Hunting 2015

Ummm, not so much hunting. Did go up on Leading Ridge Road yesterday. Have to enter the other end from Todd Lake which entrance is closed because they have some construction going on, part of repairs for the 1985 flood. Leading Ridge Road is in terrible condition with parts very nearly washed out. Pickups are generally ok but I'd be wary of taking a car up there. Not one sign of anything but 3 camps. I hope they have a good time. Nowhere near the deer we had there only 5-10 years ago. Sad.

Hunting so far in 2014

Not so good. Not enough time to hunt. Not the best hunting in the places I do get to go. Lack of time means not much scouting and thus I don't know where the game is when in the places I get to go. In short, not enough time to hunt. Much of this is due to time spent in training the new dog...

Bow hunting...

John A______ and I went out to a local farm to hunt last night. This actually was more of a scouting trip. The weather was beautiful the it was pretty windy. We had a good long walk of about 2 miles around the place finding scrapes, rubs, and crossing points. There is a good acorn crop, several corn fields, and other crops on which the deer have been feeding. We didn't see a single mourning dove and only a couple of squirrels. The groundhog holes were obviously long unoccupied. I need to take my laser range finder next time.

I carried my old Bear Grizzly bow and the arrows I've been using since about 1986 with the old Bear broadheads. I like the light weight and simplicity of the recurve. A new Bear Grizzly runs about $350.00. They have now returned to the shelf type rest. I like that best, one less thing to break and it seems more traditional. I like traditional.

John brought his crossbow, I have forgotten the make, but he forgot his cocking device crank. Neither of us could cock the thing with out the aid of the cocker. I personally think that crossbows are too awkward. They weigh about the same as a firearm but also have the limbs extending left and right to get in the way. Excellent for the tree-stand hunter, they don't suit my preferred combination of ground-stand and still hunting. They are fun to shoot though. Heck, just about everything is fun to shoot.

In all our walking we didn't jump or see any deer. We did see deer come out in the middle of the field right at sunset. All that I could see I thought were does.

John is going to take his grandson, Daniel, out this weekend.

Yes, it is deer season...

John A______ took me out to the Bowman Spring Farm and we sat on stand for about 3 hours in the freezing rain (literally, freezing rain) and saw no deer.  Took the .250-3000 again.  Was pretty warm but I picked the wrong book socks and my feet were cold.  Used the hot hands to warm myself after about 2½ hours. 

Deer hunting 2013...

The sole sign of life other than song birds and woodpeckers.

The first place I went during the muzzleloading season, mostly for nostalgiac reasons, was north of Leading Ridge Road above Todd Lake in the Dry River District of the George Washington National Forest. Dad first took me here not long after it had been clear cut when there was plenty of browse. We always saw deer even if shooting them was impossible. At the time there was only one "doe day" and you were allowed only one deer per season. Now, 40+ years later, it is once again mostly maturing hardwood or pine with little browse. This year there isn't much hard mast (acorns) either. As a result, there aren't many, if any, deer in the area. I didn't see any and I didn't see any fresh scat, tracks or any other sign that there were deer in the area.

The regular gun season is here. I took my Savage 99A .250-3000 (.250 Savage). Easy to carry and accurate, fairly flat shooting and just plain fun.

So the second day (my first day of I moved down Leading Ridge Road a bit. I hadn't planned to park where I did but there were a lot more hunters out (and many more than there have been in the last 5 years or so) so I moved down to the head of an old logging road and parked there. A slow hunt down along this road a mile or so and back through a couple of open former feed plots found no deer sign here either. All that I found along the road was coyote (?) scat just as I had found elsewhere.

Driving slowly out of the area I noticed that there were at least triple the number of camps in the area. But, that still isn't a lot of camps. Last year I counted 4 and this year there were about 12-14. In the many hours I was in the forest I never heard any gunfire. No shots means that no bucks were being seen by hunters. Yes, it is bucks only on the national forest lands, and I think this is probably a good thing. There need to be does to maintain a population. Unfortunately, there also needs to be some food. I'm just not seeing a lot of dining opportunities for the deer.

Looking down into and up the gorge from Wild Oak Trail.

Yesterday, I was back out and this time I was determined to head into the North River Gorge and see if there were any deer along the river. I parked above Camp May Flather and dropped down onto the Wild Oak Trail. At this point the trail runs about 200 feet above and along the river on the old logging railroad bed. It crosses the river on a suspension foot bridge and crosses the North River Trail and continues to Lookout Mountain. I took the NRT further up the gorge.

Several years ago we had flooding that severely impacted the trail. The USFS has finally made some repairs. I leave it to you to judge whether or not they should have run a small bulldozer all the way up the trail to clear it. Likely this was the least expensive option. A popular horse trail, there was sign that the riders have already been up the trail again. I did find some deer tracks, but they were mostly pretty small, does or yearlings. I didn't see any deer. I did see about a dozen gray squirrels which were missing from the Skidmore Fork area around Leading Ridge Road. The water level in the river is down and crossing dry footed was no problem. It was cold enough that a skim of ice was on some of the pools. All in all it was pretty nice in the gorge. Again, I heard no rifle shots although I could hear road traffic at some points along the trail. Although I didn't see any deer, the concentration of sign dramatically increased about 1 to 1-1/2 hours back. I didn't walk fast, so this is probably about 3 miles or so. That's a long way to walk just to squirrel hunt and it is a long way to drag a deer. I am not that hungry so it would have to a really nice buck for me to shoot one way back there.

Yes, there was some sign...

One benefit to the use of the dozer to clear the trail was that for most of its length the soft earth has been turned up and takes impressions of whatever passes over it very well. That means that if deer are using the trail then it will be pretty obvious. One of two things is happening, either there aren't many deer or they aren't using the trail much.

One thing about these old trails is that you get to see some of the old time ways of doing things. Check out the last two pictures. One is of the rock crib constructed to carry the old railway bed and the other is a cistern used to collect spring water for the railway workers and loggers.

Rock "crib" built to fill a gap in the railroad bed. 

Cistern built to collect spring water.  Somebody has popped the lid.  Note the "drinking" basin on the front.

Out and about...

Went out yesterday, up and down some mountains. It is "muzzleloader" aka "blackpowder" season here, bucks only where I was. However, it wasn't likely that I'd see a deer of any kind. No hard mast, no browse, no water, no scrapes, no rubs, no tracks. Nothing but small birds and red headed woodpeckers. Not even any of the resident crows. No longer a clear-cut as it was 40+ years ago. However, something has been through there.

Scouting

John A______ and I went out to scout a place he has permission to hunt on the property of Bill B_____ out Middlebrook way. Very neat place and with that huge spring in front of the house one can easily see why this place attracted settlers. The water is, by the way, just the right temperature and taste for drinking. John and I had a good drink after our scout. We didn't see deer but we saw lots of sign and as Bill says, they are eating their fill in the corn fields. John is hoping for a good deer here.

John recently had an aortic aneurism and now has a bad valve that they will be replacing in December. He needs somebody to go hunt with him and he now has two of us lined up.

Squirrel hunting

They don't call it hunting for nothing.  I hunted, near Elkhorn Lake, but I only saw one squirrel and he/she vamoosed up a big pine ASAP after he/she saw me.  All fine with me though.  I had a pleasant walk.  Didn't dress for it, just wore my blue jeans and regular shoes, which are kinda like moccasins, and a light jacket.  Boy has that area grown up.  Clear cut back in the late 1960s, the pines were about head high when I was in my teens.  There were squirrels, grouse, turkeys and deer at that time and I saw them all.  Now it is pretty much a mature forest and there's not so much food to attract any of that game.  There are some crows in the area as well as small birds which feed on small plant seeds or insects.  Doesn't seem to be a lot of hard mast this year but that might be a local thing.  It is supposed to rain again tonight and tomorrow so I'll decide whether or not to go out, someplace else, tomorrow.

Carried my 1956 manufactured Marlin 39A Mountie and some old CIL Cascade .22 LR ammo.  Feeling pretty retro, as usual. 

Had to get out of the house...

Had to get out of the house.  Tried the other day but it was pretty foggy and wet and all I got was a good walk out of it.  Actually it was pretty nice.

Typical logging road after 20-40 years...

So, today, after lunch, I was out again.  Wandered about a bit and with nobody parking anywhere nearby engaged in some plinking at pine cones and such with a safe background.  Carried the USFA Rodeo (which I suppose will be approaching cult collector status according to the prices they are asking) I got from Rob L____ and the Remington 12CS I got from David M__.  Sorry Rob, but I wore the Mernickle P6SA.  The plinking was all done with the Remington.  Yes, it is .22 WRF and the ammo is pricier than the .22 LR but I do have 6000 rounds on hand and this is why I got the rifle.   The cartridges were sticking going in and coming out of the chamber so I took a moment to clean it and all was well.  We both lay down for a rest about half-way through.  I took a photo of the Remington reclining. 

Remington Model 12CS, .22 Winchester Rimfire (.22 Remington Special)

It was a pretty good day. 

The bear hunters seem to predominate now.  No birders (but I did jump another 2 grouse) and I think I was the only squirrel "hunter" out today. 

Hunting

Got out to do a bit of hunting today.  Went up to the mountain northwest of Elkhorn Lake and hunted that area.  No mast here either.  Jumped more grouse which was a bit of a surprise but saw no sign of deer OR bear.  When I say no sign I mean no sign at all.  Not a print, not any scat, not a single rub, not a thing.  I took the Savage 99 in .308 Winchester.  Would have gotten a photo of the gun out in the woods but my camera battery died.  I did get a photo of of the heavy fog that was on the mountain when I started in.  It was a wet and dreary day but it wasn't too cold and moving quietly was easy in the rain and with the sopping wet leaves.

Gone hunting today...

Went out to Leading Ridge Road near Bradley Pond and had a great time. Saw no bear sign and no deer or deer sign but there were squirrels AND turkey AND GROUSE. I jumped FIVE, that's 5 grouse! I've not seen grouse up there for several years. My dad took me up there just after the area was clear cut back in the 1970s and Mike Mays and I hunted there before he retired. Yes, he killed a deer up above the pond. I used to see deer up there in the laurel thickets all the time. Nothing today. I also used to hunt grouse up there with our Golden Retriever, Belle (Queen's Golden Belle) after I got my driver's license in 1971. That means I've been hunting up there on my own for 41 years.

One thing this tramping around proved is that I'm out of shape. The rifle was heavy and my legs tired in no time at all. I need to work on that.

Game Check Stations in Augusta County, VA

Store Name	Address & Telephone
3-B GROCERY	2594 EASTSIDE HIGHWAY, CRIMORA, VA 24431 Telephone: (540) 249-5075 (map)
B & R GROCERY	2475 MT. TORRY ROAD, LYNDHURST, VA 22952 Telephone: (540) 943-9294 (map)
CRAIGSVILLE IGA	139 WEST CRAIG STREET, CRAIGSVILLE, VA 24430 Telephone: (540) 997-5011 (map)
DEERFIELD GROCERY	3070 DEERFIELD VALLEY ROAD, DEERFIELD, VA 24432 Telephone: (540) 939-4656 (map)
DOMINION OUTDOORS	15 ANGELA COURT, FISHERSVILLE, VA 22939 Telephone: (540) 337-9218 (map)
GREENVILLE GROCERY AND DELI	148 MAIN STREET, GREENVILLE, VA 24440 Telephone: (540) 337-1184 (map)
JAKE'S CONVENIENCE & SUBWAY	2436 CHURCHVILLE AVENUE, STAUNTON, VA 24401 Telephone: (540) 886-5229 (map)
LOCKHART'S MARKET	1730 SPRINGHILL ROAD, STAUNTON, VA 24401 Telephone: (540) 886-9820 (map)
MIDDLEBROOK GENERAL STORE	GENERAL DELIVERY, MIDDLEBROOK, VA 24459 Telephone: (540) 886-5815 (map)
MOUNTAIN VIEW GENERAL STORE	162 SHENANDOAH MOUNTAIN DRIVE, WEST AUGUSTA, VA 24485 Telephone: (540) 939-4650 (map)
NEW HOPE GROCERY	67 BATTLEFIELD ROAD, STAUNTON, VA 24401 Telephone: (540) 363-5321 (map)
NORTH RIVER COUNTRY STORE	1434 NORTH RIVER ROAD, MT SOLON, VA 22843 Telephone: (540) 350-2695 (map)
P & J SERVICE CENTER	ROUTE 42, CRAIGSVILLE, VA 24430 Telephone: (540) 997-5412 (map)
SHERANDO GROCERY	1889 MT TORREY ROAD, LYNDHURST, VA 22952 Telephone: (540) 941-4805 (map)
SPEEDY'S FOOD MART	1705 NORTH DELPHINE AVENUE, WAYNESBORO, VA 22980 Telephone: (540) 949-0005 (map)
STOKESVILLE MARKET	90 NORTH RIVER ROAD, MT SOLON, VA 22843 Telephone: (540) 350-2177 (map)
TAYLOR'S GROCERY	1785 LEE HIGHWAY, FORT DEFIANCE, VA 24437 Telephone: (540) 248-5800 (map)
THE GUN SHACK	1105 LAUREL HILL ROAD, VERONA, VA 24482 Telephone: (540) 248-3681 (map)
THE MEATING PLACE	1070 MIDDLEBROOK ROAD, STAUNTON, VA 24401 Telephone: (540) 885-0197 (map)
VALLEY SPORTSMAN	2627 STUARTS DRAFT HWY #105, STUARTS DRAFT, VA 24477 Telephone: (540) 324-0170 (map)
WADE'S STORE	2635 WEST BEV STREET, STAUNTON, VA 24401 Telephone: (540) 886-3886 (map)

Archery Wounding Rates

This has always been of interest to me. My wounding rate is zero but given the odds based on anecdotal information, I thought it likely that someday I'd wound and fail to recover (i.e. KILL) a deer. This study seems to support an 18% wounding rate with EITHER compound bow or crossbow (I am a recurve, or traditional bow shooter).

Green County Examiner-Recorder, Feb 7, 1946

FEW ACCIDENTS WHILE HUNTING

Albany—Hunting is one of the safest of all sports in New York State, according to figures showing
the number of accidents in relation to the number of licensed hunters during 1945 just released
by the Conservation Department.

"It is very encouraging to note," Commissioner Perry B. Duryea said, "that, out of millions of mandays afield last year, we have records of only 117 accidents in the while State. Among nearly 600,000 licensed hunters, less than one in every 5,000 or 0.002 per cent was hurt. Also, only 23, or less than one in every 26,000, were killed—less than the average death rate had all the hunters stayed
home during the hunting season."

 The records showed that, out of 117 hunting accidents: 23 were fatal; 40 were self-inflicted; shotguns caused 78, rifles, 36 and pistols, 3. Careless gun handling and being in the line of fire led the list at 25 each. Tripping or falling came next with 11; eight were due to careless unloading and
seven each of mistaking humans for game and ricocheting bullets.  Careless fence crossing, "didn't
know it was loaded" and having loaded guns in cars, camp or home took their toll, also, but in lesser
numbers.

Hunting, still...

Today began with preparation for Thanksgiving.  Aunt Deanna will be visiting us for the holiday.  She's supposed to be here tonight and go home on Sunday afternoon.  We picked up some things for tomorrow's meal, got the dog groomed, picked up some around the house and then, after eating some REALLY good macaroni and cheese, I went hunting.

Didn't do so well at that.  It was very windy today.  The squirrels were out and about.  The wind doesn't bother them much.  However, the deer, not being so many were apparently either elsewhere or securely bedded down where they could see anyone who approached (or couldn't help but here them, i.e. in the REALLY thick stuff).  I toughed it out until dark but I had to admit defeat and leave when I couldn't see my sights well enough to shoot.

Fortunately, Nana is making fried catfish tonight.  I'm fine with that.

Hunting, of sorts, continues...

Where Grandpa was hunting today

Went out to Mom's to hunt today.  I thought the rain was tapering off, and it had since early morning, but as soon as I was about half way across the pasture it picked right up.  Made it nice and quite and nobody else was in the woods.  Walked right up on several squirrels which were out on the ground.  Found a new rub.  I have heard that the rut is over and the males are in their hidey holes but it seems a couple are out and moving about looking for their lady love.  Unfortunately, I didn't see a one, not even a doe today.  Just got wet.  Then...

Came home to find Nana insistent on taking a couple of dead limbs out of one of the maples by the parking area.  Sigh.  Got out the pole saw.  Moved the truck to where I could get a good angle by standing on the tailgate and still not drop the limb, about 200+ lbs total, on the truck.  Dropped it on the neighbors fence instead.  Took out two rails.  This despite trying to saw it such that it would fold down and miss the fence.  Apparently Murphy was helping today.  Cleaned that up and then started on the other one.  Got a rope on this one from the get go so that we'd have some control.  Made Nana hold the rope so that it would be clear of the saw.  It took about 25 minutes of sawing to cut through that limb.  I am not in shape to do this.  Nana was not happy about standing in the parking space holding the rope.  Got that down and in the back of the truck.  I'll take it out to Mom's tomorrow when I go out to hunt.

Third day straight of hunting...

...but not all day by any means.  I got up, ate breakfast, dressed and went out to hunt.  Nana was making some noise about snow and I didn't believe it.  Was 41° in town when I left and 36° out at Parnassus.  There was some rain in town but the roads were dry by the time I turned down Bunker Hill Road.  However, once I got out of the truck and the gun capped and ready to give fire the wind was blowing and it was spitting the occasional snowflake.  Not enough of them to get a photo but enough to let you know that it was colder than it has been.  I should have worn my wool pants.  Walked down to the woods to watch the trails and sat down.  15 minutes later and I felt blue from the cold.  Ok, so 36° isn't all that cold but darn, it was cutting through those pants and my toes always get cold quick.  Guess I should have worn the boot socks instead of wool hiking socks.  I was not happy.  Nothing was moving.  So, I packed it in and came home.  I am still warming up!  The next 3 hunting days are work days for me but I'll be out Tuesday with a cartridge rifle and we'll see. 

Another day hunting...

Leading Ridge Road with a view of the food plots

Out again today.  More rain to start and then it stopped, at least where I was, before picking up again with a vengeance.

Today I went up above Todd Lake, off Leading Ridge Road to the food plots (well, they were originally) which show as the light green fields in this satellite photo.  I didn't see much but there may have been a hunter along the ridge on the upper right corner of the photo hunting grouse.  There were only two shots, they sounded like a shotgun, and if it had been squirrels he was after he'd have found more than two.  I found quite a bit of mast, acorns, on the ground and no deer prints.  I did find a bit of scat. 

More scat, this near Leading Ridge Road...

Yep, more scat.  Does this describe my hunting?  So, what animal do you think left this?  Is that hair in that scat?  This was dropped right in the middle of the logging road at the bottom edge of that lowest field in the satellite photo.  This is what the field looked like from where the scat was...

I don't think they've planted anything, but it does appear to have been mowed. 

Ok, so I don't know quite where to go tomorrow.  The forecast is for rain showers and colder temperatures.  The deer might be moving a bit as it will be raining all night (and has been).   Bucks only, so, I guess we'll see.

Finally hunting...

Finally got out today.  Wandered out to Mom's place and moseyed around with a bit of a sit-down to watch and wait and see what was going on. 

Rifle capped and ready to go...

Then a little red-head paid me a visit...

Would they come this way?

A bit of a dreary day, it soon started to rain.  I was doing ok where I was sitting for a while as I was beneath a large white pine but as the shower continued I started to get a bit wetter and wetter.  That's not so bad in and of itself but I really didn't want to get water into my charge.  Oh, yes, battles were fought with muzzle-loaders in driving rainstorms but not many and for a reason.  So, at about 12:30 I decided to leave.

On the way out I came across a couple of things.  The first, a deer stand I didn't know about...

Deer stand at the foot of Doe Hollow

Then I came across some fresh scat on the tractor lane along Mom and Dad's pasture.  Can you tell what its from?

Fresh scat!

Squirrel hunting interruptus...

I had a couple of "chores" to do before heading off for fun and frolic with gun in pursuit of the "wiley" squirrel.  Without a care in the world, I walked out to my Ford F150 (late 2004), got in and started her up.  As I backed out I heard a fairly loud "click" and then a "whoooooosh" and then a "thunk".  At first, I thought I'd hit something in the parking area but couldn't remember seeing anything there as I walked up to the truck.  Then I noticed that the driver's side window was open.  Hoping against hope, I thought that perhaps I'd left the window open (but never do) and tried to roll it up.  No go.  Clearly the window regulator had failed.  Last February it was the passenger door regulator that failed.  So, I went and did my "chores" and then to the Ford dealer to drop off the truck and wait for a ride home.  No squirrel hunting today and likely not for tomorrow either!  At least it isn't raining.