It was clear and cold this morning, as forecast, and around 730, I loaded up the "Chino" (the Chiclone of the Yamaha Rhino) and headed out the old CCC road to a spot I know. The fall colors are coming into their prime and will be spectacular for the next week or two. 48 degrees was a bit crisp for the ride, but soon the "Great White Hunter" had parked near a sharp bend in the road (complete with a convenient mirror placed to avoid any unpleasant surprises rounding the hairpin turn). I knew this was a good spot because of all the hickory trees, and hence, plentiful hickory nuts. The bend, of course, was around the point of a ridge, and after parking, I walked out on the lower end of the ridge another 50 yards, set up my stool and tripod, and waited for the morning sun to crest the ridge behind. I had hunted here once before, and liked the spot as a sort of a shooting gallery, because of all the bent and half-fallen trees making good horizontal avenues for the squirrels to move about. It was also breezy this morning, so there was a constant ruffling of the leaves and more noise than usual. It had rained last night, so the dry leave on the ground were not too loud and crunchy when I move about. In short order the squirrels did begin appear, and over the next two hours, even though I had a three decent shots and should have had at least two kills to post on the hunting gate, I managed to come home empty handed. Which is OK, really. I didn't have to clean any squirrels, and all they suffered was the scare of a near miss. In the course of the morning, I did get to play with my squirrel call, consume some beef jerky and a really crisp apple from one of the local orchards, and a small thermos of coffee fortified with a healthy dash of 12 year old frost bite/snake bite medicine. I also took all these pictures this wonderful fall morning. Life is good.
