That time of year.....

Well guys and gals, tomorrow is our big day. But for me, it will be the day that I am not familiar. It will be the first time since 1977 that I will not take that journey to my favorite destination. My camp is located in North Central PA that is about 5 hours from my house. It wasn't a weekend trip mostly because we do not have electricity or running water, which means we have to bring everything! It is one of two places I hunt in PA. The other spot belongs to a very good and dear friend, who I have hunted and fished with since 1985, in South Central PA. I remember the early years of my life, when I watched my father get his hunting equipment together and could not wait until the day that I could share my own experiences in the woods with my father. He would get dressed in his hunting clothes for me and my sister. They would hunt the first week of the season. They would leave for the camp on Sunday around 4 in the morning. They would get the camp ready for the week. Hook up the propane, start a fire in the pot-belly stove to warm up the contents of the camp, unpack all the cars and trucks, put away the food for the week, make coffee, claim their beds and get them ready. Then came the sighting in of the rifles. The took turns shooting. When you were not shooting you went to the spring to fill up the jugs with water. Then when everything was done, they went to the other camps in the area to see old friends and talk about were everyone will go that first morning . When I was 12 we always went back to the camp so I could hunt. My dad would take me out of school on the last Friday of the second week. Then when I was able to take the first week off, I have never missed opening day of buck season in PA. Until this year.

Trail Cameras

I am trying to find the right trail camera. Right now I have a Moultrie and I am not happy with the video function. I need the video to work at night. The pictures are alright but it seem like the flash does not help with animals that are more then 10-12 feet away. If someone has what I have and has any suggestions, I would appreciate them. If someone has a camera that they are real happy with, what kind is it?

Here are some of my pictures.

Black Squirrels

It has been a long time since I have seen a black squirrel in Pennsylvania were I live or hunt. When my family took a trip to Niagara Falls they were all over the place. When I was 12 or 13 years old, hunting squirrels with my father, I saw one (my first sighting of one). That all changed two years ago. Everyday on my way to work, I would look in this yard were I first saw the squirrel. Sometimes I would see it and sometimes not. Well yesterday driving by the same yard, I saw it again. But know there are now 4 of them. I just thought is was pretty unusual to see them in the place I live and not in the real wild. I would like to know if anyone else has seen any black squirrels lately?

Getting lost in the woods

This happened around 15 years ago. I have been hunting this spot all my life. I knew it like the back of my hand. So I thought. It was early afternoon when I got to my stand. It was such a nice day. Partly cloudy, no wind and around 36 degrees. It is now almost late afternoon. Not seeing any deer, I decided to work my way through the laurel and rhododendron. Before I left I looked to where I wanted to go. OK, I got it. Well let my tell you, the woods look different at different times of the day (hint). I figured out how long it should take me and at what pace to get to where I was going. Calculated. Now to implement the plan. I started to still hunt back to the truck. Moving very slowly, focusing on any movement, the woods where getting darker. It was hard to pick up the silhoutte of the sky line. it started to blend in with the mountainside. I also had another problem, I should seeing familiar landmarks. Instead I started to go down the mountain. Now what? I stayed as calm as I could and knew that me vehicle was on the top of the ridge. I heard the roar of the creek. What a beautiful sound. I also knew that all the hollows with creeks all lead back to the my destination. I went down to the creek and just followed it back to familiar sites. Where I hunt if you get lost you never walk down stream. So when you hunt a different spot, see how the creeks run, Do I need to go down stream or upstream (hint).

Another time my brother-in-law was hunting in an area that he doesn't hunt often. He was told where to go and with him be somewhat familiar, he had an idea of the layout of the hollow. It was getting dark so he desided to hunt back to the trail and back to the truck. He got disorented. Next thing you know, he is not back to the meeting place (the truck). A few shots in the air (pretty dumb to shoot in the air)and no signs of him. An hour or so, here comes this vehicle up the road. It stopped and quess who came out. You got it, my brother-in-law. He followed the creek down which was his first no-no. If he stayed were he was, he would have been found, instead of walking through woods, you don't know, in the dark just stay put. If you told someone where you are going to be they can get to you sooner.

The weather

Today it is @ 80 degrees outside. Doesn't seem like hunting season, which small game starts real soon.

To my friends

This is the e-mail I was talking about. It looks like deer season could be a wash this yesr. I still would like to go to the camp or somewhere else to hunt squirrels. Until next time. Talk to you later

Welcome

As you can tell this is the first entry into this blog. I am from Pennsylvania and love the outdoors. I hunt, fish, and hike. If you hunt in Pa what kind of weapon do you use? Since I only have weekends to hunt and my camp is 4 hours away, I only rifle hunt. When the price of gas goes down (yeh right) I plan on trying archery. My favorite fish is (early season) trout. After the about 4 weeks after that, I usually just fish for smallmouth bass. But if I go the the Delaware River all bets are off. I have caught all kinds of fish there. Where do you fish? The location isn't important, but the name of the river or creek or lake would be nice. I know some have their honeyholes and do not like to share. I can understand that, especially if the spots are small. So lets here from everyone. It doesn't matter what state you are from. Maybe someone does something different and others would like to try.