By Jeff Moyer
As I write this, it’s after sunset on February 28th. All of the seasons closed today. The big game gear has been put away for a couple of months now, the traps have all been pulled and hung up in the shed, the rabbit hunting gear has been put away, and the hunting clothes washed and put away. Some would mourn that the seasons are over but that is not the case for all of us.
While there is still trout fishing, pruning peach trees, and helping my daughter with her maple syrup among other things, there are always things to do pertaining to hunting and trapping. You see, hunting is about more than just killing or limiting out. It’s about an entire experience.
This afternoon I changed out the cards in my game cameras and put up an additional camera in order to keep up with deer, turkey, and predator movements. There were pictures of lots of deer, none of which still carried antlers, which told me it was time to look for sheds. There was a picture of 17 turkeys on a food plot. Turkey season opens in April so I was glad to know there are some birds around. I found pictures of coyotes and foxes sniffing the site of a trap I had pulled earlier in the month and huge coon passing thru so I know it was at least in the right place. I found pictures of foxes, coyotes, and coon passing thru the food plots so I will need to consider making sets there this fall. There are those who disapprove of trapping but when done properly it is an effective management tool. Raccoons, possum, and skunks are hard on wild turkey nests. I understand that blacksnakes are too but I’ve yet to see a means of trapping them. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that. A fellow told me he found a fisher den near his home a couple of years back and the ground around it was littered with fox squirrel tails, turkey feathers, and fawn bones. Foxes are hard on small game as well, and coyotes are extremely hard on the deer population.
I took a long walk looking for sheds and while I didn’t find any, I saw lots of deer sign that might indicate places to consider for tree stands this fall. As I walked along one particular ridge that still holds one of my ladder stands, I took note that if I were to hunt this ridge again this fall, the stand will need to be moved up the ridge more if there are no acorns. Similarly, if there are acorns on the ridge my shooting house resides on, I noted that I will need to put up a camera there. This winter I started keeping a journal of sorts, I call it “field notes”. Information such as I gleaned today will go into my journal for use this fall. I also carry a camera along to record things of worth.
Soon I will start listening for wild turkeys gobbling at dawn. While doing so I’ll be looking for morel mushrooms, ramps, and firewood to cut. Over the last couple of years I’ve acquired two eager young assistants, my two younger grandsons, aged 2 and 3, who like to go with me to check game cameras, take soil samples in the food plots, look for mushrooms, and just woods bumming in general. One day I hope they’ll realize how much it means to me that they like to go along. Cameras will be checked to see if any gobblers are using the area. The soil samples that we take will be sent to WVU for analysis and we’ll learn what amendments in the way of fertilizer, lime, nitrogen, and such that each plot needs. Those amendments will be spread on the appropriate plots and the ground worked up in preparation for new plantings, usually of rye, clover, and brassicas. Somewhere in there will be a weekend of teaching hunter education, something I have become passionate about.
Once the plots are planted, like our neighboring farmers, we will pray for rain. Cameras will continue to be checked to watch for bucks and my assistants and I will start looking at the persimmons, hickories, and oaks to see what kind of mast crop we can expect. If we do get the necessary rain we will have to clip the plots once or twice to control weeds and overgrowth. More walks will be taken to look for deer movement and more notes will be made. I jokingly told Nancy a while back that our shed is to be referred to as the garden shed between the end of February and the beginning of October. From then until the end of February it will be known as the skinning shed. She didn’t seem too concerned.
Sometime in September squirrel season will open and a few will find their way into the freezer. While looking for those squirrels, I’ll also be looking for rubs where the bucks have been polishing the velvet from their antlers and looking and hoping for a good mast crop, which will help determine a lot of the coming deer hunting. By then tree stands and pop-up blinds will be back in place, cameras moved to appropriate locations, and bow season will soon commence. From a perch up in a big tree, observations will be made of what bucks are around and their potential movements. Along the way, another hunter ed class will have taken place, helping to train our future hunters, conservationists, and stewards of the land. The early doe seasons will shortly follow and if all goes well, a good portion of our annual venison will go into the freezer. Trapping season will open around the first of November and glorious days will be enjoyed checking traps and bow hunting, perhaps with even a little bit of trout fishing thrown in for good measure.
The general firearms season will open once again during the week of Thanksgiving and days will be spent looking for a worthy buck, be it still hunting around the fields or along a remote trail, or sitting in my shooting house. I aquired another assistant for my shooting house last fall, my 10 year old granddaughter who accompanied me for the first time and was ready to go back again any time. Perhaps this year her little brother, age 7, will also accompany me to the shooting house for the first time. I’ve been working with both of them on safe shooting practices, starting out with a BB gun and working up to a single shot .22 and am quite pleased with their progress, but they won’t take a real gun to the woods with me for quite a while without their daddy’s approval.
Deer season will close and bear season will commence thru the end of the year, which brings us back again full circle to rabbit hunting, trapping, and scouting. During all of this, various outdoor magazines and catalogs will be read and re-read, outdoor shows will be enjoyed on TV and the internet, and perhaps a few sport shows will be taken in. You see, it really ain’t over, we’re just starting over.
