Back early again,damn my luck is bad. I haven't purchased any spring hunting boots,never saw the need for them,until yesterday when it was so unbearably hot
, I know the temp in my 800 thinsulate boots got up in the triple digits
.
So,being the wise,experienced,sage of a hunter that I am
,I figured it being so hot yesterday,and me being on top of the ridges and not hearing any turkeys of any kind,they must be on the river bottom where it's cool. Logical,right ? So I went to the river bottom this AM,and wore the lowtop leather Doc Martin boots I wear everyday as casual wear.The river bottoms were muddy because they had recently been flooded,but everything was green,and growing like crazy,and it was damp in the woods and easy to tippy-toe,sneakin' and peepin'.It was easy to tippy toe,that is,until the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and it started pouring the rain. My size 7 and a 1/2 Doc Martin's gradually became size 10's,and I got wet and cold,so I eventually gave up and slogged back to the truck.Naturally,when I got to the truck,the sun came out and it quit raining. I realize that yesterday I wished the temperature would drop about 10 degrees and it would rain some,but in my haste I forgot to ask the Good Lord to perform these feats while I was sleeping last night,not this morning while I was hunting.I can only surmise that I've done something terribly wrong,and this is God's way of punishing me
. If only Geek were here,I could sacrifice him in a volcano and everything would be ok again????
On the plus side,I saw some interesting things. I saw a yote slipping across the dirt trail [walk in or bike only] about 20 yards in front of me, he/she was coming off the river bank,which was running hard and loud. When I got to where she'd crossed, I saw the reason she had. Fawn tracks in the mud,just ahead of the yote tracks,heading the same direction the yote went.I was sorely tempted to go in after it,but it had just broken daylight and it felt like a good turkey day,so I went on. Played cat and mouse with 2 deer, and finally wound up on a hillside above the trail with a live hen on each side of me calling.Figured it couldn't get much better than that, and then it started raining
.
On the way out,jumped a hen mallard off the nest,right next to the river bank. I figured she had to have a nest,and sure enough she did,with about 8 eggs in it.So I left quietly,let her go back to being mama.First time I've ever seen a mallard nesting on that river,especially right next to the trail.I figure she made the nest when the water was high and then got stranded when it receded.I'm surprised a yote or a B-cat hadn't already gotten her and the eggs.Mostly this is wood duck country.
Anyhow,maybe it'll be better tomorrow, I'm having a good time,seeing some interesting sights so far.My areas to hunt on the river bottoms are limited because of all the flooding,access roads are still muddy and impassable.
Moosie, don't know why the DNR buttheads here in this bass ackwards State close the season at noon,but they do.They claim it's to give the nesting hens less pressure and more rest,but I think it's a crock.What they really want is to keep any hunter from killing anything with silly ass regulations,while finding ways to force him to spend more and more money on licenses in pursuit of his hobby.For instance,there is no concurrent hunting of anything in this state,unless it's small game.You can't hunt deer,turkey,or bear in the same season,they each have there own separate season.In Virginia you can kill any one of the big three [here that is what they are]as long as you have any required stamps.This state's DNR is run by a bunch of uneducated biologists with there heads up there butts,there biggest interest is to harass hunters and fisherman.
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-29-2003 08:31: Message edited by: Seldom Ever ]</font>
