yard. Of course there was. Fall turkey season it ain't!