9/26/11 A VISIT TO THE DEER STAND

UNDER AN AZURE BLUE SKY

BEAR PRINT

DEER PRINTS

LADIES TRESSES ORCHIDS

BIGLEAF ASTERS

Monday, 8:00 AM.  51.5 degrees, wind NE, light with moderate gusts.  The sky is clear and azure blue, the barometer predicts rain, but the humidity is low so it is not likely to do so soon.
    I took a walk down to my deer stand yesterday, to see what some additional logging has done to the area. I thought the habitat damage not too great, and it will actually improve as young growth is regenerated in another growing season or two.  There were not a great many deer tracks, in fact more bear and coyote tracks (I didn’t see any canine tracks big enough to be wolf) than deer, but I will console myself by the fact that the rut has not yet started, as there was not a rub or a scrape evident, and there should be a lot more deer sign when it does start.  The logging left my deer stand unscathed but maybe a little naked, and it really looks too low off the ground now, but I am not about to raise it any higher and tempt fate.
    I have heard reports of a good grouse population, but I saw none in a fairly long walk through pretty good habitat.  I didn’t take Lucky because I was afraid he wouldn’t make it back on his own, and bird hunting without a dog is no fun at all for me and not very productive.  I am sorry now that I do not have another dog in training, but I really have been reluctant to upset old Lucky, who has been a faithful partner, with an obvious rival. I probably should just take him hunting until he drops on the trail one day; to quote my mother, “Let me die with my boots on.” To once again quote the Old Man in Robert Ruark's The Old Man and The Boy: "Two things got no place on this earth, an old dog and an old man.  Neither serves any useful function, and both generally smell bad." Of course the Old Man was in his cups the day he said that, and in general felt better about things the next day.
    I came across a large patch of ladies tresses orchids (Spiranthes cernua), the bees were busy working the goldenrods, and the cutting of trees has encouraged the blooming of huge clones of bigleaf aster (Aster macrophylla).