I got into the woods at 07:10, temp of 54, breezy, & clear. The skeeters were FIERCE!!!! It was like behind attacked by a squadron of B-52s with a huge escort of F-4s. The 1 problem with a Thermacell is that it takes about 5 minutes to start working. I ‘bout beat myself black & blue in those 5 minutes. At 07:35, I spotted a fox moving through the tree tops to my right but it never gave me a shot. At 08:20, I took a walk through the west section & there are a lot of hickory nuts on the ground but no cutting. I sat back down at 09:00.
By 09:30, I was bored & walked both sections of woods. I got back at 09:57 & 1 barked once &, a few minutes later, a 2nd time. I saw some movement about 10’ up a tree & then again on a tall dead stump closer to me. I finally spotted a fox moving back up into the tree tops. At 10:14, I caught a glimpse of it on a small limb moving into some thick leaves & didn’t see it again. I sure will be glad when the leaves are off.
I headed in to lunch at 10:45 with a temp of 81!!!! An increase of 27 degrees in about 3 ½ hours.
After lunch, I headed to another woods & got settled in along the creek at 01:15. It was still 81, with a breeze & clear skies. At 02:31, a doe & a 6 point buck ran past on my left & went up the hill into the corn.
At 02:39, I looked to my right & saw movement on the far side of the creek low on the bank near the roots of a tree from which high water had washed away the dirt. I couldn’t tell what it was but have seen squirrels along the bank. The ground is clear for about 20 yards so I slipped as close as I could. Whatever it was was in the shadows & I still couldn’t tell if it was a squirrel. I looked through the scope & it turned into a dead groundhog, the 1st this year with my .17 & #9 total.
I headed top the house at 04:30 & the temp was up to 84. A cold snap was supposed to come through with the storms last night (I got 2 8/10” of rain) &drop the temps into the 70s (some drop right?). Looking forward to some cooler weather.
Day 5
This morning was my work-out-&-run-errands day so I didn’t get into the woods until 01:20 with a temp of 71, clear skies, & a strong wind. As I was getting close to where I sit, I saw a bird running along the outside edge of the south side of the woods. I couldn’t tell what it was except that it was a turkey. Bodes well for the 1st fall season since before I moved up here 12 years ago.
At 01:38, I heard something behind me, looked over my left shoulders & saw 2 foxes running towards me. They veered off & went into the underbrush. Never did see them again. Between 02:30 & 02:59, I walked through the woods looking for sign and/or bushies but saw nothing. At 04:00, I headed to the truck & spent 20 minutes checking a couple of other spots before I headed to the house.
