Anticipation

The October sun melts a touch of frost. Water drips from the asters and goldenrods. Geese honk overhead, heading to a distant cornfield. A squirrel runs amongst the limbs of a tall hickory, searching for a meal. There is a crispness in the morning air. The hillsides are covered with hues of red, orange and gold. That smell is in the air. The smell of autumn.

I can remember the smell from decades past. The aroma of a new box of shotgun shells, Hoppes No. 9 and 3 in 1 oil. The shells had to be Peter’s True Blues, 2 ¾ inch number 5 shot, they probably just smelled better. I would carefully load them into my hunting jacket, always more than were actually needed. A black plastic trash bag was always placed into the game pouch. Yes, we actually sat on the ground. Even when it was wet. Carry along chairs and seat cushions hadn’t been invented.

Saturday has arrived, I am sitting under a huge beech tree in the morning darkness. Nodding off, fighting the effects of a restless, nearly sleepless night I await the mornings light. The shooting starts in the east as sunrise approaches. I can hear a rustling in the leaves behind me. Shortly thereafter, my first bushy tail on the season is placed in my game pouch. Squirrel season has officially opened.

Shotgun fire was heard in the hills around town during the entire month of October. The hills are silent now. The hickory and beech patches we were drawn to in youth are long gone. They have been replaced by impenetrable blackberry thickets. The memories of days spent stalking squirrels will always remain.

October has many things to offer the outdoors person. It is the perfect time for mountain biking, camping and hiking. Hunting seasons are opening and fish are gearing up for a final feeding frenzy, prior to cold water conditions. I caught my two largest smallmouths of 2007 on October 30th. The WVDNR will be stocking selected streams and ponds with trout between Oct. 12 and the 22nd. They usually put in a good number of larger brood trout at this time. They make perfect fillets for the grill. Bass and musky are on the feed at this time. The normally low water conditions make finding fish concentrations a little easier.

Squirrel season opens on October 9. Archery season for bear and deer comes in on the 16th, along with ruffed grouse and raccoon hunting season. Trappers should be finished with preseason preparations and awaiting opening day. The traditional fall turkey hunting counties will be open from Oct. 23 through Nov. 20. Other counties have different season lengths, be sure to check the current WVDNR Regulations Summary or go to http://www.wvdnr.gov/.

Most importantly, a squirrel season will be held for youths no older than fourteen, on October 2nd. Take someone out and start creating new lifetime memories. Get outside and enjoy the early fall days. Don’t get stuck in the I’M A GONNA rut. I’M A GONNAS never happen. Autumn is truly a season of anticipation.

This Article First Appeared In Two-Lane Livin
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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