I Can Feel It

[Whip]

I just walked out to the road pick up the morning paper and it hit me like a brick.  We've had nothing but rain for the last week straight.  Gray skies, humidity, all around miseralbe weather.  And before that it was just plain hot.
But today, I could feel a coolness in the  predawn morning air.  Humidity is down, and there is that late summer smell that reminds me fall is very close.  The momma deer that has been hanging around the house all summer with her babies is mottled brown mixed with red now.  Hunting trips have started for some, and drawing close for the rest of us.
The time we live for is here!

[Golden Hawk]

You got that right Joe! Looking forward to leaving myself soon.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I have been seeing lots of deer so far. I can't wait till Sept 8th, thats Jersey's start of the Fall Bow season... It's like you can smell it in the air.

[wapiti792]

Here in Illinois the first of the corn is being shelled. There is a bustle to the farmers mentality, and for the first time in a long time I awoke to rain hitting the window and a nice cool breeze. In just a week's time I go west to climb and hunt. When I return most of the corn will be in, the days will be a little shorter, and there will be a hint of fall in the breeze. Nothing like fall in the heartland. You can feel the energy as all the critters prepare for it. It won't be long now and those necks will start to swell, and those "friends" that hung out together all summer will need some space. Life is good.

[jonesy]

oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeee gettin close!

[BamBooBender]

Send some of that rain up north. My yard this year looks like it did when I lived in TX.    

I can feel it too. The leaves are already beginning to turn on some of the trees(prolly cause of the drought). Been seeing a lot more deer on the move also. Only 21 days to go!  

[smoke1953]

Same feeling, but I'm just a short distance south of you. Worked on stands last week and checked out the acorn crop which was non-existent last year in central Wis. where I hunt.  Much more promising this year, some of the white oaks are producing though there is some premature drop  First year longbow and I couldn't be more excited. Good huntin.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I just came back from a day trip up to WI to hang some stands and do some work for that person who owns the property I hunt. Lots of trees down in that woodlot. Thank God I brought extra gas for the chainsaw.

The trails were pounded down with tracks and the farmer's crops looked great. Aside from there being no acorns, things look promising. Opening day up there's in 3 weeks. Have tags, will travel.

[Pinecone]

Autumn comes early in North Dakota and I've been seeing deer, turkeys, and pheasants regularly.  The morning air is brisk, with low fog hanging over the river bottoms and the wind sifting harmonically through the remaining fields of golden wheat.
Earlier today I was trimming shooting lanes at a whitetail stand site and next week I'll be pronghorn hunting in Wyoming.  The harvest is about to begin.
Blessings to the breath of Fall...with all of the dreams that are inspired, with all of the emotions evoked, with all of the challenges accepted.
And blessings to the hunters who cross the threshold to this sacred season as primal participants in an ancient dance.  May we celebrate in the light of our campfires forever...

Claudia

[paleFace]

amen Claudia!  i long for that first whiff of fall accompanied by the morning chill and steady breeze that gives life to the pastel pallet of autumn leaves. soon, real soon. the hunter and hunted will once again cross paths....

[Kevin Bahr]

We have had one hot, humid, miserable August here.  Too hot to even think about moving/working on stands, at least for me.  The weather forecast says 70's for highs at the end of this week.  I sure hate to miss that, but I leave for Newfoundland in just over a day with 5 other guys from Illinois and Wisconsin, so I guess I'll have to hope for nice weather when I get back.  
Overcast all day yesterday with a nice, cool evening.  Cool this morning, shot the longbow one last time before leaving.  Heard a flock of geese working a cornfield that just got picked.  Nothing sounds like "wild in the midwest" like a flock of Canadas.  Seeing lots of deer at work, some tiny fawns still.  My son Chase and I were out squirrel hunting last weekend.  Two shots, no squirrels but we didn't lose any arrows so that's a good start.  HUGE storm blew in, we got up next to a big oak to try to get under the canopy a little better.  Wasn't long before it was an absolute deluge. We almost had to yell to hear each other because of the rain.  I told him that this would be good weather for deer to be moving and as if on cue, two fawns appeared and were chasing each other around, almost like playing tag.  They would stop, start, stop, it was hilarious.  They started running straight at us and got to within 20 yards but saw or heard us laughing too loud and poof, gone in an instant.  It was good time to teach him not to shoot at anything in that kind of weather, unless it is in open country like a caribou, which is on our list for next year.  Then the lightning started and was WAY too close so we mad a mad, muddy dash for the truck.  Didn't break any arrows, bows or bones but we sure got soaked.  
All in all another great day to be in the woods.  Can't wait til cool, crisp mornings and hunting with friends here and in Wisconsin this fall.  But first, moose hunting...
Sorry for the long story, but you started it Joe!

[joebuck]

I felt it too yesterday, 13' up a hackberry tree.....101 degrees and hanging a tree ladders...It has been awlful down here in the south. I saw three coyotes over past week with the mange or no hair.I just hung one stand. Hydrated alot with Propel water and took it slow.....1% of my trail camera pics have picture during legal shooting light... Ya'll talking about 70 degree stuff...well, dang it ya'll are just down right bragging...Dove season is next weekend. I'm taking my 5 year old for his "first" hunt. It may be a short one..I took my bow one year opening morning with 30 homemade flu flus..they still talk about me in a strange tone....KB... I love also the sound of geese..It gets me in the mood of fall everytime..Hope you see Bullwinkle!

[Kevin Bahr]

Thanks Joey, me too!  Good luck on your hunt.  At that age, it can be an excercise in futility.  Builds character though, not his, yours...HA!