Hunting Report from the Bolt Hole

There's a saying out there something to the effect of, "Be careful what you wish for."

Yesterday morning there was a tiny amount of snow on the ground at daybreak when I went to sit in the woods. There was more on the hemlock and fir trees than there was on the ground, to be more precise. I chose a spot where there was an open vista for several hundred yards and parked on my stool for four hours. Nothing moved except for one small flock of chickadees and nuthatches that were curious about my presence and a couple of ravens that beat the air overhead. (They are very noisy fliers.)

Later in the day, the lake effect snows moved into position and hit us with a couple of inches. I went out again and found another spot but my view was hampered by all the snow clinging to the branches of all the trees. The temperature was just below the freezing mark and that means wet, clinging snow. If it had been cooler, the snow might have sifted down through the branches to the ground. Again, I saw nothing.

The band of snow settled in just to our north. One town just a few miles north of here, Speculator, reported 20 inches overnight. We got about three.

When I went out this morning I thought I had a perfect spot looking out over a lovely valley until I realized I was looking at the tops of the small beech trees, each of which held lots of snow on their branches. I searched for another area where I could actually see the ground. Such spots were few and far between. I located one and parked myself down for a couple of hours but nothing was moving. I walked up the jeep trail and saw just one set of tracks made sometime during the early morning hours. The snow band shifted southward about then and dumped (an appropriate term considering how quickly the snow accumulated) another 2-3 inches of white stuff on the ground. Thoroughly covered in white flakes, I headed back to the cabin to warm up and dry out.

By 1 PM the snow had stopped and the TV weatherman was declaring the current bout of snow over. There would be some lingering snow showers, he said, but the heavy stuff was through until this weekend.

I wanted some snow to be able to track. Instead, I got snow that has blocked my distance vision and has left an untouched and unmarked expanse of white on the ground; an untouched tablet upon which is written, "We aren't here, sucker!"

Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, as Annie would say. But tomorrow is also my last full day at the Bolt Hole for this season. I'll be packing up and heading back to the Aerie on Wednesday and it looks more and more like the cooler will be empty.