Hunting Season, Part 2-----Success!

As mentioned, I slept in on Wednesday with the intent of doing some work around the yard with the slash left by the crew cleaning the powerline right-of-way. I was going to use the ATV BUT those plans changed when the darn thing wouldn't start. All I got was a click, click, click--like a buzz from a bunch of angry bees--from the solenoid. The starter didn't even try to turn over. I went to call the Glider City Powersports in Elmira, NY that I've used for repairs on the Yamaha ProHauler before BUT they are closed on Wednesdays. I plugged the battery charger up to the ATV just in case it was just a low charge, BUT the charger gave me an error message saying there was a short in one of the cells and it couldn't be charged.

So, I spent a couple of hours using the chainsaw close to the house and cleaned up one pile of debris and produced a small stack of firewood. Then I got the tractor out to haul the utility trailer out from under the deck so I could load the ATV for delivery to the repair shop--when I could eventually call them. Then I had to reinflate one of the tractor's tires--one that has a history of a slow leak. AND run down to the store to get a new connector for the trailer's wiring which was frayed right near the connector.

******

Thursday I managed to contact Glider City and hauled the ATV over for them to do their thing. They will contact me when it's ready. This was the first opportunity to use the new Tundra to trailer anything. Like its predecessor, it did just fine. The trailer tracked perfectly and I had no difficulties.

******

Friday I slept in once again and went to work on a second slash pile near the house. And once again, I managed to clean that heap up and harvest a small amount of firewood.

******

Saturday--being the first day I could shoot does as well as bucks--I got up early and went out to the woods. I was just hoping to see something with fur as Monday and Tuesday were less than productive. I was at my stand by 6:30 and waited for daylight. Unlike Monday and Tuesday, there was no breeze so the dried leaves on the beech trees weren't rattling all that much. That allowed me to use my ears as well as my eyes.

Shortly after 7 AM I heard something to my right and spotted a deer stepping out from some hemlocks. A buck! BUT I could only see fork horns and to be legal a buck must have at least three on one side. So I watched as it walked down the hill. (And, no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't make out a third tine on either side!) A the base of the hill, the buck spooked and jumped once or twice back then trotted across the cove to the spruce trees. Then I saw a second deer--sex unknown--follow. All I can figure is that the cooler air sinking down the hillside carried my scent(?) down to the small buck and that's what spooked him. Hey! At least I got to see some deer!

About an hour later, I heard a snap of a twig behind me on the powerline. A turned around and saw two doe, with tails up, bounding across the powerline into the woods on the far side--where they stopped and looked back at me. I raised my rifle and saw through the scope that I had a clear shot, albeit nearly head on, between two trees just a foot or two apart. Flick off the safety. Breath. Squeeze. And the fun part is over. She dropped where she stood. The second doe jumped twice and stopped. And I quickly calculated how much work I really want to do this morning--and let her go.

I collected my gear and walked toward the downed doe. The tail flicked once and I chambered another round--just in case. By the time I got to her, she was dead. The shot had entered and exited the base of her neck damaging the spine and taking out the arteries. As I started filling out the tag, the second doe stuck came back into view and stood for a few seconds--broadside--30 yards away. I still let her go.

Field dressed (messily) and then dragged her down the hill. Gravity is your friend! I hung the deer behind the house and then cleaned, sliced and packaged the heart and liver.

Hunting Season

Pennsylvania's rifle deer season opened on Monday and like tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) I was up and out early Monday morning and sitting on the hill by 6:30 AM. It was a cool--not cold--morning with a bit of an overcast and a steady breezy out of the northwest.

I heard the first shot around 7 AM only about 500 yards away. The second shot was about three times further at about 7:20 AM. (Actually, that second shot was really two.) Those were the only shots fired all day within a mile of the spot where I was sitting. Things were quiet all through the middle of the day with only a few shots fired (a l-o-n-g way away) after 3:30 PM

Me? I didn't see any deer nor even a squirrel. I eventually left when the sun went behind the ridge and the shadows grew too deep to make out the trail at the bottom of the hill. You can't shoot what you can't see.

Tuesday was a near repeat. Two shots--neither by me--early in the morning and then nothing all day. I grew tired of seeing nothing from my seat so between 10:30 and 12 I chose to take a stroll through the woods. I didn't see any deer there either.

I'll be sleeping in on Wednesday. Then I'll be working around the yard and the section of powerline right of way. The crew left some usable wood there. Several pieces that can be used for firewood.

Ch-ch-ch-changes! (And a lot of the same old-same-old.)

Spent last week doing a lot of nothing much.

The lawn got cut. The garden has been pretty much retired. (Though the zukes and tomatoes are still producing! In October!) I sorted out lots of stuff in the workshop and am (nearly) ready and able to do some woodworking. Even built a couple of extensions for the hooks that hold the stick bird feeders on the deck and a new tray feeder--although the latter will need some work. And I spent time watching the Mets vs the Dodgers, college football and pro football. Sunday morning I went up to Bath, NY for the Southern Tier Outdoor Show, Did some reading, too.

The Outdoor Show was nice. They had demonstrations of how to train a retriever for duck, goose and upland bird hunting. There were falconers there doing demonstrations of their craft. They had archery games (try skeet shooting with a bow and arrow) and a 3-D contest. There was a .22 rifle range and a hatchet throwing area. The kids had an obstacle course to play on as well as those other things. There were vendors of hunting and fishing equipment. And there was lots of food. I only stayed for maybe two hours but it was enjoyable. Much smaller than the one in February down in Harrisburg, of course--the Southern Tier show didn't have all the outfitters and many fewer vendors--but nice.

******

Monday I worked on winterizing the Vibe. That required draining the water system and pumping antifreeze into it. And, of course, that required purchasing a proper sized socket to remove the water heater's drain plug and that required a new socket wrench because the socket was a 1/2 inch drive and all my wrenches were 3/8 inch. And I got soaked because I failed to drain the water through the outdoor shower (clearly labeled "low drain point") before I pulled the plug and some six gallons of pressurized water came shooting out. A one hour job took me closer to four, but I got 'er done!

******

Terry spent a few days down in Valley Forge for an EGA regional convention. She left here on Thursday for a couple of days of business meetings--she's a regional rep--and then enjoyed some classes. She got to see many of her far-flung friends from around the country and came back late Sunday.

She spent Monday over at the hospital in the dermatology ward having a couple of questionable moles on her back removed. She says the doctor didn't seem to be too concerned but a biopsy was ordered as it's standard. She's got a few stitches for each that will have to come out when she's on the road down to San Antonio (SAGA convention) in a week and a half.

******

Weather has been pretty great with nice cool nights and warm sunny days with highs only getting to the mid 60s. The leaves have hit about 90% color so the hills are beautiful. Only problem has been some real breezy days that have knocked some of those leaves to the ground. It's supposed to be getting even cooler the rest of this week and there's a slight chance of some frost. At least it's not snow.

******

Even though the knees and back are feeling fine--only moderate pain--I've been a slacker with regards to hunting. Haven't even lifted the bow to check the sights let alone gone out in the woods. Don't feel that I'm missing much as I've seen only a couple of does in the yard in the last two weeks. There's still time, however. AND muzzelloader season starts on Saturday.

Hunting Season: Days 10, 11, and 12And More

I'm calling it quits for the season. I've got some venison in the freezer and there's 8 inches of snow in the woods making moving around difficult on my knees and hard on my back. The thin layer of ice underneath doesn't help either.

Oh, the deer are still around. I saw tracks through that new snow when I hauled the carcass out to the back field. A regular set of highways heading right up the hill toward where I normally sit. Don't let anyone tell you they shy away from a gut pile either. A couple sets of tracks went right to that pile. For all I know, they were eating the stomach contents (lots of partially digested grass) just like northern caribou hunters will run for their spoon when they knock an animal down. (Lots of good vitamins in that stuff...or so I'm told.)

All day Thursday was spent clearing the driveway and parking area of that 6-8 inches of snow that fell Wednesday night. Friday was spent recovering from that labor, hauling the bones out to feed the wild critters and feral cats that might wander by, and just poking around the house doing some chores.

The sun has disappeared and the clouds have been spitting flurries for two days. The temperatures hae ranged from a low of 22 all the way up to 24 degrees. Thankfully there has been virtually no wind to speak of or those temps might get uncomfortable fast.

Flocks of geese have decided to head (mostly) south having found the farmers' fields suddenly covered with snow. (I say "mostly" because today, they seemed to be heading more southwest. Perhaps their leaders' magnetic senses are a bit scrambled.) My feeder birds are going through sunflower seed like crazy. I'm sure some of the seed's getting stashed away in little nooks and crannies in the trees somewhere because those nuthatches, titmice and chickadees are returning much too quickly to be carrying seed out to the trees, spending time cracking open the seed and eating the heart of the seed. There has to be a stash being filled someplace. There have been a dearth of squirrels so far this year. Last year we had as many as 12 at a time all trying to feed on the deck. This year we've, at most 3 or 4. I wonder if they've migrated, decided to stick with the acorns--of which there was a fair crop, or got hit by a disease.

Saturday I'm going to be cleaning my rifle and putting my hunting clothes and gear away. At least this year I got to use one of my tags.

Oh, I'll probably be watching the Army-Navy game on TV, too. This weekend, as they say, "it's the only game in town." Navy's got some cool looking new uniforms from the folks at Under Armor. Lots of color and flair. While not as good a team as the last couple of years, they should still be able to handle Army...again.

In ten days, Terry and I will be flying out to Anaheim to spend Christmas at/in Disneyland with our kids. I'm really looking forward to it. Not the flying part, the Disneyland part. Sure, the kids are in their 30s and I'm 65, but what does age have to do with going to Disneyland.

Hunting Season: Day 7

I went out this morning at 6:30 AM when it was 15 degrees. Luckily it was not breezy at all and, except for the ice falling off tree limbs, totally silent. I sat for 2-1/2 hours and heard nothing and saw nothing.

Around 9 AM I thought I'd take a walk-about to see if there were any signs of activity. As I walked I heard a couple of shots w-a-y off to the south on the sunny side of the ridge, but they were too far off to have any impact on the area I was hunting. The ground was still covered with a crust of snow and ice and the trees would shed some of their ice cover when the breeze kicked up. I moved when the ice fell hoping the clatter of ice on ice would cover the sounds I made.

It hardly mattered. Aside a set of fresh dog/coyote tracks there were no fresh deer tracks. I did see a couple of gray squirrels and a pileated woodpecker and a couple of chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches but nothing else was stirring...not even a mouse.

I got back to my "usual" seat around 11 AM and settled in for the afternoon. I was just trying to decide if I wanted to have my sandwich when I spotted three deer coming down the trail at the bottom of the hill. None of them had antlers. I silently stood and rested my rifle on a tree nearby and focused on an opening near tot he one through which I had missed the buck last Monday. The first deer moved through that opening too quickly for me to squeeze the trigger. The second deer stopped in that opening and I squeezed off a shot. The deer kicked out like a mule and dashed off into the Norway spruces on the other side of the field. I swung to the first deer which had stopped in an opening a short distance down the trail. I squeezed off a second shot and that deer fell where it stood with blood spurting out onto the snow.

Thinking I had filled my two doe tags, I headed down the hill to put them on the deer's ears. Problem is, I missed that first shot. I found the spot where the bullet hit...directly under the deer's belly. That's why she bucked and ran off. The second deer lay dead on the trail. The bullet, quickly aimed and fired, had missed the heart and lungs but took out the neck. I searched the track of the first deer and found no blood sign...and a .270 Winchester would have left some blood trail within 50 yards. And with the snow on the ground, it would have been easy to spot. *sigh* Terry reminds me that I'm still doing better than most baseball hitters. One for three is .333. More practice is in order for next season, however.

(BTW I'm pretty sure the regs say I was supposed to "remove one tagged deer from the woods" before shooting the second although I can't seem to find that in the compendium. As I was on my own property, I thing I could argue that I HAD removed the deer from "the woods" (it was on my land) before shooting the second.)

Disappointed that I had missed on the first shot, I still had to tag and dress out the second deer. Turning it onto it's back, I realized I had shot a button buck. Checking it's head there were indeed two tiny bumps above its eyes. Dressed out, I dragged it down the trail to the Aerie where I hung it up in the back of the house. I saved the liver and heart and Terry sliced up and packaged them for me (she won't eat the organs). I also took out the backstraps which we will have for dinner tonight.

I may, or may not go out tomorrow morning. The forecast has become slightly worse according to one of the two BIG names in weather. One is saying we'll have snow by 8 AM while the other says to look for flakes after noon. Both are talking anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of snow...and ice.

Hunting and Weather Report

It rained all day on Saturday...except when it turned to snow around 3 PM. This morning the trees around the Aerie and above were coated with ice. Ice that glistened in the sun when it finally rose above the hill. And it was a clear, sunny day today.

I took a ride after lunch and found there was no snow at all just 200 feet down the hill and that the ridge road above the house was still icy and the trees still glistening. The temps down on Route 6, about 1000 feet below, were up to 35-36 degrees even when those around the Aerie were still around 28 degrees. It later got up to 34 degrees...for about an hour...when the full power of the sun hit the Aerie.

I also noticed that all the hunting camps below and above the Aerie were vacant. Looks like I'll have the whole mountain to myself tomorrow. I just hope that doesn't include an absence of deer! I've two doe tags and a buck tag still burning a hole in my pocket. And Terry's been careful to leave room in the freezer...just in case.

The weather forecast for this week is on the iffy side. Winter weather warnings have gone up for counties to the east of here with a possibility of 8 inches of snow starting Tuesday into Wednesday. We're not included in the warning and are forecast to receive "just" 3 or 4 inches. Enough that I'll be busy with cleanup on Wednesday. But then there are snow showers (around 1 inch each) forecast for Wednesday night, Thursday and even Friday. Sounds like an interesting week ahead.

Hunting Season: Days 4 and 5 (maybe 6?)

I spent Thursday (Day 4) in the woods waiting for a deer (in particular a buck) to come past. Never happened. I did see two deer when I decided to take a brief walk about between 9:30 and 11 AM. They went zooming past heading up the hill at about 150-200 yards. I couldn't hear them despite the ground being covered by a frozen, icy crust of snow. If I hadn't been looking in the right direction, I wouldn't have known they were there. Those two deer, and two or three gray squirrels were all the mammals I saw.

The weather cooperated with temperatures in the mid 20s all day. The sky was mostly cloudy but not threatening and the air was fairly still. The little breeze that would occur from time to time rattled the beech leaves still on the younger trees. I watched plenty of birds foraging about and/or flying over head. Chickadees, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers searched crevasses in all the trees around me. The blue jays would occasionally sound off, but I never saw one. Their calls have been alarms of something moving through the woods so I pay close attention. The ravens soared and danced overhead and their occasional caws, clicks and clacks could have been derisive.

I heard no shots anywhere all day long. The hunting camp next door is empty. They left on Wednesday morning. The neighbors don't seem to be out--or had to go back to work. I felt totally alone.

Early in the day I did hear the whoop-whoop-whoop of the windmills, but they feathered the vanes and the blades stopped spinning around noon. The loud thrum of the compressors/generators from the fracking pad just a little over a mile away was a constant--until 3:00 PM when it suddenly stopped and I nearly fell over. I fought to stay awake over the next hour as the silence descended.

Having seen nothing and heard nothing, I knew it was time to head back to the Aerie as the sun set behind the ridge to the west. There was enough light for me to see it glowing on the hills to the north-northwest and to see into the field to the north of the Aerie...where there were three or four deer in the snow-free field.

******

Friday I opted to stay in. There's little that's more frustrating than sitting, in silence, alone, waiting...and waiting...for a deer to show up and it doesn't. In the Adirondacks, I've 10,000 acres I can wander when I get  bored. In PA I've only got 20 acres--unless I want to cross over onto other private property. The lands in PA aren't posted and I've got permission to chase a wounded deer, but I really do not want to strain any relationships before they are formed.

There were a couple of chores to do around the house with/for Terry. And she had made a killer bread pudding that I didn't want to leave alone with her.

After lunch (chicken fried steak and fires) and warm bread pudding, I went out on the deck to refill the bird feeders and seven doe came running across the street, between the Aerie and the hunting camp and headed straight back to the woods to the west. *sigh*

I couldn't shoot them today anyway. Besides, the forecast was for rain/sleet starting sometime after noon. (It finally arrived around 2 PM.)

******

The rain is supposed to get heavier during the night and through Saturday morning. It doesn't seem that anyone will be coming back to the camp next door.

Saturday is the last day in which I must shoot only bucks.Monday, does--of which I've seen many more--are legal game.

Hunting Season: The First Three Days

The Pennsylvania rifle season for deer is three days old.

The weather has been...odd.

Monday morning it was 50 degrees when I got out at 6 AM. That didn't last for long as a fog rolled in from the north around 7 AM and, while the fog lifted later in the day as the wind continued to blow steadily, the temperatures dropped. It was down to 35 when I came back to the house at 4 PM.

I saw one deer in the morning, in the fog, just as he saw me. He did a 180 and disappeared into the fog/hemlocks before I had a chance to raise my rifle. Later in the day I heard two shots off to the west and a short time later a red fox came trotting from that direction and got to within 10 yards of where I sat when it cut my odor, did a 90 and took the same trail the deer did off to the hemlocks. Then there were two more shots from off to the west. A short time later, a buck came down off the ridge and stopped on the trail below me. (The slope is quite steep--about 45 degrees--in front of me.) The deer stopped on the other side of some brush but I thought I had a chance at a 75 yard shot. I stood and he looked right at me. I rushed my shot a bit, making a rookie mistake of "aiming big" instead of small. When I fired, the buck lit out like his tail was on fire. No indication that I had hit him, but I started down the hill to check. At that moment, I found out why he had come down the hill. A neighboring hunter came down the hill from the same direction. He never stopped to talk or anything but went on his way. When I got to where the buck was standing, I looked for any sign of a hit. There was none. But there was a clear trail of hoof prints in the soft earth where the buck had sprinted. I walked along that track but found no blood sign at all. That's when I called it a day.

Tuesday morning was clear but much colder with the temperature sitting at 28 degrees at 6 AM. I went back to my seat on the hill but with heavier clothing. At around 9 AM two, maybe three, doe came up behind me from the northeast. In my management unit, I can't shoot doe during the first week of the season so I wasn't too disappointed when the made me and bound off into the thick woods behind them. Meanwhile, the sky was darkening as clouds blew in from the southwest. At 1 AM the wintery mix started and got progressively heavier. After a short time, I could see even heavier snow/sleet falling across the valley to the northwest. I opted to go back to the cabin. There had been very few shots heard all morning so I wasn't the only one experiencing a quiet day in the field.

All the snow we had for Thanksgiving was gone by Monday afternoon; all 6-8 inches of it. I watched the last few patches in the shady areas of the woods disappear as I sat. Tuesday walking in the woods was like walking on cornflakes. Every step resulted in a "crunch." (Not that the noisemaker of a ground cover did me any good. Besides the doe, I saw/heard nothing except a pair of territorial gray squirrels fighting forty yards away.) It snow/sleeted all evening and we ended up getting about an inch and a half of heavy, wet white stuff on the ground.

This morning I slept in and did some housework. And heard not one shot anywhere. The sky remained overcast all day with the temperatures just above freezing. I could see the snow further down the hill disappear while the woods and lawn around the Aerie remained white. They must have had more rain while we got snow. Pretty common here. Terry says there was nothing on the roads when she went to get the mail and got to Curves.

I'll be heading back to the woods tomorrow. It's supposed to be in the low 30s and partly cloudy. I'm hoping the wind stays down. It swirls like crazy and even scent killer doesn't always help.

Seventh Day of Deer Season (?)

Or is it Eighth? PA doesn't permit hunting on Sunday so it's the Eighth day since the beginning but the Seventh legal hunting day. Let's call it the Seventh Hunting day.

No matter, I'll not be venturing forth today. It's 26 degrees and the wind is howling to judge by the trees. (It's actually relatively calm on the deck, but up above...ooohh boy!) I've a few things to do before the guys come to drill a new well tomorrow so I believe I'll be staying around the house today and probably until the drilling is finished later this week.

I enjoyed seeing all the snow that was falling in Philly (and Baltimore and Pittsburgh) during yesterday's football game but wondered if we were due some of the same. Nope! All we got was a half inch or less. This despite the warnings of 2-4 inches. Didn't even get the freezing rain they forecast to cap the snow off as it stayed too cold.

BTW, there are fresh areas of the lawn that have been scraped up so as to reach the grass. *sigh*

Sixth Day of Deer Season

They were (mostly) wrong. We only got about 1 inch of snow/sleet over night. It was much colder this morning so they got that right. It was also a little windier on the hill since the wind now was out of the northwest and there's really nothing to protect me from that direction for miles and miles...maybe somewhere in Canada.

I went out anyway. Going up the hill in the dark was pretty easy as that little bit of snow really lit up the landscape. Flashlights were not needed even though it was overcast and no moon or stars could be seen. I was on stand by 6:40 AM--less than ten minutes after leaving the house. I took my seat and waited.

Some shots were fired from all directions around me between 6:45 and 9 AM but nothing really close to me. Dogs barked down the hill at something. Beech leaves rattled and spilled snow in the wind. A tiny shrew scurried from under a seedling hemlock and dove into the leaves next to a small rotting log. Chickadees and titmice (and that workaholic downy woodpecker) moved through the woods. Otherwise, things were quiet. Very, very quiet. Still I sat and looked around me and took note of any sound. THings can happen quickly. Sometimes. The sun finally appeared through the breaking cloud cover around 11 AM. An hour later, I headed back to the Aerie.

I saw no deer. None. Zip. Zilch. And no tracks in the woods or along the upper driveway.

That's because the deer had been digging in the snow to get to the grass of the Aerie's lawn. Looking down from the deck, I could see several spots--areas 2-3 feet square--where at least one deer had pawed down to nibble on the grass. True, they could have been there in the dark before I went out. Or these could be New Jersey deer. You know, those that have learned to live in suburbs by bedding between houses during the day and coming out at night to eat your flowers (especially hostas and tulips!). After dinner tonight, I went out on the deck to get the bird feeders and a deer spooked from under the pine behind the garden--between the Aerie and the hunting camp down the hill. *sigh*

Fifth Day of Deer Season

It was raining when we got up (late) this morning. The cats let us sleep in until 7 AM! The drizzle gave me an excuse to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and then run a few errands with Terry.

The rain ended early and by lunchtime, I was getting antsy. After all, you can't shoot a deer if you aren't out in the woods. So, I donned my gear and headed out intending to shoot a deer or stay until the wintery mix forecast for late afternoon showed up.

There was a light breeze blowing out of the north and the sky was overcast but there wasn't any precipitation until around 3 PM when a smattering of sleet started pinging on the leaves of the beech trees and bouncing off my clothing. It wasn't enough to make me quit and I sat until it started coming down harder around 4:15.

Like Sgt. Schultz, "I saw nothing." Just a few chickadees and a very industrious little downy woodpecker who must have gone up and down every tree in front of me--some of them more than once.

They are forecasting 2-4 inches of snow tonight. That could mean more movement tomorrow. Along with the ability to legally shoot antlerless deer starting tomorrow, which could mean a few more hunters in the field, might make getting up early and getting out there worthwhile.

******

Got the word that the well drillers will be here on Tuesday of next week. They're talking drilling a new well (not cheap!) rather than drilling the existing well deeper. While their company drilled the original, it was so long ago that the current folks have no memory beyond what's on the little 3" x 5" in their files.

It's going to take them at least two days to get the well drilled to 350-400 feet or so. That's going to put a dent in my hunting next week but having clean water would be worth it. As for that depth they hinted at, they drilled a new well across the street a year or so ago and that well went down about that far. Hopefully, they won't need to go that far.

Fourth Day of Deer Season

I took the Third Day of Deer Season off so as to be in the house when a representative of the well drilling company came by. We (again) explained our problem with really, really red water appearing at the end of a pumping cycle and discussed the probable need to either redrill the existing well to deepen it or drill a new, deeper well. Our current well, drilled long before we bought the property, is just 132 feet deep with just 24 feet of casing and a recharge rate of 2 gallons a minute--that's slow. Across the road, they've gone down almost 300 feet.

While we await word on when they can drill, we tried shortening the cord on the float switch so it would start and end the cycle a bit sooner. Didn't work. When we tried to fill the cistern later in the day, we got red clay near the end of the cycle which means it would still be in the pipe from the well when the next cycle started. We really, really need to get the well down deeper and keep the pump off the bottom a little further.

The guy who showed up was one who was here to install a new pump protector a couple of weeks ago. He was surprised to have been sent out to do what he was instructed because he knew I had tried all those solutions. He was also surprised that our 1 micron filters were still allowing clay material through. "Not much gets through those suckers!" Well, quite a bit gets through ours. This clay is extremely fine.

******

I did get out this morning, Day Four of the season. It was warm all night with the temperatures in the 40s so all the snow had disappeared. The ground was wet and walking made no noise at all. THere was a wind blowing from the southwest according to the clouds and windmills, but where I was sitting it was predominantly blowing TOWARD the southwest. This was because the wind coming over Armenia Mountain was drawing the air out of the valley. This was good as the ceiling down there was about 1500 feet while I was at 2200 feet and should have been IN the clouds but they were being lifted over the ridge leaving a little zone of higher visibility where I was. Still, the trees were gleaning moisture out of the air and there was a constant drip, drip, drip to go along with the shaking, rattling beech leaves. Those were the only sounds I heard as, once again, there was no shooting going on.

The forecast out of the Elmira-Corning airport was for rain to start around four o'clock and I intended to sit until it seemed to arrive.That turned out to be a little after 1 PM.

Still, I did manage to see a few deer. At 9 AM I had a single animal come down the logging road from the other side of the cove. When I lifted my rifle and looked through the scope, I immediately saw it was a young spike buck whose antlers were just 2-3 inches long and didn't even project beyond his ears. This made him one of the protected class--along with any antlerless deer--for this day. (PA requires a buck have at least three points on one side for it to be legal.) To rub this status in even further, he turned and came up the hill right toward me. I watched as he came closer and closer and those antlers didn't magically grow one bit. He stopped several times and presented my with broadside shots at 50, 30, 20, and 15 yards. He looked right at me a couple times and presented those little horns like they were his get-out-of-jail-free pass. And they were.

At 1 PM I saw several deer rush into the field to my right. They were a long ways away and through much brush so I couldn't tell what they were and I was sure they were going to cross the field and disappear. Suddenly one of them popped into the woods where the young buck had earlier. It  was a young antlerless deer and it kept looking back toward the field trying to figure out where the others had gone. I also wondered where the rest of them were as it stood there for several minutes before heading back toward the field. I saw it get to the field and then lost track of it.

That's when the rain seemed to be getting real so I packed up my gear and headed back to the Aerie. Instead of following the upper driveway back, I took a shorter route through the woods and intersected the logging road near the yard. As I got there, 10 deer suddenly took off running toward the road. I saw lots of bounding animals, white tails and no horns. Some of those deer looked like they should have had saddles on them. They were huge!.

The rain did continue for an hour or more before it stopped--for the time being. Tonight we'll get more rain and the temperatures will be falling. By tomorrow morning, they forecast, we will be getting snow again. They say we'll get 1-3 inches before it stops sometime in the afternoon. Could be a good day to go out but I won't rush it. Starting Saturday does are off the list of protected class. (The spike buck is still going to be protected, but if there are NO horns, it's fair game.)

******

BTW, going up and down the hill in wet, slick conditions was no real problem for my knees.

Second Day of Deer Season

The morning began foggy and stayed that way. With the temperature hovering between 32 and 36 degrees, snow and ice still on the ground, and absolutely no wind at all, we had lots and lots of ground fog. Visibility was reduced to about 50 yards or less and with the snow softening up, there was little to listen to until the taller trees began to glean moisture out of the air and drip, drip, drip was all you could hear.

The guns were silent too. Unlike yesterday, I heard just three evenly spaced shots from the same direction at around 9 AM. Those could have been a hunter, but the even spacing leads me to believe they were from someone who had 1) missed yesterday or 2) dropped his rifle and wanted to check the zero.

I saw nothing except a couple of grey squirrels today and they seemed to take pleasure in producing as much noise as they could as they passed behind me. How they got the snow to crunch as loudly as they did is beyond me.

I pulled up stakes at noon and returned to the Aerie moments before Terry got back from Curves and the post office. We spent the afternoon delivering some furniture to My Neighbor's Closet, taking a couple of vacuum cleaners over to Stony Fork to get repaired, and arranging to have our well examined/drilled/corrected. There was no fog down in the valley as we drove along Route 6 to Wellsboro none south of Wellsboro toward Stoney Fork--very little snow on the ground either, but it (fog and snow) was still hanging around the Aerie when we returned.

[The water from our well turns a muddy red clay near the end of the pumping cycle and definitely not suitable. The well is just 125 feet deep with 24 feet of casing. It's recharge rate is just 2 gallons per minute which is why we have a cistern to hold 500 gallons and provide all the water we need. It's when we refill the cistern we run into problems. The clay is able to pass through our 1 micron filter and turn the water in the tank an ugly shade of maroon. Lifting the pump, drilling deeper or a combination of the two may be needed. They're trying to tell me that increasing the time between cycles might work, but with red water already in the line at the end of one cycle, it will still be pumping red water at the beginning of the next no mater how long the delay. I think they want to go with the easier, cheaper fix but I want clearer water, damn it! Screw the cost! (That's easy to say because we didn't drill the well in the first place and have next to nothing invested in it at this point.)]

Otherwise, the day did improve slightly near sunset with the fog actually settling into the valley below us. With someone from Andrews Well Drilling coming tomorrow, I believe I'll sleep in and speak with them.

First Day of Deer Season

Got up bright and early this morning to don my hunting clothes and weapon and head out in hopes of bagging a buck on PA's opening day. I was well layered as I headed out in 30 degree weather with anticipation of being nice and toasty all day as the temps were forecast to reach the 40 degree mark. Didn't happen. It was overcast and dull all morning with no sign of sunlight until around 2 PM. At that point it DID reach 39 degrees on the Aerie's deck.

Me? I was shivering. I should have been warm but I wasn't and I place some of the blame on having lost 20-25 pounds after the knee surgery. No personal insulation.

Before I left the Aerie I noticed that the bear had been back and knocked down on of the bird feeders I had carelessly left on the deck. Paw prints were all over the fresh dusting of snow and the metal hook upon which the feeder hangs was laying on the deck. (I would find out later that the feeder was intact and that the bear had chosen the lawn instead of the woods as its bathroom--again.)The knowledge that the sow and her cubs might not have denned up yet would have my head on a swivel whenever there was a louder than usual noise form snow falling from the pines and hemlocks.

Going up and down the hill on layers of ice, snow atop shale was no more difficult than it was before I had my knees replaced. Might have been easier, in fact. The loss of weight and the physical therapy may have made the climb less stressful.

I didn't get my buck, either. Though I did see four deer between 12:10 and 12:20. Two went up the hill on the other side of the powerline right of way and, though I could see through my rifle scope that neither had horns, I had no shot through the web of beech brush on each side of the cut. Just as they went out of sight to my right, there was a stomp to my left and I turned to see two more antlerless deer standing 10 and 25 yards away. The closer animal was stomping it's forehooves and sniffing the air over an unfamiliar smell (me) but had no idea I was standing so close as there was a 12 inch diameter tree between us.The more distant critter was looking right at me and, after a brief staring contest, I must have blinked. It decided it was better to be THERE than HERE and bounded off down the hill and across the cove. The puzzled nearer animal followed its pal.

The days shooting commenced a bit before the legal hour when someone fired at 6:45 AM other shots soon followed from a variety of directions. As most were single shots, I assume people were getting their deer. (Old Indian saying: "One shot, deer. Two shots, maybe deer. Three shots, no deer." There were a couple cases of "three shots" today but not many in those opening minutes.) Things got really quiet after 9 AM and there weren't any shots at all from 1 PM through 3:30 PM when twilight began to seep up from the deeper coves and valleys. I returned to the Aerie with the same number of shells as I had when I left. Hey! Ammunition is expensive!

All I saw, besides the four deer, were three grey squirrels, lots of birds and one hunter coming down the wood road on the other side of the cove. He came down around 9:30 AM and turned toward the homes to the northwest of us. For most of the day I had this song by Paul Anka running through my head.

Week 19:The Knees Please MeA Hunting We Will Go!

Monday marks the 19th week I've had my new knees and I must say that they have been pleasing me no end. They're doing extra fine on flat surfaces and even on the ice and snow covered slanted driveway and up stairs. The only trouble has been going down stairs--and that's getting better.

Monday morning they will carry me up the hill to sit during the opening day of rifle season for whitetail here in PA. With any luck, all the other hunters from the suddenly occupied camps will send a nice legal buck my way. It will only take one with three points on one antler to make me happy. In the zone I'm sitting in a buck with at least three points is the only thing you can shoot during the first week. I've not seen one in the yard with those requirements. Does? Yes. Bucks? No.

There have been several antlerless deer passing through the yard and even eating things off the compost heap. I've seen as many as six during one evening. Among the antlerless deer is at least one button buck who is not considered legal as a buck and, until the second week of the season, illegal as it has no antlers just little bumps on its head. (It and its sister are small to boot, having been born this spring. Not much meat on their bones.) 

I have some hope that there's a larger buck out there. There are several saplings that have been rubbed by a buck trying to get the itchy velvet off its antlers. And there are several spots along the logging road where a deer has scraped the earth and nibbled the branches directly above leaving its scent behind to mark a territory. All I need is to have that larger buck come back to its "safety zone" when other hunters start moving about.

The weather has been really cold but it's supposed to warm up starting Monday. In fact, the temperature has been rising much of Sunday evening. There's a layer of icy snow on the ground so things will go "crunch" as they walk and any blood trail--if I need to follow one--should stand out on the white.The chance of new precipitation during the day is given as 30% but it's supposed to be overcast all day.

Now THAT'S a...

...BIG bear!

829-pound bear takes record in N.J. hunt

We lived in Morristown in Morris County back before we moved to PA. I hunted in Warren County and saw bears while I was out there. Never saw one this big, however.

PA Hunting: Days10-13: Thur, Fri, Sat.

The Wednesday snow meant I had to clean up on Thursday, which I did and then relaxed for the afternoon. With a dump truck in the ditch just up the hill and the attendant noise associated with getting it out and moving, I didn't feel I missed much going up the hill.

I heard no shots fired anywhere near the Aerie Thursday afternoon...or all day Friday. I did take a bit of a walk Friday and saw just one set of deer tracks made sometime during the night. Those tracks passed up the logging road and on out the southwest end of the property. With no other signs I was discouraged enough not to go out on Saturday--the last day of the rifle season.

Apparently, no one else saw anything either. There were no shots fired anywhere near on Saturday.

The season ended with a whimper and not a bang.

So, of course, this evening--the day after the season ended and a Sunday when PA doesn't allow hunting and after dark when hunting is not allowed--I stepped out on the deck and heard/saw at least four deer coming down the hill and crossing the road. I'm telling you, deer can read the compendium, the calender, and the clock.

Hey! We're #1!

Tioga County tops bear harvest

Bears were harvested in 54 of the state's 67 counties. The leading counties in the state for the total bear harvest are Tioga, 343; Potter, 327 and Lycoming, 291, according to the Game Commission website.

(Could explain why a lot of hunters in Tioga haven't seen many deer this fall.)

State-wide there have been some impressively sized bruins taken:

Eighty-one bears were reported weighing 500 pounds or more, with the top 10 bears processed all having estimated live weights that exceeded 678 pounds. The largest bear harvested had an estimated live weight of 767 pounds.

(from the Williamsport Sun Gazette)

PA Hunting: Day 8: Another no-go.

Another day in the house and not in the field. My back and knees are protesting. The weather really was poor, too. The rain we got last night was supposed to end by noon. Didn't happen. The radar on weather.com didn't show much in the way of green blobs indicative of rain but that might have been because the clouds were flying below the radar. We were in fog all day. Even when it rained, we were still in the fog. Temperatures have slowly fallen all day as well. We started the morning in the upper 40s and they've dropped down to the upper 30s.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not.

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I spent part of yesterday and again today down in the wood shop. I'm working on some super-secret Christmas presents that I can not put photos of on this site because some of the recipients may get a sneak peek if I do.

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We finally got the last of our Christmas cards in the mail today. That's only about a week late. Terry usually addresses them all the day after Thanksgiving and I write up the letter to be enclosed. This year we were both a little slow.

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We've already received some cards from family and friends but today we got our first Christmas present. Brian and Vicki sent a package of Omaha Steaks. While we certainly will enjoy them, I have to wonder if he's trying to say something about my efforts to put some venison in the freezer?

PA Hunting: Day 7: Fuh gettabout it!

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Five days last week I went to the same spot on the hillside behind the Aerie hoping to 1-ambush a buck and then 2-ambush a doe or a buck. Didn't happen.

On a couple of those days, my knees and back were acting up, but I struggled through the aches and pains to stay on stand or take short walks around that end of the property looking for sign. Saturday was not one of those days. In fact I felt really, really good. Perhaps it had to do with the sky-high barometric readings and the beautiful weather.

That changed on Sunday afternoon as a front approached and then stalled over the western half of the state. Clouds returned and with them the threat of rain. Along the Ohio River Valley and over Lakes Erie and Ontario to the west the threat manifested itself and a long, skinny string of rain showers moved/marched from Houston to Toronto and beyond. It's still there coming up from the south along a giant of a loop of the Jet Stream. We're getting some of the warm winds associated with the weather along with a drop in the air pressure, but, so far, no rain. (It's 40 degrees here, yet it's snowing in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas? Weird.)

The drop in air pressure--and perhaps sitting all Sunday afternoon watching Jets and Giants football--has caused aches and pains in both knees and along my back at the belt line. My shoulders don't feel too good either. In short, every joint started complaining last night and continues complaining this morning. As a result, I've opted out of today. Just going to take a couple of arthritis strength acetaminophen and climb back under the covers. Might stay there until Wednesday when this rain is supposed to finally get the heck out of here.