Bolt Hole Report, October 21, 2009

I still haven't sighted a deer other than the three that visited the yard after dark the other night. Even if those three had showed up during the day, I wouldn't have shot at them--no horns to be seen. Although it's legal to shoot a doe with the bow or muzzleloader, I have promised not to do so. The "herd" in the area is severely depleted due to coyote depredations and lack of mast (for the second consecutive year, the beechs have not produced any nuts) and possibly due to the presence of some critters that aren't supposed to be in the Adirondacks. Mark swears he and a local saw two cougars cross the road less than three miles from where we are.

Still, I had a nice day out in the woods. We had a tiny bit of rain overnight and the jump in humidity made walking in the woods a bit less noisy so I took a slow stroll along the state boundary line this morning. Most of the paint marking the line has worn off making finding the line a little tough, but I've marked the section that abuts my property on the GPS and that gave me a straight line to follow. I recorded points along the way as I found them so I've now got a continuous line on the GPS from my northwest corner to where the state line crosses the jeep trail to the east. Along the way, I did spot some tracks but nothing else.

This afternoon I went to the northwest corner and sat until dark. There's a fairly large creek over there with some grass on the banks and islands that I thought might tempt a deer or two, but, if it does, they weren't partaking during the daylight hours. Except for the sound of the water flowing over the stones in the creek bed and a couple of curious red squirrels there wasn't a sound to be heard. Even the small birds weren't moving about much. I'll confess I fell asleep for a few minutes listening to the gently sounds of that creek. But, at least one red squirrel was having none of that! It chattered as loudly as it could from just feet away from me. Perhaps I do snore after all.

Today's weather could not be beat. The temperatures were in the upper 50s--maybe even the 60s--and although it was overcast all day, we got now rain and virtually no breeze. The trees normally make a hushed rustling sound in the tiniest of breezes but they were silent today.

Some showers are supposed to make their way into the area tonight but tomorrow may be an even better day with a high in the mid 60s. That will end, according to the weather guys, on Friday. Rain arrives in earnest Friday night and will continue all day Saturday with some heavy, heavy precipitation. Over 1 1/2 inches of rain is forecast. Of course! Saturday is the opening day of the rifle season here in the north zone. Not that it matters much if there aren't any deer to shoot. Still, there might be more hunters afield and that could get some deer that have been in hiding out and about.

BTW, those temperatures I mentioned earlier...The average high for the day is 55, the low: 35. Those are just about what we had today. Tomorrow will be warmer than the average, but the overnight low (upper 20s) will be below average. And once we get passed tomorrows warmer than average high, we'll be below average for the next ten days. Although we won't be as far below as we were last week! The highs will be above freezing and in the mid to upper 40s.