Subtle, but sure, signs of Fall hunting -- What are yours?

[Garry L Gordon]

My dogs and I are anxious for Fall and what it brings to us. We keep a constant vigil on the signs of its arrival here at 40.3470° N, 92.5691° W, as we have for nearly 40 years. These signs we look for mean hunting season is just about upon us, another season of activity here in the "middle-middle" as I like to call our part of the country. Locust sing, crickets chirp, and there are signs among the plants that it will soon be time to break out the guns and head to the fields.

What are your signs of Fall and the hunting to come?

Key to photos:

1. Cup Plant is one of the first of many sunflowers to bloom in the late Summer/early Fall. It is added to by many yellow blooming flowers here in the "Middle-Middle" of this wonderful country we call home.
2. There's always a sneak peak at the beautiful color of Fall previewed by Virginia Creeper (pictured here) and Poison Ivy.
3. About the 2nd week of August, we begin checking the local WMAs to see how the dove field plantings have managed the summer. This field looks like it should draw dove for our September 1st opener. I can't wait!
4. My sentimental favorite harbinger of Fall is the Golden Rod. Golden Rod gets a bad rap, many thinking it, like its brethren the rag weed, causes hay fever. Golden Rod does not polinate through the air, but by proximity, touching the plant next to it in order to procreate. There are 120 species of Golden Rod, and there are times I think that each one is present in our fields near home.

[Dean Romig]

Kathy and I spent the last week and a half or so in the Western Maine Mountains and we saw in some low-lying areas that the swamp maples have begun to turn to reds and yellows and oranges.
In the fields and meadows, even around home in WHF country the various tall grasses like timothy and others have all turned to yellow and then to brown.

Pretty soon......





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[Garry L Gordon]

Dean, That's some special country you mention. I'll bet it's beautiful come Fall.

[Mills Morrison]

We put up a new deer stand . Bought from the Outpost my favorite outdoor store

[Jay Gardner]

Hunting catalogs in my mailbox are the first sign for me.

[Randy G Roberts]

Clover food plots that have been decimated by the summer heat were sprayed last weekend in anticipation of fall plantings consisting of buck forage oats and turnips.

[Garry L Gordon]

We put up a new deer stand . Bought from the Outpost my favorite outdoor store

Gosh...to be a kid again...and anticipate sitting in a tree stand on opening day of the deer season. Better than any tree fort!

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Here in the Blue Ridge, it is the Locust trees starting to turn brown and the creeper turning, also that cool wind in the early morning out of the north. couple more months and the Parkway will be full of leaf lookers, this October will find me in Maine, God wiling, Gary

[Daniel G Rainey]

Sports page is discussing the collage football openers, that means dove season is right on us.

[Garry L Gordon]

Here in the Blue Ridge, it is the Locust trees starting to turn brown and the creeper turning, also that cool wind in the early morning out of the north. couple more months and the Parkway will be full of leaf lookers, this October will find me in Maine, God wiling, Gary

Gary, I hope Maine is perfect for you. We will spend our annual 2 weeks in Northern MN. We time our trip to get the last vestiges of leaf color, making for clearer shots, but still the hint of color...and, hopefully, no mosquitos(!)

I grew up in coastal Virginia on the peninsula near Jamestown and Yorktown. Had relatives in the Blue Ridge -- Buena Vista and Culpeper, and spent some great days roaming the mountains in Augusta, Highland and Bedford counties for trout, turkeys and squirrels.

My best to you for you Maine adventure.

[Garry L Gordon]

Sports page is discussing the collage football openers, that means dove season is right on us.

Daniel, I am guessing that your dove opener is a big affair, as it is in much of the South. We were too poor to get invitations to the big opening day events in Virginia when I was a kid, but I recall hearing shots from one of the bigger ones when we lived in Hanover County. Here in Missouri it's more of a "blue collar" affair with guys showing up sometimes at 3:00 am to stake out a spot on one of the managed fields at a local WMA -- still fun and generally a more social affair than most public land hunting.

I hope your season starts well.

[Gary Laudermilch]

The doves are starting to bunch up into loose flocks instead of the pairs seen during summer. A sure sign of good things to come. The bucks are also bunched up into age groups and are friendly. That will all stop once the velvet comes off around Labor Day.

As soon as we get some reasonably cool weather it will be time to start running dogs in preparation for October.

[Ted Hicks]

I've become tuned into what birds are doing.

At my feeders lots of species are molting, growing in new feathers to take them on their journeys south. Some species, like Rose-breasted Grosbeak are already gone.

My last ruby-throated hummingbird banding session in the Adirondacks turned up only two adult males out of 25 birds caught. The adult males are the first to go.

The newly fledged songbirds are no longer begging for food from their parents and actively finding food on their own.

Species that don't breed in my area start to show up at the feeders, a good indication that they are migrants heading south.

I still haven't seen immature American Goldfinches as they are late breeders in my area. They'll show up anytime now at my feeders.

All migratory species are actively feeding on what is usually a peak in food availability at this time of the year to build up reserves for migration.

Flocks of Canada and Snow geese heading south high overhead.

But then there are other local signs...apple orchards opening up for pick-your-own business. White-tailed deer fawns with mostly faded spots. Those huge ears of white corn-on-the-cob that have had all Summer to grow. The crispness of the air in early morning. As has been mentioned already, some leaves are beginning to turn color.

Something always tells me to take stock of my ammo supply and get what is lacking. Setting aside a day to go to the range to check rifles. I am shooting my bow every day now. Then there is the scheduling juggle for time to hunt vs. other commitments. I mean, who schedules a wedding in October??? Really??? I am going to give up a weekend in October to go to a wedding???

[Dean Romig]

At my place in Maine on Sunday early morning we had several times more hummingbirds than normal. Many were pushing and shoving and chasing each other at the feeders and sitting on branches nearby waiting their turn. there were also a few males.
To me, these were signs that they are feeding up and attempting to boost energy reserves for the long flight to Central and South America.





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[Garry L Gordon]

It's interesting to read these observations, especially concerning birds. I know that upstate NY is far enough north to make a difference in the timing of bird migrations, but we still have doves nesting (they seem to want to nest continuously until they begin to move south). We also are seeing male hummingbirds, and the Grosbeaks are still "in town." Our prairie restoration plot is filled with Gold Finches, and they are constant companions in the sunflower fields during the first week of the dove season. I guess a few degrees of latitude make a significant difference...

[Tom Flanigan]

A good sign of the upcoming fall season is sorghum that has the seed heads well developed. We got a late start this year so none of mine have seed heads yet. But they will come and provide great feed for the pheasants, deer and turkeys. The turkey hatch was expecially good this year. We should have some fine fall shooting.

[Brett Hoop]

That stir that's telling me I need to work the boys every cool morning possible. The wood stacks never seem to be large enough. Almost nightly just at the edge of sleep, I question will that grouse I call Houdini, the one that beat us twice in the same week last year still be there.

[Dean Romig]

Almost nightly just at the edge of sleep, I question will that grouse I call Houdini, the one that beat us twice in the same week last year still be there.

I heard that a 10-year-old kid was in there with a .22 just after you left last year.....:eek:





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[Brett Hoop]

I heard that a 10-year-old kid was in there with a .22 just after you left last year.....:eek:





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Maybe, but at least he couldn't have rode an atv! The Tamarack swamp he would need to cross is daunting. The lone deer and wolf trail through this almost mile long bottom of 13 year Aspen makes my hips sore before I get near the end. Watching the setter pup work it reminds me of a Border Collie doing the poles on a agility course. Houdini doesn't live alone but has neighbors of the little russet fellas that make the bell stop fairly regularly and their tweeting rise provide warning before we get to his block of hawthorns. I can't wait to catch his next show.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Yes, the locust leaves are starting to rain down. They mowed the hay fields that butt up against my back yard today, so I will soon have acess to a bunch of connecting hay fields to condition my dogs in the mornings. Ed, the gent who cuts the hay there has a littermate to my Fancy, who many of you met at Hausmann's. Unfortunately, that dog doesn't get hunted, but is a sweet dog.

[scott kittredge]

For me its when the nh crow season starts on 8/15 :) than into duck and goose season.

Scott

[Daniel G Rainey]

Sat down this morning and ordered RST shells. will write my check for my part of the dove field cost this afternoon. Beginning to get like a child before Christmas.

[Reggie Bishop]

With the heat index at and above 100 here in Southeast TN this week I haven't seen any signs Fall hunting yet!

[Garry L Gordon]

With the heat index at and above 100 here in Southeast TN this week I haven't seen any signs Fall hunting yet!

Hang in there, Reggie. I've been told that good things come to those who wait. I was never told that waiting was fun, though.

[Mills Morrison]

I am kind of in the same boat as Reggie.

[Garry L Gordon]

You gentlemen in the South will be envied come late January.

[Mills Morrison]

That is how it goes for sure.

[Bill Jolliff]

One of the subtle signs of fall for me is my supply of cut, split, stacked and cured firewood for winter.

One double row stack and another stack under the overhang on each side of the barn.

Let 'er snow. I'm ready.

Other signs, bucks still in velvet but getting bigger. Fawns growing too.

https://i.imgur.com/MyoCcll.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MV4ktnA.jpg

[Kenny Graft]

I am getting all my outside repairs and winter prep done now! Life is so busy and the months are passing like weeks! My Toyota 4RUNNER, AKA The rooster runner is all ready for my fall hunting trips. Still need to service my home generator and prep all the other gas engine things for storage. October will be here in a blink and I must be ready. Still have three of my front line doubles out for repairs or up-grades and they all should be back by the end of August so I'm told. My first hunting will be in October at Bullseye pheasant preserve or possible black bird shoot at a local farm and some doves too. Then up to the U.P. for a week in the grouse woods....(-: SXS Ohio

[Garry L Gordon]

It's interesting to see how the nearing of the hunting seasons pushes us to complete the "other" tasks we have had before us and need to finish up before we devote ourselves to hunting. I, too, have been trying to finish house, yard, and farm chores when the weather cooperates. My wife kids me about my "incentive" to finish work, but with the dove season opener, all else goes to the back burner.

[Mills Morrison]

This would be a good theme for a Parker Pages article

[Dean Romig]

It’s been done, but the theme never gets old... it is reborn every year at about this time.
I wrote such an article, “Anticipation” in the Fall 2016 Issue.

But it’s different for each of us - different locales, different upland game and waterfowl. Each to his own - each, his own love of the hunt.





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[Sara LeFever]

I noticed yesterday that the leaves are just beginning to turn on some of the trees here. :(

[Dean Romig]

Why the sad face Sara? We’re coming into harvest time - the greatest season of the year. :clap:





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[Sara LeFever]

Why the sad face Sara? We’re coming into harvest time - the greatest season of the year. :clap:

Leaves changing color = Winter is coming = months of lake effect snow :crying:

[Garry L Gordon]

Leaves changing color = Winter is coming = months of lake effect snow :crying:

Ah, yes, the bittersweet element in the changing of the seasons. When a season that we've lived with dies, we mourn in our own way. Frankly, when summer dies, for me, it's like when an unwanted relative finally packs up and leaves. I will, however, miss sitting in the shade with the dogs, but I know that soon we'll be lunching on the tailgate after a morning chasing birds.

Sara, you could always pack up and head South, but you must have some beautiful weeks in your neck-of-the-woods during the Fall. The trick is to live within the Day...and it is a tough trick to master. It does get easier with age, but it's about the only thing that does(!) There's that bittersweet element again.

[edgarspencer]

Leaves changing color = Winter is coming = months of lake effect snow :crying:

One of my best customers, Dresser Rand, was in Olean, NY. I would be summoned for engineering input about monthly. One trip, late April, I was driving down from Buffalo, thinking how nice it was not to be on 17 in whiteout conditions. Guess what the trip back to the airport was like.

[CraigThompson]

Leaves changing color = Winter is coming = months of lake effect snow :crying:

I lived in the Scranton area for a few months once and used to hunt the first week of the PA deer season for a number of years . Let me begin by saying I enjoyed hunting the Poconos because of the friends I hunted with , but after residing in Scranton a few months I was never so happy to get back to Virginia and CIVILIZATION LOL’s !

[Russell E. Cleary]

When mowing the lawn on Saturday, in my path were the first few leaves that had fallen on it since the beginning of Summer. They were from an apple tree.

As much as I am looking forward to another foray into the woods with gun (or rifle) in hand this Fall, I have reached the age where any upcoming season looks good to me, provided I have relatively good health, some free time, and money enough to enjoy it.

[Dean Romig]

I have reached the age where any upcoming season looks good to me, provided I have relatively good health, some free time, and money enough to enjoy it.


I think that translates to - Money enough to enjoy it while I sit back and watch the young fellow I just paid to snow-blow my driveway and shovel my walks.






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[Dave Noreen]

The last official sunset for the year in the 8 o'clock hour.

[Garry L Gordon]

8:00 PM here, too, in Northern Missouri. Even after hot days, there is now enough darkness to cool us to below 70 degrees by morning.

[Gary Laudermilch]

Last evening 3 deer came into my pasture at dusk, two mature does and a small buck. One of the does and the buck have changed their coat to winter grey. The third was still summer red. The times, they are a changing.

Friday night we are supposed to get down into the 40's. Sounds like Saturday morning is set for a dog run for sure.

[Dean Romig]

One of the sure signs of the impending shooting seasons are my almost complete impatience with the lingering summer.
Such things as daydreaming of autumn hunts of past seasons and rummaging through my upland books that I haven’t read or at least re-read in the last couple of years... and then I’ll find a good one and start reading. Well into the third or fourth chapter I realize I’m tormenting myself but I can’t put the book down.

Here’s one I’m torturing myself with right now... I’m at the lake and should be fishing but I just can’t help myself....


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[Mills Morrison]

That is a good book, as is most everything put out by Countrysport Press

[Dean Romig]

I'll be looking for another to read soon - one that I'm sure I've already read at least once before.

The following, among several others I have, came from Bill Tapply's collection of his Dad's things.
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[Mills Morrison]

Call of the Quail and Bare November Days are good, if you like books on upland hunting.

I have been reading Happy Hunting Ground by A. S. Salley, Jr., which is mostly about deer hunting in SC after the Civil War.

[Dean Romig]

I have "Bare November Days" and have enjoyed it thoroughly.

"If you like books on upland hunting"..... seriously? Are there any other kinds of books?





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[Mills Morrison]

Just a figure of speech . . .:)

You could venture into duck hunting books. I am actually trying to find some books about upland hunting in the old South, but there basically are none.

[Ted Hicks]

Most on this forum probably know this book but it is one I just recently acquired. I've been enjoying the artwork and text lately.

[Garth Gustafson]

From a homesick GI in the South Pacific. It was discovered in Nash’s things after he died. It was a photocopy of microfilm V-Mail, the type sent by servicemen during World War II:

Lt. Col. R.W. Cole Jr.
8th Cav APO 201 c/oPM
San Francisco
September 4, 1944

My dear Mr. Buckingham:

This being September, although here in the Admiralty Group one would never suspect such to be the case, my thoughts have been turning more and more towards home and the gunning days. My home is in Little Compton, a small fishing-farming community on the eastern shore of the Sakonnet River. In such a location along the Rhode Island coast, the black ducks are in evidence the season round and the thought of throwing my decoys on home waters once more makes the months overseas even longer. I know you have shot over the same country of salt marshes and pot holes, of sand dunes and rocky spits over which the long files of coot pass at dawn and dusk, so I feel your understanding far better than most. To those of us who love the out-of-doors, homecoming means infinitely more than for those luckless individuals whose lives are not in tune with the whisper of wings at sundown.

Have you ever thought of how your books have brought pleasure to us out here? I made a short cruise on a combat mission with the Navy and during lulls in the bombardment and the continuous state of “precautionary general quarters”, I found time to read “The Shootinest Gent’man” for the fourth time. Even the thrill of being at sea on grim and important business was forgotten. This time, I believe I enjoyed “Play House”- “no more Eddinses fo’ the wars!”- even more than usual, as it struck a sympathetic note. Thank you for speeding the hours.

The Cavalry Division will be hard at it again in the near future and when you read of its exploits, think of it in a more personal sense than might otherwise be the case as I, in my capacity of Executive Officer of one of its fine old regiments, am a very small cog in its wheel.
Sincerely,
R.W. Cole Jr.

[Garry L Gordon]

Thanks to all of you who have responded to this thread. I'm here in the midst of late summer, having just discovered that one of my Gordons, Cedar, most likely has cancer, and remembering past hunts with her, and planning to beat this disease and to start the season in Minnesota as we have for so many years. Your recollections and descriptions have made me more optimistic. I hope the months to come are memorably good for all of us.

[Dean Romig]

Most on this forum probably know this book but it is one I just recently acquired. I've been enjoying the artwork and text lately.


What’s not to like about Lynn Bogue Hunt’s art?

I have that book too Ted and have photographed some of those pages with Hunt’s art.





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[Harold Lee Pickens]

I've got an old copy also. It is falling apart but still a great read

[Ronald Scott]

Deans’s pictures of inscriptions in the books “from Bill Tapply’s collection of his dad’s things,” made me think of the book my dad gave me. I haven’t read it in years, but now as fall approaches ... again—damn it... maybe it’s time.

[Ted Hicks]

On the subject of duck hunting, here's another recent acquisition with more artwork from LBH. The photograph is the author with a big swan.

[Dean Romig]

Ted, can you see what gun he’s holding. That’s a very distinctive forend... maybe Ithaca? Maybe Elsie?

Van Campen Heilner bought a .410 IJ Skeeter from A&F and it is recorded on the same page with my .410 Skeeter 2-barrel set.



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[Ted Hicks]

Dean - I don't think its an Elsie but I admit that I am not good at identifying guns from photos. Here are some others which may show it clearer. In at least one you can see a vent rib? It's a big gun, perhaps 10 ga? I've scanned through the book and see no mention of guns, gauges or loads. This book was published in 1939 nd he referred to several years of "research" leading up to his writing of it.

[Dean Romig]

I believe it’s a graded single-trigger Ithaca though I’m not good at identifying Ithaca’s grades.




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[Mills Morrison]

That is my guess too, but I am not an expert on Ithaca's either.

[Reggie Bishop]

Ithaca for sure. The checkering pattern is Ithaca.

[Dean Romig]

I'm thinking Grade 4 or 5.





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[Ken Hill]

Garry,

Sorry to hear about your Gordon. Hope it will work out.

The sign that hunting is around the corner--my Gordon starts getting a bunch of stick tights and other seed heads in her hair on our little hikes. The evening temps are dropping into the 50s and the forecast has a cold front coming in a day or two before 1 Sept. Of course, elk muzzle loading season is getting closer. The aspens at 10,000' will be turning when we get in and just about a full golden color when we head out 10 days later.

Ken

[Dean Romig]

Most on this forum probably know this book but it is one I just recently acquired. I've been enjoying the artwork and text lately.


Ted, this is the inscription in my copy of "Upland Game Shooting" by Betton.

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[Dean Romig]

In Maine here, not only are the swamp maples taking on the reds, yellows and pinks of the coming Autumn but the lake here just a half hour after sunrise was covered by cottony streamers and small clouds of vapor lifting from the warm water into the cold air.


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[Dean Romig]

one more.

[Ronald Scott]

Here in central mass the hummingbirds are getting more active at the feeder — apparently fattening up for the migration south

[Garry L Gordon]

Dean, those photos are beautiful. There's nothing quite like the seasons changing -- especially when the next one reveals itself through subtle hints.

This morning we went to the farm to finish up some work. The day was cool and damp, and the sky filled with low clouds. Days like this concentrate color, and I had to stop (in the road!) to take this photo of wild sunflowers. The photo does not do this field justice. It is about 20-30 acres of vivid yellow, made more intense by the low clouds.

I've been seeing lots of dove. Still deciding which gun to use for the opener next Sunday.

[Jeff Kuss]

So where is that field exactly? LOL

[Daryl Corona]

Sept. 1st, opening of dove season. To me this signals the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Now the only decision to make is what long barreled smallbore to take.:banghead: Just kidding, the 30" 28ga VHE is already on the top of the list.

[Jeff Kuss]

I have a 32" 20 ga. that needs some exercise. I need to charge up the MOJOs.

[charlie cleveland]

weather cooling a little here and the yellow butterfliies are on the move.....grass is also slowing down a bit...even seen some giant pecans on my dads old orchard and the chinese chestnuts are falling and opening up.....i will have to really watch those pecans if i get any of them.....got my shells and gear setting out in the floor in the way....going backwards this year on shooting irons first a double barrel vulcan factory 27 1/2 inch barrel 20 ga and a 410 stevens double barrel......charlie

[Mills Morrison]

This is the best August weather I can remember here ever. Mills and I tried to go fishing, but it was a comedy of errors. We were trying to go in a different place but all the landings had problems. We finally made it out on an old reliable landing, had an equipment malfunction. Then we got checked by the game warden and we were all legal but that is always a pain

[Dean Romig]

Yup, it can be a little inconvenient but I love it when a game warden checks my license and required safety equipment if I’m on my boat, and when they check if I have the proper tags.... It shows that they’re doing their job protecting the resources I love so much.





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[Craig Larter]

On the eastern end of Lake Ontario the tops of the maples are showing a little yellow. The nights are in the 50's and days in the 70's. The woodies are all in full flight and the blue winged teal will be arriving any day. The new england asters are in full bloom and the may apple have gone dormant. The thistle has gone to seed and the goldfinches are feeding on them. Hummingbirds are building as the migration must be in full force. It won't be long. Starting a new puppy Nellie, 13 months and ready for her full life as a hunting dog. Life is grand!!!

[edgarspencer]

Craig, that’s one of the best, and most descriptive posts I’ve seen in a while. Some people can go through life and not take note of as much as you’ve just written.

[Craig Larter]

Edgar: We are all blessed with a love of the natural world. The cycle of the season calms my mind and makes me smile. Identifying birds by their song, trees by their bark, wildflowers by their bloom is what gives me joy in this crazy world. Those who pursue the world outdoors live a full life.

[edgarspencer]

Edgar: We are all blessed with a love of the natural world. The cycle of the season calms my mind and makes me smile. Identifying birds by their song, trees by their bark, wildflowers by their bloom is what gives me joy in this crazy world. Those who pursue the world outdoors live a full life.

One of the primary reasons I prefer not traveling beyond my mailbox.

[Tom Flanigan]

I'll be looking for another to read soon - one that I'm sure I've already read at least once before.

The following, among several others I have, came from Bill Tapply's collection of his Dad's things.
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Nice Dean. I saw Frank Woolners signature and it brought back memories. I read his book on grouse hunting when I was a kid. It was a great book but it disturbed my adolescent brain when he described his grouse gun. I believe it was a Winchester automatic 12 bore that he "customized" by shortening the barrel and sanding off the pistol grip. He called it his "chopper". At the time, I couldn't imagine shooting grouse with anything but a Parker or other fine double. I still can't. My favorite book by far as a kid was Ted Janes "A Boy and His Gun. I read it over and over and I still have it.

[Russell E. Cleary]

I never met Frank Woolner, but I have the notion that he had an affinity for the outré, and incorporated some pseudo-military effects from his very real-World War II combat experiences into his outdoor interests for the impression it would make.

Heck, doesn’t every writer have to have some sort of an ego?

Here is a photo in which he sports a Mohawk hair-style, when writing on behalf of the Third Armored Division. Later he was known for painting his Model A beach buggies in an unorthodox dazzle of grey, green, yellow and purple camo pattern. And, as said, there was his customized, three-shot – “crude but effective”, in Hollywood parlance, autoloader for his upland bird hunting.

So, not by chance would he refer to upland guns in his books as “artillery”.

He wrote earnestly and instructively about hunting and fishing, but must have had a sense of humor, too.

[Ted Hicks]

Nice photo. He's probably sitting on his helmet, and he's got his typewriter perched on a gas can. They got it done however they had to back then.

[Dean Romig]

His customized grouse and woodcock gun was the glass-barreled Model 59.





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[Daniel Carter]

A contemporary of Woolners, Paul Kurconnen(sp.) was a film maker in central Mass. He made a number of surf fishing films and hunting films, woodcock mainly, and he came up with the idea of the sawed off fiber glass gun and it spread in the local area. He tried with the available tools of the day but could not get any good grouse footage because of the light conditions. The Woolner brothers also knew Hal Lyman the owner of the 3rd Invincible. They all fished the outer cape and hunted grouse and woodcock.

[Garry L Gordon]

You gentlemen certainly do live in an area rich in the sporting traditions...and that produced some of the best literature on hunting and fishing.

[Dean Romig]

I found this in my "stuff"...


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[Daniel Carter]

Frank Woolners brother Jack worked for Mass. fish and wildlife for many years and was credited with the creation of hunter orange. I met Jack when I was a kid and he was a fascinating man to listen to. This is reminding me of how many years have passed since then.At it's inception hunter orange was cursed and hated and a lot of animosity was directed toward Jack for his promotion of it. I have hunted with men who would take it off out of sight of the road while deer hunting and just wear brown canvas. How times have changed.

[Russell E. Cleary]

You gentlemen certainly do live in an area rich in the sporting traditions...and that produced some of the best literature on hunting and fishing.

Garry:

We do have some great sporting traditions here in the Northeast, but our regional Megalopolis is trending toward the effete.

We have teen-age boys around here now who have never baited a hook or shot a gun.

I look toward the West and South (and far North) of our country to lead in extending the outdoor ethos in the future. Paddle-boarding, mountain-biking, hiking and bird-watching are the main businesses today of our venerable sporting camps. They are great activities; but I think we’re missing something essential if we are not occasionally out there extracting something wild to eat.

[Ronald Scott]

Frank was a member and used to shoot regularly at our local club—the Boylston Sportsman’s Cub. My father knew Frank, shot with him, and took photos for his book on grouse hunting.

[Garry L Gordon]

Garry:

We do have some great sporting traditions here in the Northeast, but our regional Megalopolis is trending toward the effete.

We have teen-age boys around here now who have never baited a hook or shot a gun.

I look toward the West and South (and far North) of our country to lead in extending the outdoor ethos in the future. Paddle-boarding, mountain-biking, hiking and bird-watching are the main businesses today of our venerable sporting camps. They are great activities; but I think we’re missing something essential if we are not occasionally out there extracting something wild to eat.

Russell, I feel blessed to have found my way to Northern Missouri. The top two tiers of counties in Missouri have a smaller population now than they did in 1900. A good proportion of the local young men, and a fair number of young women, do hunt and fish. Sadly, most of them leave the area as there is little for them to do to support themselves. Farming is still the biggest "industry;" roads are poor, but generally sparsely traveled; taxes are low; gun laws lenient; and we are not a destination for too many, other than deer and turkey hunters. There's nothing flashy about us here in, what I like to call the "Middle-Middle," but it's home for us now, and I am just OK with that.

[Dean Romig]

Paddle-boarding, mountain-biking, hiking and bird-watching are the main businesses today of our venerable sporting camps. They are great activities; but I think we’re missing something essential if we are not occasionally out there extracting something wild to eat.


Right Russell, and not just blueberries, mushrooms and fiddleheads.






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[Russell E. Cleary]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;280291]Right Russell, and not just blueberries, mushrooms and fiddleheads.

Dean: Ok, you got me. I should have ended the sentence saying "...with a gun".

No, we are not talking a vegan tradition here.

[Ronald Scott]

A contemporary of Woolners, Paul Kurconnen(sp.) was a film maker in central Mass. He made a number of surf fishing films and hunting films, woodcock mainly, and he came up with the idea of the sawed off fiber glass gun and it spread in the local area. He tried with the available tools of the day but could not get any good grouse footage because of the light conditions. The Woolner brothers also knew Hal Lyman the owner of the 3rd Invincible. They all fished the outer cape and hunted grouse and woodcock.

Paul Kukonen had a little fly shop on Green Street in Worcester. The guy knew everything about fishing, building rods and fly tying. I think he (and his English setter) would sometimes sleep in the back room. The guy lived to fish and hunt. After he closed shop Jim Bender opened a fly shop on Madison St and carried on the tradition. Sadly they are both are closed now.

We always blamed Kukonen for ruining the West Branch of the Ponobscot River by informing everyone through his 8 mm films how great the fishing was there.

[Dean Romig]

I love that river Ron, and fish it at least once, maybe twice or more, each year.
Trust me, the fishery is not ruined - there are just a lot more people coming each year, what with ww rafting and kayaking. But the fish are still there. But when “Culvert Pool” is lined with 6 fly-fishers and another one steps in, I step out. There are plenty of pools to fish.





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[Dean Romig]

Speaking of Kukonen et al, I hope all you fly-fishers bought a copy of Austin Hogan’s book.





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[Reggie Bishop]

Fall is finally approaching us here in the South. Last evening the Cicadas seemed to be crying loudly for Summer to hold on a little longer. The sky was a deep azure blue that can only be seen here when the humidity is taken aback by the approaching Autumn. The temperature this morning was hovering between 59 and 60 and a mist was coming off the waters. But the predicted highs for the next several days are in still in the 90s, but there is evidence of a coming freshness!

[Dean Romig]

There is certainly a “mist coming off the water” here in Maine this morning. Only just now able to see “Blueberry Island” through it.

Oops... spoke too soon.


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[Dean Romig]

Hmmm... I feel like I’m in the Stephen King horror story... “The Mist”

It’s baaaack ...


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[Ted Hicks]

Here's some Adirondack photos showing misty onset of Fall. These are from a couple of years ago late-September timeframe. The top photo has a pair of loons in it, but it's tough to see them. The middle photo has a single juvenile loon in it.

[Garry L Gordon]

On the eastern end of Lake Ontario the tops of the maples are showing a little yellow. The nights are in the 50's and days in the 70's. The woodies are all in full flight and the blue winged teal will be arriving any day. The new england asters are in full bloom and the may apple have gone dormant. The thistle has gone to seed and the goldfinches are feeding on them. Hummingbirds are building as the migration must be in full force. It won't be long. Starting a new puppy Nellie, 13 months and ready for her full life as a hunting dog. Life is grand!!!

Craig, your wonderfully composed post reminded me of some of the words of an author, whose book I read continually, almost every day of the year. David Grayson is a pseudonym for the pulitzer prize winning author, Ray Stannard Baker (although born in Michigan, he's a New Englander at heart). His book, "A Countryman's Year" is a day-by-day account of life on a small farmstead in Mass. around the second decade of the 20th Century. I keep the book handy and read a passage for each of his date entries of the year. I've been reading this book for many years, completing it every year and then starting anew.

Here's the passage from a day at the end of August that reminds me of your post:

"In low spots along old country roads today I found the joe-pye weed in bloom; a rank grower, which in mass is often beautiful. There is a real touch of fall in the air: at twilight the crickets call. The goldfinch has a swooping flight; the aristocratic cedar birds are through with their late nesting; already the robins are beginning to gather, restless for their southern journey. And I found a fringed gentian by a woody roadside."

It's so nice to live where you can see the seasons unfold, and have the familiarity with your surroundings to know their subtleties and nuances.

Again, thanks to all of you who have contributed to this post. We are going through some tough times here with one of our dogs having cancer, and my own diagnosis with the same. It's nice to read these positive posts in a time when there is so much acrimony elsewhere.

Thank you!

[Dean Romig]

Reading “A Countryman’s Year” is so much like reading Robert Frost’s New Hampshire poetry.

“Stopping by the Woods” is a beautiful little poem but he wrote so much more wonderful stuff - “West Running Brook” being one.

Maybe it’s because they were of the same New England generation...





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[Victor Wasylyna]

My sign was the arrival of this mounted bull canvasback (taken near the end of last season).

-Victor

[Ronald Scott]

I love that river Ron, and fish it at least once, maybe twice or more, each year.
Trust me, the fishery is not ruined - there are just a lot more people coming each year, what with ww rafting and kayaking. But the fish are still there. But when “Culvert Pool” is lined with 6 fly-fishers and another one steps in, I step out. There are plenty of pools to fish..

I used "ruined" as a figure of speech. My little group of fishermen (mostly family and close friends going back three generations) have fished the West Branch for many years. My father and his buddies were going up there when they still used the river to drive logs. The logs would at times fill the river from shore to shore making it impossible to fish. The river wasn't fished by very many people back then. I'm thinking that would have been in the early 50's. They had the place to themselves.

I first fished the river in the 70's. You had to check in at the Ranger Station before going up the gravel road. Pray's Camps were still around and the Big Eddy was empty except for a few guys tenting. But even then it was getting extremely busy with rafters and screaming college kids. I remember my buddy and I strategically placing ourselves about 20 yards apart in a pool thinking no one else would dare encroach. But as the bewitching hour approached we heard car doors slamming and down came the stampede. We ended up with two guys between us and several more on either side. That "ruined" an otherwise perfect evening on the river.

I'm sure you are right and you can still go up and find pools that you can fish by yourself -- if you don't go at the prime time and don't mind walking. But it's definitely not like it was in the "good ol' days."

We blamed Kukonan for popularizing the spot but obviously no one could ever keep a place that beautiful and with that quality of fishing a secret.

[Dean Romig]

Ron, I’ve only been going to the West Branch for about 40 years.
My good friend’s great uncle had his doctorate in geology and minored in cartography and spent from early spring to first snow in that region and up into Canada.
I have seen the pictures of his of blankets spread on the ground with salmon and brookies spread on it that today we rarely if ever see.

I once told Bunny Pray about a hugh brookie I had seen saying it had to have been twenty inches.
She said there were no brookies like that in the West Branch since the 70’s.
The following year in late September i caught a 21” brookie on a streamer up at Roll Dam.





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[Tom Jay]

On a whim last week I went to New Hampshire for a few days for my setter Max to work on wild birds. Flushed 6 grouse over 2 days so I know he's ready. I went to the skeet field a couple of times this past month and would be embarrassed to tell you my scores. I'm hoping it does not translate into missed birds when the season opens :(

[Craig Larter]

The blue winged teal showed up at our marsh today in central NY right on schedule, calendar birds. The woodies are starting to show up in numbers saw about 50 today.

[Ronald Scott]

Some not so subtle signs for me is when I switch from wearing shorts, tee shirts and flip flops pretty much every day to waking up on cool mornings and putting on jeans, a flannel shirt, shoes and socks; a fire in fireplace starts to be a more common occurrence than running the A/C; and bourbon on the rocks is preferred to gin and tonic. Now when I open the outside door the friendly summertime mallards somehow know ... and fly away rather come for food.

[Kevin McCormack]

Wild rice, Sora rail, 28 ga. Parkers and #10 shot all work for me!

[Garry L Gordon]

Kevin, That is something I've always wanted to do!