Another Nice Evening In the Woods

Today gave us a nice evening to sit out in the snow and ice covered woods and watch the dusk settle around the beautiful nature God has blessed us with at Pure Water Hollow. And if a nice deer would happen to walk by, a muzzle loader would be waiting to greet it! We had a few snow flurries on this overcast day, but the main snow and freezing rain had ended yesterday. This afternoon saw a warm 30 degree temperature, so it was surprising how little of our winter storm had melted. We still had several inches of snow under a thick layer of ice, and it made a loud crunching sound as we stepped as quietly as possible across the frozen tundra. There was still a coating of silver ice around every twig of every tree, and the long blades of wild grasses would not bend when stepped through, they broke!

I set up at split rock overlooking dozens of deer tracks through the snow. It was difficult climbing up to the protected rock overhang because of the snow and ice. Matthew had gone up to the ridge to some heavily traveled deer paths, and I doubt his strong legs had any trouble at all with the ice.

I saw a couple of deer across the ravine, outlined against the white ground. They were too far away to shoot at, but it was fun to watch them meander and occasionally trot down the mountain in a ziz-zag path. After two and a half hours it was beginning to get dark so I decided to come on down from my hiding place. I quickly learned that it is easier and faster coming down a slick ice-covered hill than it is climbing up it!

Matthew had stopped on the ridge when he heard some deer snorting at his approach and crouched down in waiting. One did come close enough for him to get a shot off, but he missed. He was surprised how the smoke from the black powder blast engulfed his vision; the couple of seconds it took for the air to clear must have felt much longer as he wanted to see what had happened to the deer.

There were obviously many deer around, but a successful hunt this evening was not to be! It was still a pleasant way to spend the final 3 hours of daylight. Tomorrow is the last official day of black powder season and Matthew is thinking about going out in the morning before church and try once again. Perhaps that will be the fateful moment when he bags his first deer using a muzzle-loader!