Hunting Report from the Bolt Hole

Yesterday morning's snow was a bust. Instead of the 1-2 inches predicted we got about a quarter of an inch. Unlike the day before when the snow was wet and clung to the tree branches, this time it was a cold dry snow that managed to fall all the way to the ground and, while insufficient for tracking, it at least provided a white background against which the brown deer could be seen. And I did see a couple.

The first I spotted was crossing the jeep trail about a hundred yards ahead of me as I walked quietly up the road. I just caught a glimpse of the south end of a north bound deer but it was enough to put me on alert. I crept up to where I though it had crossed and was barely able to make out the tracks in the snow as they headed north into the woods. Of course, I followed. A few hundred yards later there was a snort off to my left and over the crest of a slight rise. I froze and peered in that direction for several minutes before I could just make out the head of a deer staring (and still snorting and blowing) at me through the veil of the small branches of a blow down just 30 yards away. I lifted the rifle and looked through the scope to see that it was a doe. She kept looking at me and I said a silent prayer that, perhaps I was wrong and that this deer did have horns after all, but that prayer failed to produce results. No horns were visible while she looked right at me and none were visible the several times she glanced off to the north. Finally, I got curious as to what she might have been looking at so snuck a peak to the north too. I was just in time to see another deer disappear into the hemlocks about a hundred yards away. And that was the end of my deer watching for the day.

Except for the one that went bounding through the Bolt Hole's yard just minutes after legal shooting time. Again it was just a glimpse of a white flag on a leaping deer through a tangle of branches. Absolutely no idea if it had horns or not.

I spent five hours in the woods on Tuesday and by the time I returned to the cabin all the snow had melted.

This morning we had no snow and the frost made the leaves as crunchy as corn flakes. I started out up the jeep trail anyway with the idea of turning south to see where yesterday's deer had come from. I haven't spent a lot of time in the state lands on that side of the road and ran into a couple of small, marshy vlys. They afford excellent viewing but damn poor footing. Miss a grass hummock and your in over the top of your boots. I did--once. I wandered around these marshes trying to cross so I could circle back to the cabin. besides the water hazards, I had to navigate around many, many blow downs. I had one deer snort at me from the hemlocks ringing the vlys and later had one go bounding away to the south as I slipped on a slick tree branch hidden beneath the leaves. Again, no idea if either had horns.

I think I spent the late afternoon hours on the edge of the woods in the backyard today. Who knows..the last two years I've managed to kill small bucks within a two hundred yards of the cabin. And every one was late in the afternoon.

Tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to have freezing rain and rain (70% chance tomorrow). If the temperature drops a bit further than anticipated (and the Bolt Hole is 500-800 feet higher than the area I believe the weather station is located) we could have some real snow.