Saturday was a beautiful morning and I took the dog along for the last scouting trek prior to our season opening 9/7. Being this is public land that includes numerous hiking trails and I won't be back for a month I was focused on potential stand locations, trails, sign and any clues I and the dog could discern... Its been a VERY damp summer this year. The weather man noted this morning would be rain free, as were Saturday and Sunday, the longest (3 day streak) without rain since June! To say the vegetation was lush may be an understatement. The dog was eagerly exploring and smelling away. After checking ou the swamp and waterside sites we moved into the fields. And she continued making all kinds of astute discoveries. After about a mile of hiking through old fields overgrown with goldenrod and briers we came over a rise and caught a quick glimpse of a turkey before jumping the first doe. I don't recall the goldenrod as tall and dense as it was. Wild flowers also in bloom and blackberry bushes still holding fruit normally gone by mid June. We meandered out of the fields, over a stream and continued down old paths strewn with tracks and back into a few milo fields. Jumping 4 more deer and a few snakes. A brief rest in the shade and we headed back out. Total hike ~5 miles. -Bill
sounds like a good scouting/woodsman ship brush up trip all wrapped up into one! good stuff for sure. Very observant, should have been a detective.
