Squirrel Hunting on a Saturday afternoon Blog 279)

One of the most pleasurable activities possible on a January or February Saturday afternoon is to walk out our backdoor and squirrel hunt for a few hours on our 38-acre Southwest Virginia land. The snow that fell a week ago was so deep and it has been cold for so long, that I have not been able to hunt bushytails until today.

I had been outside for about 45 minutes without seeing or hearing any gray squirrels, so I decided to make some squirrel barks with my mouth.  A squirrel about 75 yards away answered, so I tried to still hunt toward it through the still, deep snow.

Despite my best efforts, I made too much noise, and the animal spotted me, as did the next squirrel, I tried the barking gambit on.

Meanwhile, my son-in-law David was also afield, and he was able to kill a silvertail.  Tomorrow afternoon, we are going again.  The goal...kill four squirrels between us and have Elaine and Sarah fix us a squirrel casserole.

Happy Birthday, Elaine (Blog 278)

Today is Elaine's birthday, the snow is falling heavily here in Botetourt County, Virginia, and accumulations could be several feet.  Snowed in with my sweetheart is not a bad thing to contemplate.

When Elaine woke up, I had a series of Youtube birthday songs cued for her, leading off with "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby," followed by "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen," and others.

Yesterday our grandson Sam and I made the birthday dessert (wineberry cobbler) for today, and this morning Elaine and I put the makings for her birthday lunch (venison roast) in our cast iron pot to simmer throughout the morning hours.  The recipe comes courtesy of friend Doak Harbison.

This evening, we'll have homemade strawberry jam on bread and perhaps some lunch leftovers, then play Scrabble for the evening entertainment.  All in all, not a bad day.

Wintertime Turkey Hunting or Snowed in? (Blog 277)

This coming Saturday, I am supposed to take two friends turkey hunting.  One of the friends has never gone afield for turkeys, so I am very much looking forward to taking him. Virginia's two-week winter turkey season in January is a great time to introduce people to the wonders of turkey hunting.

But the forecast for Friday is for five inches or more of snow, so I spent part of my time today bringing firewood from our outdoor woodpile to our garage where we store wood.

 I have to confess I will be quite content if there is snow or not.  If the snowfall does not happen, I will have a great time trying to find and call in birds for my friends.  If I am snowed in for the weekend, I will start the wood stove on Friday and be content to sit by the fire, work on stories, and play Scrabble with Elaine.  I think she is planning to bake a blackberry pie for the weekend and prepare some kind of wild turkey dish.  It's a win-win situation for me.

First Saturday after Deer Season (Blog 276)

The first Saturday after Virginia's deer season, Elaine and I fall into a comfortable groove, which is one of the reasons I enjoy the winter season so much.  I spend Saturdays behind the house either cutting wood, doing wildlife habitat improvement projects, or squirrel hunting.

Then on Saturday evenings, we have a locavore themed dinner, play Scrabble, and listen to Prairie Home Companion. Elaine almost always cooks dinner, but as a way of saying thank you for her being so understandable about all my deer and turkey hunting, I was the cook last night.

My two major efforts were baked venison burgers with sharp cheddar cheese and wineberry cobbler, the former from a deer I had killed on our land, the latter from berries picked during our rambles.  We then had a rousing game of Scrabble (our Scrabble tournament is over 25 years old and we have had 64 best of 11 matches) and listened to the radio.  All in all, it was a wonderful evening with my wife.

Downton Abbey Comes to Botetourt County, Virginia (Blog 275)

It is the launch weekend for the final season of Downton Abbey, and as part of the preshow hoopla, I was given an afternoon of royal English treatment.  Bruce had told me to vacate to the upstairs around 3:00.  Shortly afterwards, I heard the clomp, clomp, clomp of footsteps in the hall, and there, making an appearance, were two black-clad footmen presenting tea and a muffin.  The taller of the two was Bruce, and the mystery of the clomping became clear when I looked down and saw his leather wingtips, worn at our wedding 37 1/2 years ago and sporting almost that large a layer of dust. 

The shorter footman was our grandson Sam, carefully carrying the muffin plate. 

I dressed for dinner in all my jewels, some of which Sam had to alternately wear or place on the  toy train track for crashes and other excitement.  After an appropriate time of puzzle play and trains, dinner was served informally in the kitchen with all household members eating together.  The dowager would be shocked, but after all, times are changing.   

Christmas with Elaine (Blog 274)

Today is Christmas Eve, and our kids and grandchildren are coming her for lunch.  Yesterday, Elaine spent much of the day cooking and preparing for the repast today.  As always, she wants to be the best possible mom and grandmother for them.

I met Elaine in June of 1974 at a summer camp, and I was definitely infatuated with her, if not in love with her, from the first time I saw her. For years I wanted to ask her out but did not do so until 1977 when we had all of five dates before I proposed. This is our 39th Christmas together.

She once told me that everyday she tries to make me laugh, something she excels at.  But what Elaine is spectacularly good at is making her so easy to love and adore. I knew when I met her that she was a superior woman, and my first impression was correct.

Merry Christmas, sweetheart.

Holiday Plans (Blog 273)

The first semester at school ended yesterday, and the fortnight-plus of days off lends itself to a realm of possibilities. Some of the things I would like to do are as follows.

Spend some time playing with my grandsons.

Do habitat improvement projects on the land behind our house.

Cut firewood

Go fishing with Britt Stoudenmire of the New River Outdoor Company on the New River. We often fish together on New Year's Day.

Not carry a gun, and take other people deer and turkey hunting.

Welcome Elaine's and my son Mark back from Alaska

Work on magazine article assignments and queries for the coming year

Spend time with my sweetheart Elaine, my favorite thing to do.

Down and Out on a West Virginia Muzzleloader Hunt (Blog 272)

A doe standing still and broadside at a distance of 25 yards would seem like an easy target on the last day of West Virginia's muzzleloader season.  But not when  the trigger is pulled and the only sound is a light "snick."

Over the years, I have committed many snafus during Virginia and West Virginia's muzzleloader seasons, and today was just my latest miscue.  There was the time when snow had somehow leaked into the barrel, the time the cap was slightly misshapen and caused the gun not to fire, and the time I had not seated the bullet properly.

Today, the problem, as I found out later, was that the powder had somehow become moist.  I cleaned out the gun, put in fresh powder, and test fired, and the results were satisfactory.  It's too late to do anything about my West Virginia misadventure, but I will be afield this evening in Virginia to try again.

December Bowhunting (Blog 271)

I haven't hunted for the past several weeks as I have been busy taking other people afield. My biggest thrill was sitting beside a novice adult hunter who killed his first deer the day after Thanksgiving.

So I went back to bowhunting today.  I have always struggled  to kill a deer during the December bow and muzzleloader seasons.  And today was no exception.  I arose early, decided to hunt from a ground blind, and proceeded to not see a whitetail all morning.

At 10:00 A.M., shivering and hungry, I decided to call it a day.  Outdoor writers often write about the second rut that occurs in December and what a great opportunity it is for individuals after trophy bucks.  Personally, any day in December when I can spot a deer of either sex of any age is a good one for me.

I have long held the view that the second rut is mostly a creature of outdoor writers in need of selling a story.

Reading to My Grandson Eli (Blog 270)

A Thanksgiving tradition for Elaine and me is to have Wednesday dinner at our daughter Sarah and her husband David's house.  As usual, Elaine and Sarah prepared a delicious meal.

But the highlight for me came after dinner when my 1 1/2-year-old grandson Eli came over to me, crawled up onto the sofa and said, "Read."

Sarah and David have done an outstanding job in inculcating a love of reading in their two boys, Sam and Eli.  As a school teacher, I know how important this is as reading to a child is one of the nost developmentally important things a parent can do.

Afterwards, Elaine and I marvelled at how Eli's vocabulary is growing, as he seems to know many more words every time we visit with him.

Mentoring New Hunters (Blog 269)

Saturday morning, I am taking two adult hunters afield on land that Elaine and I own in Craig County, Virginia.  One has only been hunting a few years, and the other just started this fall. I won't be carrying a gun, as I want to concentrate on them killing a deer.

I actually enjoy not toting a rifle and concentrating on putting others in a good spot to succeed.  One will be overlooking a feeding flat and the other a bedding area.  It has been fun to go over with them all the possible scenarios for the morning, and the possibilities that the game plans I have devised will be successful.

Who knows how tomorrow will turn out, hopefully we will be bringing two deer to my butcher's.

Opening Day of Virginia's General Firearms Season Blog (268)

My son-in-law David Reynolds and I went hunting on one of our family's three Craig County properties today, which was the first day of Virginia's General Firearms seasons for deer.  David and I were hoping to see a nice buck, but, realistically, both of our objectives were to kill a doe.

Although both of use saw some 16 deer between us, neither of us ever fired a shot.  The only deer that we could have shot were spikes and 2 and 4 pointers, which we both passed on.  In fact, I had one 2 pointer broadside and 20 yards away, and David probably could have shot several 1 1/2-year-old bucks.

The most interesting aspect of the hunt was the sea change that has occurred the last 10 to 15 years or so about hunters not shooting  1 1/2-year-old bucks, and many individuals not shooting 2 1/2-year-old ones, either.

When I started deer hunting in 1985, that attitude was not common, either.  Again, the metamorphosis of hunters in this area is fascinating.

Doe Day in Craig County (Blog 267)

Today was the only doe day for Craig County during Virginia's early muzzleloader season, so I went to our 140-acre tract there.  The forecast was for morning long rain, so I brought along a pop-up blind, so I could hunt without becoming wet.

I had been to our Craig land twice earlier this autumn, both times pursuing turkeys.  On those two occasions, the turkeys had never come close enough to shoot despite my scattering gangs both time.  I did see good numbers of deer both times, once, in fact, spotting 13.

This time, however, I saw a gang of eight turkeys ambling by at a distance of just 35 yards, and the only two deer I saw were 125 yards away, well out of my range, especially given the terrain and underbrush.  Random chance has not operated in my favor on my three visits to the property this year.

Success in the Virginia Fall Turkey Woods (Blog 266)

This morning, Virginia's early muzzleloading season began, and I relish my time using a smokepole to pursue deer.  But the fall turkey season was still in, and I had not killed a bird - so there was no doubt that I would be going turkey hunting.

I hope to do a magazine story on the outing, but the short version is that I called in and killed a jenny that weighed all of nine pounds.  Although I have had a satisfying deer season so far, nothing this entire hunting season brought me so much joy as

tagging that turkey.

Deer hunting is a complex, wonderful pastime that is richly satisfying, but I love nothing better than pursuing turkeys in the spring and fall.  Elaine and I cut off every bit of meat that we could from that turkey and will honor it by eating many meals from the bird.  What a thrilling day.

Lost Weekend of Fall Turkey Hunting Blog 265)

There is nothing I enjoy doing more in the fall than turkey hunting.  As much as I relish pursuing deer, when Virginia's fall turkey starts, I stop deer hunting for the weekend.  I will share the two low points.  On Saturday when I finally came across a flock, I began the charge to scatter the gang - and made it all of five running steps before I tripped and fell.  Needless to say, the bust was not a good one.

And after coming close to having a shot on Sunday, I was so tired that I left my Northeast Proucts Therm-A-Seat Wedge behind in the woods. I was so exhausted that I had to ask my long suffering wife Elaine if she would drive me back to the mountain where I had left it behind.

So the highlight of my weekend was my being able to find the tree where I had left my seat cushion behind.  Driving to and looking for the seat took about 2 1/2 hours - lost time on a lost weekend.  I will be back turkey hunting this coming weekend.  Things can't go any worse, I hope.

The Death of our Buff Orpington hen, Ophelia (Blog 264)

It was not a good week in our Buff Orpington chicken run.  We only had two BOs left of the four that hatched last April, and now there is only one.  Ophelia had been a great layer since she started in September and produced an egg on Wednesday, behaved normally on Thursday, and was dead Friday morning.

Elaine and I are at a total loss to figure out what happened.  And poor Orville, now alone in the run, has spent Friday and Saturday looking for Ophelia and giving the food cluck.

Fortunately, our Rhode Island Red run is adjacent to the Buff one, so Orville will at least have the company of other chickens.  But we expect it will be a very lonely winter for him, as it will be spring before we order some new Buffs.

In Praise of Virginia's Sunday Hunting (Blog 263)

Last Saturday was opening day of Virginia's early archery season, and most of the day I spent watching rain come down.  Therefore, it was both a joy and a relief to be able to go hunting on Sunday.  And even more of a joy when I killed a very nice mature doe that morning.

This Sunday afternoon, I am taking Robin Clark of Virginia's Wheelin' Sportsmen bowhunting as part of a suburban deer hunt.  We will be setting up in a blind in a backyard whose home owner has told me she is plagued by an overpopulation of deer.

Both Robin and I had other commitments on Saturday, and Sunday afternoon was the best time for us to go.  I hope he arrows a fat doe.

Deer Kidney Pot Pie, Anyone? (Blog 262)

While hunting behind our Botetourt County, Virginia home this morning, I was fortunate enough to kill a mature doe with my Parker Thunderhawk Crossbow.  After dragging the doe back to the house, I asked Elaine, as usual, to help a little with the field dressing chores.

Also, as usual, I cut out the heart and tongue (both delicacies as far as I am concerned) and Elaine took them to the kitchen to clean and freeze for later use.  As I was working on the bottom loins, I asked my sweetheart if she would mind making some kidney pot pie like the British do.

Elaine said she would make the entree, but I would have to eat it all myself the first time. We would appreciate any advice from folks who have prepared kidneys.

Rain on Opening Day of West Virginia's Bow Season (Blog 261)

For several months, I have looked foward to opening day of West Virginia's bow season, which is today, September 26.  But all week the forecast has been for rain today, and, unfortunately, the forecast was accurate.

Ten or so days ago, I had made a quick visit to our Gap Mills land in Monroe County to check out the acorn situation.  I had determined my stand site and made my game plan for the day, which was simple - stay on stand until noon, go back to the truck for lunch and a nap, and be back on stand by 2:30, and stay there until dark or until I arrowed a deer.

The rainy forecast was so ominous last night that I didn't even bother to set the alarm.  As I write this, it is now 10:47 A.M. and the forecast remains poor for the rest of the day.  I imagine my bow will remain where it is.

Locavore Weekend: Deer Butchering, Grape Jelly, and More (Blog 260)

Elaine and I experienced a very busy weekend last week.  On Friday evening, we gathered wild summer grapes.  On Saturday, she and I prepared the grapes so that our daughter Sarah and Elaine could make the actual jelly on Sunday.

Saturday morning, I killed a doe, and we spent part of Saturday and Sunday butchering it.  We saved the heart and tongue for lunches this week, froze the top and bottom loins, and canned the rest.

Our last task, food wise, was to pick crabapples from our Dolgo crabapple tree.  Elaine made crabapple/walnut muffins this week.

A busy weekend, but a productive one.