Got a new camera this week. It's a nice compact 10MPixel. I needed an excuse to get out into the woods to try it out so I took it along for a "rabbit hunt." There are plenty of snowshoe hares in my area, but without a dog, I figured I'd be sightseeing more than hunting. That's fine with me these days. I was in a rush to get out the door, and forgot my pin on compass - a huge mistake as far as I'm concerned.
I did pack the minikit, which has a button compass/thermometer combination. The compass was good enough to get me back home, which really wasn't that far. Here's some of the gear I took. I packed a light .22 autoloader - a Bersa in this case. I carried a few .22LR shells. It's good enough for "minute of bunny" at 10 yards or so under ideal conditions.
Here's a gear shot: survival kit, .22LR, compass and Buck 476, the diamondback. It's a nothing fancy knife, but I've used it to clean one rabbit and one deer and it did fine.
I also had my license, wool pants, thin rubber wellingtons and a waterproof/breathable shell over a fleece shirt and fleece socks for 35 degree temperatures. We've seen a lot of wind, ice and snow over the last few weeks and even lost power for a spell. You could hear trees cracking under the stress of the ice about two weeks ago and I was curious to see how much damage had been done to "my" small patch of forest. I headed for the hemlock swamp with patches of mountain laurel in hopes to get a shot at a rabbit.
Once settled into the woods, I slowed my pace and came across these tracks.
We have a lot of coyotes in this area. I would come across four sets in two hours. It's the tail end of deer season, with muzzle loaders in the woods. Plenty of deer survived the season, including these guys.
One is good sized, with deep, heavy prints...
We're in the midst or perhaps the tail of a mini rut. Anyway, this guy and his buddies made a ton of scrapes in the area.
Many of these scrapes had hoof prints in them. I didn't spend a lot of time looking for rubs, but I'd seen them in the area earlier in the year. I saw a nice 6 pointer walking across my road just after the close of shotgun season and another nice 8 pointer was spotted within roaming range shortly after. This shot shows where something, perhaps a deer, nibbled on a mushroom downed by the storms. Most of the activity photographed here was located in swampy areas with hemlock and laurels. Good cover...
Speaking of nibbling, I noticed this group of hemlock branches that were taken down by what I believe was a porcupine. You can see the sharper cuts on the branches. I'd seen others nearby that were more broken presumably by the storms we had.
Here are the tracks leading up to the hemlock that I think were made by the porcupine. See the claw marks in the center? We have a lot of porcupine activity in the area.
As for survival stuff, I found true and false tinder fungi.
So the bunnies were safe and I got a good, much needed walk in.
I did pack the minikit, which has a button compass/thermometer combination. The compass was good enough to get me back home, which really wasn't that far. Here's some of the gear I took. I packed a light .22 autoloader - a Bersa in this case. I carried a few .22LR shells. It's good enough for "minute of bunny" at 10 yards or so under ideal conditions.
Here's a gear shot: survival kit, .22LR, compass and Buck 476, the diamondback. It's a nothing fancy knife, but I've used it to clean one rabbit and one deer and it did fine.
I also had my license, wool pants, thin rubber wellingtons and a waterproof/breathable shell over a fleece shirt and fleece socks for 35 degree temperatures. We've seen a lot of wind, ice and snow over the last few weeks and even lost power for a spell. You could hear trees cracking under the stress of the ice about two weeks ago and I was curious to see how much damage had been done to "my" small patch of forest. I headed for the hemlock swamp with patches of mountain laurel in hopes to get a shot at a rabbit.
Once settled into the woods, I slowed my pace and came across these tracks.
We have a lot of coyotes in this area. I would come across four sets in two hours. It's the tail end of deer season, with muzzle loaders in the woods. Plenty of deer survived the season, including these guys.
One is good sized, with deep, heavy prints...
We're in the midst or perhaps the tail of a mini rut. Anyway, this guy and his buddies made a ton of scrapes in the area.
Many of these scrapes had hoof prints in them. I didn't spend a lot of time looking for rubs, but I'd seen them in the area earlier in the year. I saw a nice 6 pointer walking across my road just after the close of shotgun season and another nice 8 pointer was spotted within roaming range shortly after. This shot shows where something, perhaps a deer, nibbled on a mushroom downed by the storms. Most of the activity photographed here was located in swampy areas with hemlock and laurels. Good cover...
Speaking of nibbling, I noticed this group of hemlock branches that were taken down by what I believe was a porcupine. You can see the sharper cuts on the branches. I'd seen others nearby that were more broken presumably by the storms we had.
Here are the tracks leading up to the hemlock that I think were made by the porcupine. See the claw marks in the center? We have a lot of porcupine activity in the area.
As for survival stuff, I found true and false tinder fungi.
So the bunnies were safe and I got a good, much needed walk in.
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