Swamp sunset

The sun certainly goes down early nowadays. That makes my quick visits to the swamp/park particularly interesting. The low sun- angle makes for some nice views, with sunbeams on tree trunks and lighting up some leaf colors. Also, the critters are very active as night approaches. The daytime patrons are gone by this time, so my antisocial nature is appeased… I have it to myself.

A drizzly afternoon in the swamp

Old Rocky Raccoon was out scrounging for some lunch. He was probably as glad as I was to see some moisture come in, and an overcast sky kept the light level low. The rain was just a sprinkle, but at least it settled the dust. Squirrels were hopping around beneath the bushes and some wood ducks got up from a swamp pond as I approached. The time change still has me confused; with the overcast, it was nearly dark today, when I got away from work.

Fall colors in the woods

It’s a pretty time in the woods… the leaves are beginning to show a bit of color, critters are busy gathering nuts and nest materials. Every puff of breeze brings another shower of leaves fluttering and spinning to the forest floor. The long dry spell we’ve been having seems to have enhanced to leaf color… seems I recall from my botanical studies, that dry weather can concentrate the colorful Xanthophylls in leaves. If we don’t have a cold, wet, blowing weather system howl through here, there might be a really spectacular show of autumn, come the first frosts.

Autumn leaves

Back to standard time; it’s a shock to my system when dark sneaks up on me during that first week after time- change. There’s a heavy carpet of leaves on the forest floor, the cool of the evening sifts down through the trees as the light dims. The squirrels seem particularly busy; I wonder if they are foretelling an extreme winter this year.

Quick trip to the country

Well, I had to work this weekend, but I managed to get away early enough for a Saturday- afternoon hunt. I shouldn’t waste gas on such short trips; it’s not cost- effective, but I had to monitor my guest situation… had some squirrel hunters and I wanted to participate, but I strung my bow, instead, and went to a far end of the place, an isolated little patch of woods at the northeast corner. There were old tracks in the creek; looked like deer had been feeding on acorns falling there. That’s been a good feed- tree in the past; I missed a doe there one time. She stopped in the creek for a drink and I tried for a neck shot. My arrow hit the water right below her throat… sure upset the old girl. I saw only squirrels and chipmunks on this trip. They were close around me, shaking limbs, scratching leaves, waving tails, and keeping an eye on the invader of their territory. My boy went along for the overnight, and we had a quiet time in the cabin. He’s maturing quite a bit, and is almost human when I get him away from his usual environment. No deer came by me Saturday evening; I sat until full dark. However, as last light was fading, I heard a buck grunt across the creek. He was up on the bluff and gave a series of short grunts like he was chasing a doe. He repeated that twice, but stayed back in the woods. Hiking back to camp, I saw 4 deer in the creek but I couldn’t tell anything about them… just 4 sets of eyes in the beam of my light. Broke camp early on Sunday because I had to get back to town and ready for work. It sure was a pretty weekend, weather was great. It is supposed to get even cooler this week, and I’ll be off for a stretch of days to play some more. The muzzle- loader season is opening next weekend and I had high hopes of bagging an archery deer before that... I'd better hunt hard.

Snake program, LHC

I made it to the monthly Louisiana Hiking Club’s 1st Thursday meeting last night. The wife and kid went with me, even; they, too, were interested in the presentation on identifying local snake species. The speaker was Jeff Boundy, a herpetologist from Wildlife & Fisheries. He brought lots of photo- slides and had an entertaining style of presentation, so his talk was both informative and fun. I also picked up a copy of his “Snakes of Louisiana” publication. To top it off, I won a door prize! It was a lexan spork (a cute little plastic spoon, fork, knife combination). There are plenty of club activities going on; we got reports on several recent trips that sounded marvelous, and coming soon, there are some hikes and trail- maintenance outings that I would really like to participate in.

One of the upcoming trips is to Kisatchie National Forest. They are planning a short loop- hike out from the Evangeline Camp, with the first night at that campground and one night out. Brought back some fond memories! One of the funniest things that ever happened to me was right there at that campground. I met some friends there to camp one Friday night and hike the Wild Azalea Trail over the weekend. As we sat in the car Friday night, drinking beer and waiting for the other carload of our group to arrive, there were scads of little boys wandering around, back- and- forth. The gang arrived and we set up tents, started a fire, and passed a pleasant evening with few disturbances from the kids around the campground. With morning, we were up… not too early… and gathering our gear for the trail. The kids (they had to be Boy Scouts) were up and making their preparations also. I heard one of them exclaim, “Look, that’s a girl!” They had spotted Sylvia. Their camp suddenly went silent, and then was a constant buzz until we saddled up our packs and hiked out. I giggled the rest of the trip about that and, a quarter of a century later; it still makes me grin… I sure miss Sylvia.