At 09:27, a fox came down the side of the ridge & headed straight towards me. At about 15’, it jumped up on a grapevine & watched me. I slowly brought up the rifle, centered the x-hairs on its head, & slowly squeezed off a shot at which time the bushy jumped straight up about 2’, turned in midair, & started running before it hit the ground. The set-up & plan worked flawlessly. The execution, not so much. I figured I had shoot under it & had not compensated for the scope at close range. At 09:54, a fox started working back & forth across the top of the ridge. A red started screaming & I saw it flying towards the fox which turned & ran away. BIG SISSY!!!! At 10:30, I took a walk through the woods & then headed in for lunch with the temp up to 65.
I got back into the woods at 12:37 & the temp had risen to 73. Almost immediately, at least 3 chipmunks showed up & it was Chipmunks Gone Wild for the rest of the afternoon. I did check the grapevine & the backside was blown out from the .17. This provided confirmation that I didn’t aim high enough by about 1” as well as explaining why the bushy reacted as it did. Can you imagine, lying on a grapevine, hearing a big bang, & hearing/felling the grapevine take the hit from the .17!! I didn’t look but I’d bet there were a bunch of little brown pellets on the ground!!
At 02:26, I spotted a fox that headed to the top of ridge & worked back & forth before it headed over the top & went south at 03:17. At 03:27, another fox showed up at the end of the ridge & worked around in the underbrush. I kept the scope on it & finally, she stuck her head up over a fallen limb & I made a perfect head shot. At 03:30, another used a small blown down to cross the creek about 15’ in front of me & worked its way through the underbrush & was gone.
I decided to head out at 04:30 &, as I was gathering up my gear, a doe came up the far side of the creek, jumped across, & started walking the creek bank towards me. I was behind a small tree & she got within 30 yards before stopping & doing the bead bob. After a minute of 2, she decided she didn’t like me, turned, & ran full out across the woods, up the side, & into the bean field.
It had warmed up to 79 when I left but was still pretty comfortable in the woods. Gonna hit “my” turkey woods tomorrow morning.
I have a couple of winter projects lined up for the Buckeyes I picked up this afternoon.
Some more Fungi.
