Spent a delightful day in the fall woods of Kentucky, yesterday, and am feeling better for it. It was surprisingly chilly, 47° when I started my hunt at 0930. I wore my muffatees for a couple of hours, which seemed strange on a squirrel hunt, they are more usually in the sweltering heat of August and September. I’m undecided about hunting deer this year, but thought a little scouting would be appropriate in case I do it. I saw a lot of sign, and two deer, a doe and a buck, walked by me during the day.
I dressed colonial, which makes any hunt a fun thing even if I don’t get a shot. My kit was as always except for the moccasins, and I wore breechclout instead of breeches. My main pair of moccasins needs some slight repairs, so I wore the first pair I ever made, 26 years ago. They are of elk splits, and were a success, except that the toes came out a bit too pointed. They worked just fine, yesterday.
I carried my 20 gauge flintlock smooth rifle, loaded with 70 grains 2F, brown paper wad, shredded cedar bark, 70 grains equivalent of #5 shot, and a cedar bark overshot wad, primed with 4F.
The day was overcast and the wind calm early on, and leaf fall is well underway, so the woods looked a bit more open. Leaves were heavy on the ground, but were damp enough to make being quiet not a problem. I spent a good part of the day skulking around, mostly on the impressive maze of deer trails, but it did me little good. I saw two squirrels. The first, an adult gray three hours into the hunt, ran along a low horizontal limb less than 20 yards out, and fell to my shot. The second, only a few minutes later, was a large fox squirrel making its way along the top of an old fallen down stone fence 75 yards away. I tried to intercept it, but it disappeared.
The mast at my farm is unusually heavy this year, and many thousands of walnuts litter the woods. My feet are sore today from walking on so many of them. Acorns and hickory nuts of several types are also unusually plentiful. In addition, the persimmons are ripe. During the day I found a large puffball at the perfect stage to harvest, but half eaten, by deer, I presume. Later I found a cluster of four, one eaten on, but I gathered a perfect one for me. I had a great sandwich of it for lunch today, a thick slab sautéed until golden brown and eaten on a sourdough bun.
I had the thought that back in the day when people knew how to use what nature provides, on a day such as this they would have been busy hunting and gathering. I have boyhood memories of picking up hickory nuts out in the woods with my grandparents and mother, enough to fill a gunny sack, and of the hickory nut pies Grandmother made.
Spence
I dressed colonial, which makes any hunt a fun thing even if I don’t get a shot. My kit was as always except for the moccasins, and I wore breechclout instead of breeches. My main pair of moccasins needs some slight repairs, so I wore the first pair I ever made, 26 years ago. They are of elk splits, and were a success, except that the toes came out a bit too pointed. They worked just fine, yesterday.
I carried my 20 gauge flintlock smooth rifle, loaded with 70 grains 2F, brown paper wad, shredded cedar bark, 70 grains equivalent of #5 shot, and a cedar bark overshot wad, primed with 4F.
The day was overcast and the wind calm early on, and leaf fall is well underway, so the woods looked a bit more open. Leaves were heavy on the ground, but were damp enough to make being quiet not a problem. I spent a good part of the day skulking around, mostly on the impressive maze of deer trails, but it did me little good. I saw two squirrels. The first, an adult gray three hours into the hunt, ran along a low horizontal limb less than 20 yards out, and fell to my shot. The second, only a few minutes later, was a large fox squirrel making its way along the top of an old fallen down stone fence 75 yards away. I tried to intercept it, but it disappeared.
The mast at my farm is unusually heavy this year, and many thousands of walnuts litter the woods. My feet are sore today from walking on so many of them. Acorns and hickory nuts of several types are also unusually plentiful. In addition, the persimmons are ripe. During the day I found a large puffball at the perfect stage to harvest, but half eaten, by deer, I presume. Later I found a cluster of four, one eaten on, but I gathered a perfect one for me. I had a great sandwich of it for lunch today, a thick slab sautéed until golden brown and eaten on a sourdough bun.
I had the thought that back in the day when people knew how to use what nature provides, on a day such as this they would have been busy hunting and gathering. I have boyhood memories of picking up hickory nuts out in the woods with my grandparents and mother, enough to fill a gunny sack, and of the hickory nut pies Grandmother made.
Spence
