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Author Topic: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting  (Read 2346 times)

Offline Killdeer

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Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« on: September 18, 2008, 03:23:00 PM »
Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting.

As improbable as it seemed a month ago, the opportunity for me to slip away for a day and just follow the Red Gods about the forest magically appeared before me. Irresponsible by nature, I seized the moment and donned my grasshopper persona. I would do nothing but wander and fiddle away the day.

Awaking a little late, I put The Magic Bow and assorted gewgaws in the truck. A stop at the froofy coffee place, and I was away. The waning moon hung before me, a beacon to the west. My destination was an overused Wildlife Management Area. It being before the general firearms season for deer, and it being a Wednesday, I knew that I would likely have plenty of buffer space between me and anybody else who might have plans for the area.

Stars winked out and the lights went up, my heart singing with the tires on the Interstate, freedom beckoned just ahead! Gray turned to day as I pulled into the lot. Empty. Perfect!

Now, this goes with, this stays. Definitely DEET! Slather on, wash off palms…put the food in the quiver, bottle of water, just look at all the Jewelweed! Spotted touch-me-not, with all of those spring-loaded seedpods, is one of my favorites. Out comes the camera, because the dew is so perfect. Never mind the low light, the hands shaking from excitement and urgency, the lack of a tripod. I did my best, considering the myriad of things running through my mind. I was buzzed a few times by hummingbirds, stocking up for their migration south.

   

OK, amateur Ansel, we came here to hunt, so let’s get at it!

Killdeer    :D
Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

~Longfellow

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Offline Killdeer

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2008, 03:26:00 PM »
Yup, we came here to hunt, and a-hunting we will go. Just behind the gate is the path to adventure! Happily I start up the gravelly track, sneakers crunching merrily along the tree shrouded lane. There’s a brown thing. I could wait an hour, to see if it moves, or wait for full light, or blunder into it or…I bring the binoculars up and watch a scrawny spike nosing about the shrubbery ahead. He is safe for now, and he certainly acts as though he knows it. I close the distance a bit and strike a hunterly pose. He gazes back placidly, as though those three-inch velveted spikes were a magic charm to protect him from all evil. A car goes by up above us, and he distractedly turns toward the sound, then resumes grazing. I shorten the gap to thirty yards. He looks up, and starts the twitchy fidgeting and head bobbing that all deer find proper in such circumstances. He eyes the steep upward embankment that leads to the main road. I turn aside and study the ground. He reverses direction and haltingly lurches into the brushy ravine below us. Good choice. I didn’t want to be responsible for driving him into the road. Now, with that behind me, I could go hunt, right? And so I did.

Coming up to the end of the lane, the trees gave way to grass as I walked up to the dam that keeps a beautiful body of water from turning into a stream before its time. I was looking forward to seeing the mostly full moon hanging in and over the water at this special time of day. What met my gaze had me a bit nonplussed. About half the water was missing! Here was real estate that I had only guessed at, cracked, and parts of it overgrown with grasses and wildflowers.  Rocks and a manmade fish-holding structure looked embarrassed at their exposure to the casual gaze. The level was down a good twelve to fifteen feet. I would have to check this out further, once I got done looking at God’s garden here on the dam. See all that green grass at the back of the lake? That’s supposed to be water.

 

Killdeer
Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

~Longfellow

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Offline Killdeer

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #2 on: September 18, 2008, 03:29:00 PM »
There was a wildly diverse garden growing here on the dam, and the dew was perfect, so I got the ol’ camera out again, and started seeing what was what. There was a throwback to the sixties, pokeweed, in all its psychedelic glory.

 

Thistles were peaking, and I knew that later on they would be hosting tiger swallowtails, metalmarks and goldfinches.

 

There were heathers and ferns and sumac, and grasses with their tips painted vermilion as though a blood trail were spouted over them. The sumacs were doing that too, their green-fringed arms sporting the brightest red tassels, as though the former inhabitants of this place come back every fall for celebrations, hunts and feasts. There was stuff I didn’t know the name of, too, and I took pics for later identification. Anybody know what this is? Heaven forbid that I should have to Google it up.

 

I wanna find out what this is, too. These are the things that are mostly big white seeds under the skin and when you pinch them you can shoot them at your friends. I didn’t find these till later, but as long as somebody may be  looking stuff up…

 

Like I said, the dew was perfect, and before I had traversed half the length of the dam, my socks were soaked. It not being too chilly, I just shrugged and went with it. I could sit and dry them later.

I turned my attention to the lake bed. Deeply cracked, indecently exposed, well, I had to look. Maybe a 1966 Hula Popper was in there. Ya never know

Killdeer~gotta go to my weekly meeting of the Chagrined Again Hunting Club  :wavey:
Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.

~Longfellow

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Offline Tom Anderson

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #3 on: September 18, 2008, 03:30:00 PM »
Like poetry, lady.
(formerly "NativeCraft")
Wilson, NC

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Offline jesse cales

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #4 on: September 18, 2008, 03:37:00 PM »
more!!!!!

Offline Terry Green

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2008, 03:38:00 PM »
:thumbsup:
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Offline Apex Predator

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2008, 03:47:00 PM »
Awesome stuff Lady!  Photos are magnificient!
I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables!

Offline bbassi

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2008, 03:49:00 PM »
very nice start Killie, I love ready your writing.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt.

Offline ken denton

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2008, 03:50:00 PM »
Great story and photos! Got any photos of your camp, gear, yourself, and you bow setup with the beautiful arrows you make? You make us remember to look at the beauty around us as we hunt! Thanks, Killdeer. Ken
"Arrows into the wind", What a wounderful sight!!!

Online rastaman

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2008, 03:52:00 PM »
Beautiful words...beautiful pics...  :notworthy:
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Offline Stone Knife

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2008, 03:52:00 PM »
Kathy, those are spectacular photos as always   :thumbsup:
Proverbs 12:27
The lazy do not roast any game,
but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.


John 14:6

Online Pat B

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2008, 04:00:00 PM »
Killy, is the shrub with the red berries spice bush(Lyndera benzoin)? Kinda looks like it to me. Makes good tea and arrow shafts! The other with the purple/blue flowers looks like a lezpedezia(sp); flowers look pea like.
   Great pics! I always enjoy your take on nature. I can tell where your heart is from it!    Pat
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!
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Offline JEFF B

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2008, 04:02:00 PM »
awesome killie dear  :campfire:    :coffee:  but hurry back and tell somemore.
'' sometimes i wake up Grumpy;
other times i let her sleep"

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Offline Talondale

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #13 on: September 18, 2008, 04:05:00 PM »



Looks like beggar's lice, can't tell for sure but at least similar:     http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/71406/

These leaves are trefoil like BL but look a little more broad, and most BL is a more gangly plant.

Offline hormoan

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2008, 04:14:00 PM »
Woderful pictures and story Ansel\\Killdeer, you see the best in life. And best of all share it.  :thumbsup:  

                  Brent

Offline horatio1226

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #15 on: September 18, 2008, 04:49:00 PM »
Those pictures are incredible Killdeer!
"So long as the moon returns to the heavens in a bent, beautiful arc, so long will the fascination with archery in man lasts."

Offline yellow bow

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #16 on: September 18, 2008, 05:11:00 PM »
what great pics!  :thumbsup:

Offline imskippy

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #17 on: September 18, 2008, 05:20:00 PM »
Wonderful story so far!!  :clapper:    :clapper:    :clapper:
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Offline Doc Nock

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #18 on: September 18, 2008, 05:21:00 PM »
I'd give a big nickle to scout through her photo file...but without the poetic rhetoric that goes with it when she posts, might not carry the same impact!

Thanks for sharing, melady!  :)
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Offline Pinecone

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Re: Catch and Release Squirrel Hunting
« Reply #19 on: September 18, 2008, 05:54:00 PM »
Absolutely wonderful, Killie!  Thank you for brightening up the work week!

Claudia
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