Last Week of Deer Camp

A beautiful blanket of snow covered the ground again this year for the last week of deer camp. One thing about snow, is that it allows us to see the tracks that deer leave behind. There's a lot of debate going on about the size of the deer herd in the Northern Tier. However, the amount of tracks we saw during the last week prove that there are still deer around. While the herd is not the size that it was back in the 1970's, something else has changed too. Snow on the ground also reveals the number of hunters who have walked through. It is very safe to say that there are far more deer in the woods these days than hunters. The four of us basically had the entire township to ourselves for the last few days of hunting season. While this provides for a real rustic hunting experience, it makes it even harder to find the deer. All in all, we did pretty well for a couple of guys. We did see a few deer, including one nice buck, a coyote, and some big gobblers who managed to escape us during turkey season. I took this picture of a gobbler from my tree stand on the last day of the season. The buck managed to give us the slip and will live on to be an even larger buck next year. Although we came home without any deer again this year, we enjoyed the time spent together in the woods. The memories we share will last much longer than the amount of venison we have in our freezers.

Deer Season 2009

We arrived at Camp Sunday to prepare for the opening of Deer Camp. Monday brought a driving rain. All in all, it was a good day for me as I saw several deer - including two bucks which did not meet the new antler restrictions. I saw another buck on Tuesday that was too small to harvest. It's the most deer that I've seen in recent years. However, I almost felt bad for seeing so many deer because no one else in the camp saw anything. There was very little shooting in our area and none of the camps had deer hanging up as we came home on Tuesday. We are going back up for the last few days of the season. Hopefully, we'll be able to find where the deer are hiding. There is no question that the deer herd is way down in Tioga County. Depending on who's side you are on, you either like this or dislike this change. One thing I noticed this year is the incredible amount of new tree growth on the forest floor in our area. Some places are so thick that you can hardly walk through. Since the deer herd has decreased, the amount of new growth has taken off. I guess this is a small price to pay in order for our children to enjoy the the forest for years to come. Although it's no fun hunting all day without seeing any deer, it would be a worse tragedy for the forest to disappear because of over-browsing. I'll post again next week to report on our second week of deer camp.

Beautiful Foliage

We traveled up to camp this weekend to enjoy a short vacation and enjoy the foliage. The weather was quite cold for October. Sunday morning, the temperature was 29-degrees. This morning, it was 28-degrees with snow flurries. Fortunately, the heater kept it nice and warm in the cabin. We got some work done around the cabin and did some hiking. This picture was taken off the top of Chimney Rocks Mountain looking towards Cedar Run. This has always been one of our favorite spots. The kids, ages 3 and 5 made it all the way to the top. It won't be long now until we'll be heading back up for deer season.

Summer Vacation

We spent our annual week at Pettecote Junction Campground in July. As usual, it was a great week and Sandy and Sue were the best of hosts. The Rails/Trails Conservancy was having their annual bike tour on the Canyon Rails Trail this year. They camped at Pettecote for two nights and we got to meet bikers from over 20 different states. They were a great bunch of folks. The campground was full for most of the week. The Bencus's are doing a wonderful job of running the campground. Every year they make a few more improvements. If you haven't gotten down to see their renovated caboose (which is now the campground office) you have to make the trip. The weather was absolutely beautiful for July. 70's during the day and 50's at night. We got some rain, but not enough to ruin any of our plans. Our son really enjoyed looking off the bridge that crosses Pine Creek. Taking them out of his 2-year old hand with a needle wasn't one of the best highlights of the trip. We camped, hiked, and biked for 7 days without seeing a bear. However, on our final day of the trip, we rode about 1 mile up the rails trail from Cedar Run and were able to watch a medium sized black bear strolling along the trail for about 1/2 hour. (see picture) One day on our way south on the rails trail we stumbled along a 150 year-old cemetery near the Black Walnut Bottom Access south of Slate Run. It was a small family cemetery under a big pine tree just off the trail. It was interesting to read some of the tombstones. Most of those buried there were very young. Many were only infants. It reminded us of how hard times were back then. We made it back to camp a few times to do some work and some hiking. The only problem we're having is that the porcupines seem to be chewing any wood that they can sink their teeth into. We've never had this many problems with porcupines. Summer is almost over now. It may be small game season until I get to make it back up to camp again. The rest of the family will be visiting throughout the summer as we have some more work to do. Recently, I just purchased a motorcycle and I'm itching to make the trip up north on two wheels. It may be the excuse I need to make another visit to my favorite place on earth.

What a beautiful weekend!

We finally travelled back to camp on Saturday, April 25. It seemed like a year since deer season, even though it was only 4 months. Everything at camp seemed fine. The leaves are about 3 weeks behind where they are back home. This year, there was a hatch of gnats (big ones)that attacked you as soon as you stepped outside. Hopefully they will be gone soon. The weather was unseasonably warm - around 88-degrees-most of the weekend. The stiff breeze helped to keep the bugs away, but it also turned out to be a problem as two forest fires were burning over the weekend. One started at the Petticote Junction Campground. It was started by a group of boaters who were throwing fireworks into the dry leaves. Another much larger fire was buring off the West Rim Road, but was contained by Saturday evening. This was the same weekend that the Bull Run Fire was burning last April. I'm hoping to get up at least one time for Spring Gobbler Season. I noticed a large gobbler hanging on the meatpole at one of the camps as you enter Leetonia. Someone was succesful.