Month
twelve, Yuk. Cold, gray, brown and white. Here we go again. I have noticed that as we get older years
tend to speed up in their passing. Still, it seems as if some weeks can last
forever. Think back to January; did you accomplish everything you had planned
on doing? Well, you’re about out of time. I know that I am.
I know
that I had planned on fishing once per week from January until deer season. That
sure didn’t happen. It wasn’t fit to go until April; but I did manage to get
out more times than I have since 2007. I guess I can get some partial credit
for that. Morel season came and went; I found a couple in my yard. That was it.
Ramps and asparagus season was very good and then it was garden time. I got
everything out and it seemed fine, by then it was fly-fishing time. July rolled
around. Clouds, clouds, clouds no sun; tomatoes died. I still had big plans for
a truckload of chanterelles. I might even have some to sell; if all goes well.
It didn’t.
I never
told anyone about this; until now. I found a massive patch of chanterelles in
early August of 2013. They were probably 95% too old when I found them. I had
big plans for this patch when July rolled around. The first trip I made over
there to check them out was a total bust. Nothing was up, yet. I figured I was
just a bit early. Two more trips and about eighty dollars’ worth of gas later;
I picked a grand total of 3 chanterelles. You just cannot trust fungi. Lesson
learned.
I can
always count on getting my fill of Chicken of the Woods in early September. Not
this year, I can’t find any.
Things
change. It is now late September and I’m finding chickens every time I take the
dogs for a ride. Suddenly, I now have a surplus of those beautiful orange
things in the freezer to brighten the winter. Yep, you can’t trust fungi. I had
never before found any after the 8th or so of the 9th
month. If you give up the search; you are guaranteed to never succeed. I found my biggest all-time Shaggy Mane patch
in early October and ate shaggies until I didn’t want anymore.
Mid-October
brings my thoughts to migratory birds. Not shooting them, just observing. I
love finding to ones that most people don’t even realize stop by and visit.
Nelson’s Sparrows and Marsh Wrens were very cooperative. I even got glimpses of
the elusive Sedge Wren. My goal for the month was finding a Sora in Randolph
County. The dogs and I slogged and slogged through the cattails with no
success. But, I did find the first for county Marsh Wren.
Fresh venison is in the freezer
at the end of the month; taken with ammo I loaded. This ended several years of
reloading procrastination for me. I’m proud of that. I’m confident that the
rest of deer season will be good and the freezer will be full. December is here
already, wow. My mind wanders back to late winter the last several years and
all of the mink I have seen run over and wasted. I used to be a pretty good minker;
I’m breaking my stuff back out and see if I’ve still got it.That is where I’ll
be this month. Merry Christmas
(c) 2014 High Virginia Outdoors
This is my December Article for Two-Lane Livin All Rights Reserved
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