Tuesday, December 9, 2014

LOOKING BACK

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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