Tick Tock

Tick Tock

Yes, we are winding down. One more year is just about in the books. Winter is bearing down. Harvest season is nearly over. Venison is all that is left. The holiday season is upon us. I do not get too excited about Thanksgiving. It is always Thanksgiving; here.

I am sorry; but when I think about deer hunting the first thing that pops into my mind is cold. Boring and cold may describe it better. I have spent too many hours staring at a desolate hillside; hoping to just see some sign of life. Bleak and desolate seems to be the norm. A lone woodpecker can be the excitement of the day. Stare at your feet for a while; pull the wool up over your face for a while. Stare, stare, and stare. Hope for a glimpse of brown or white. Stare some more, doze off, wake up and stare. Shiver a little, eat something frozen from your backpack, and drink a little ice crystal water and stare.

You hear a few shots in the distance; nothing very close. Maybe they will stir something up. Probably not. Cold; will the sun ever reach this side of the hill? Your mind wanders and you stare some more. Silence, nothing is stirring not even a shrew. A goshawk lights in a tree; it stares. Nothing here. It flies away; headed towards the sun. Finally; it is late morning and sunlight reaches you. It feels so good, the shivers go away. You know in your rational mind that the temperature has only risen 2 degrees. You don’t care; there is light. Something rustles in the leaves; a vole. Birds begin to tweet, Squirrels begin to stir. There is life.

You hear something moving up the hollow. Ten minutes of eternity elapse before you can see what it is. Three gobblers glisten in the sunbeams as they slowly feed up the hill. They disappear from sight. A stick breaks and you are on high alert; then you see orange on the next ridge over. Two hunters are moving towards the top. You know what will happen; soon. The orange dots disappear over the ridgeline. You have been there before. Tick-Tock The anticipation level rises.

A speck of brown trots around the hillside; bad angle and you can see that it is a spike. You hold your ground and stare. The spike slows down and begins to feed in some grapes a hundred yards away. You wait. You know what will happen, soon. That comes from experience. High Noon, soon. Here they come, straight towards the saddle you have been standing in for the past 5 hours. Eight; no nine. Two decent bucks are amongst them. Two hundred yards, one-fifty, one hundred; they stop when they hit the low gap. Fifty yards; bang, It is over.

Field dress and drag straight down the ridge. Back the truck up into the ditch and drag the deer right into the truck bed. Experience once again. Drink your other quart of water that you left in the truck, eat your bag of almonds that you forgot you had. Happy ride home. Tick tock. It is coming soon.

This is my article for the November 2015 issue of Two-Lane Livin

(c) High Virginia Outdoors Photos (c) High Virginia Images All Rights Reserved

ASSUMPTIONS & PRESUMPTIONS

ASSUMPTIONS & PRESUMPTIONS

We are finally getting into one of the two good parts of the year. Yep, the time between the dead gnats and the first snowflakes. Leaves are thinking about changing and our few remaining monarchs are hurriedly heading south. Frost is in the air. Autumn can be inhaled with each breath; kind of smells good doesn’t it? No more sticky, thick inhalations; it is now cool and crisp. Asters; I love asters, but they mean the end is near. Cold, dreary, black, white and gray loom on the horizon. Soon they will be here. I know you are now wondering what the other good part is. That would be the time between the last snowflake and the first consecutive eighty degree days. That is a long time off; we will not worry with that, now.

I have already been asked several times if I was ready for bow season. I imagine that since I haven’t touched a bow in around twenty-eight years; I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. It still amazes me that people think they know someone based on their perception of that person way back when they were growing up. I hear people in their sixties state that they know someone because they went to school with them Do you really think that they actually know anything at all about that person? People change and they change a lot once they are turned out into the real world. At least; I hope they did, if not they are headed for major disappointments in life. I spent a lot of my time locked in school staring out the window at turds floating down the orange creek and wishing that trout could live there. Thirty-five years later the turds are gone but the water still runs orange and there are no trout. I guess that is some progress, not much; but some. Things change.

I have never seen Star Trek, Star Wars or a single episode of Duck Dynasty. I do not watch people hunt or fish on TV; never have and never will. Absolutely zero interest there for me. People assume that since I grew up in the 70’s, hunt and fish that I do all of the above. Nope. In my past; I have made a living at different points of my life hunting, fishing or trapping. That was a young person’s life. Could I do any of that now? Maybe; but it would be painful. Do I like to deer hunt? No. I like to eat venison; therefore I deer hunt. I like to fly fish but hardly ever have time. I like to turkey hunt; but know what days to pick. I still think about the trap line from time to time; but I’m too old to beat stakes into rocks; I’ll pass on that. I am outside for a period of time just about every day. I am hunting but not in the manner that many perceive.

The next time you run into someone you thought you knew a quarter of a century or more ago; do yourself a favor and don’t make assumptions. Take the time to learn about the person you thought you knew. You may be in for a pleasant surprise; maybe not. People change, things change. Don’t get caught up in presumptions or other silly things.

(c)2015 High Virginia Outdoors Photos (c) High Virginia Images  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This is my article for the 10/15 edition of Two-Lane Livin

HAPPY FALL !!

Virginia Creeper

Changes and frost are in the air. Gnats and mosquitoes are in despair. The Summer was almost tolerable; if you weren't a tomato fan. But it is done. Reality is now setting in.I'm just hoping that autumn will last more than a week. Acorns, acorns everywhere.

Shaggy Manes

Shaggy Manes (Coprinus comatus) are one of the latest edible mushrooms that we can expect to find in this area. These were photographed and the smaller ones were picked on November 1, 2011; near Horseshoe Run in Tucker County, WV. The recent snow did not seem to bother this clump at all. I picked some last Thursday; near Huttonsville. They had been rained on for three days and were pretty soggy; but still tasted all right. Shaggy Manes and Oyster Mushrooms are what we can expect to find, this late in the season; if we are lucky.

Photo by High Virginia Images
Posted by High Virginia Outdoors
(c) 2011 All Rights Reserved

Autumn Silence

The opening day of squirrel season has arrived ; in the hills of West Virginia. Until a few years ago, this was a highly anticipated day for me. I could always be found on a hardwood ridge; twenty-two in hand and squirrels in the game bag.

Gunshots were steadily heard until Halloween. Now, the woods around home are still. Trees are gone, squirrels are gone. The hickory ridges are now covered in blackberries and saplings. Coyote heaven.
I sold my .22's in 2004, after realizing that it wasn't feasible to drive 50 miles when you only have a couple of hours to spend hunting. The rewards do not justify the time and expense involved.

I spent all morning outside and a beautiful morning it was. I never heard on shot fired from the hillsides. Areas which are still blessed to have their mast producing trees, have an abundance of foods available to the critters of the woodlands. But, when the trees are gone; so is life. From here in the orange water, clear-cut wastelands of northwest Randolph County. Enjoy your Autumn if you still can.

Butterfly of the Month/September-Monarch

What other butterfly could be considered for September ? The Monarch (Danaus plexippus) is the logical choice. This winged wonder is highly visible, while making its way to wintering grounds in the mountains of central Mexico. This instinctive journey is one of nature's wonders. 
This  migration is amazing; because this adult butterfly has never before made this journey. This butterfly you see in September is most likely headed to the Sierra Madre Mountains, where the hibernate by the millions. In the spring, the emerging butterflies reproduce on their northward journey; replenishing the species, into southern Canada, by summers' end. Then the southerly migration begins, as autumn nears.

Most of us are familiar with the distinctive caterpillar of the milkweeds. The larvae feed, until ready to preform a J-shaped hanging quiver. This suspended caterpillar forms a chrysalis. The adult emerges from this chrysalis and the cycle is repeated.

The September Monarch is truly a winged-wonder.

Monarch Butterfly   Monarch and Milkweed Monarch Magic!: Butterfly Activities & Nature Discoveries (Williamson Kids Good Times!(Tm).)




monarch canvas prints

October Aromatherapy

You can visualize the morning. A heavy frost has melted and each puff of breeze sets off a cascade of falling leaves. Standing on a hardwood ridge, you can see a montage of nature’s colors. I, along with two good friends and a pair of the best turkey dogs that ever lived, stood on an Appalachian ridge one late-October morning. One friend mentioned that I had that “far-away look” in my eyes. He was right; I had decided this morning that numerous changes had to be made in my life.




We tend to take for granted the things that are present in our everyday lives and gradually forget about things that are no longer available to us. The two things that triggered me on that morning were, the smell of frost and autumn leaves. Yeah, I can smell frost, you can, too, if you really try. For most of the two previous decades, I had either been in the swamps of the Deep South, or the salt-marshes of Delmarva. I didn’t know how much I missed Appalachian autumns, until that morning. Maybe the pre-dawn climb to the top of the mountain cleared the marsh mud and the turpentine odor of loblolly pines from my olfactory system. I do not know, but something happened to me on that day. Within a year, I was living back in the hardwood hills.



The next time you are on a mountain stream, take time to enjoy the aroma of crushed hemlock and ferns. Bow your head for all of people in this world, who have never smelled freshly mowed grass or a hayfield. Think about the summer air after a brief evening thunderstorm. Can you smell the breeze? It is more pleasing than exhaust and asphalt isn’t it? Take the time to become more aware of your surroundings; you never know what you will miss, until it is gone. Notice the earthy aromas of morels and fresh compost. Picture in your mind a hillside covered with black locust in the late-spring. Now breathe.



I have never thought that the sweet aroma of ramps was disagreeable. The smell of ramps, bacon and fried potatoes drifting from a streamside campsite is a sure sign of spring in the mountains. We have heard the statement every year, at the post office or country store, that a certain person really is unpleasant during the ramp consumption season. The truth is, they probably didn’t smell real good prior to eating their wild leeks. Give credit where credit is due.



I may be strange, but I like a hint of distant skunk in the breeze, it has a sticky-sweet pleasant aroma, from afar. Take the time to be aware of the surroundings that are too often taken for granted. You have heard it before, “Wake up and smell the roses.” It may rejuvenate your life.

This article first appeared in Two-Lane Livin/Oct 09.
(c) Randy Bodkins all rights reserved 2009