Hunting Preview
Well fellow sportsman (and women) with the 90+ degree days hopefully behind us, a change in another season is upon us. With fall rapidly approaching, it gives one thought to an outdoorsman, and that is hunting season has arrived. The squirrel season has been opened for several weeks. The heat, lack of rain, small mass crop, and large amount of seed ticks have kept many hunters at home waiting for the first rains and cool mornings. In my opinion, there is no amount of squirrels worth a case of seed tick infestation, however if the urge to shoot some of the varmints is too much to overcome, there are a few precautions that can reduce the risk. The first is to tape paints legs tight to boots, and duct tape works well. Step two is to spray with a good bug spray containing Deet. Spray all seams including waist, wrists, and ankles.
If you do get some of the creepy crawlies on you, simply remove what you can and get some help locating the rest, as they seem to flock to areas where the sun does not shine. Seed ticks will be easy to locate, first a small red bump appears that rapidly becomes welts that itch. Also be aware of chiggers, poison ivy, and mosquitoes.
So far, the dove hunting has been good. The dry days have kept the seeds from sprouting which allows the birds to feed longer without depleting the food source in the field. Without over pressuring the dove fields, many hunters have been able to hunt the same areas repeatedly, with reported good success.
The early goose season has rewarded several waterfowl hunters. Now that the hunting pressure is on, several of the local birds are setting up residence at parks, golf courses and in subdivision yards (see Center Farms for examples). This makes hunting the fowl much more of a challenge. Also, the five day early duck season is about over and there were several takes of local wood ducks, and a few teal on our lakes, streams, and ponds. The only complaints typically heard from the hunters is the duck limit that was in place especially considering all the preparation time (such as building blinds and scouting) necessary for a successful hunt. A typical day of hunting means getting up early, jockeying for a place to hunt, and setting up your decoy spread. Many times, the reward for all this effort is over in the first hour of day light with your two wood duck limit is met.
Deer archery season is approaching fast. Most archery hunters should have been practicing for a while. If not, the time is now to get the last second tuning that can result in a successful hunt.
On the fishing front, the white bass fishing has been good in the evening. It is much better fishing if the wind is calm. The fish have been breaking in the shad minnow schooling in the usual places. I fished Friday evening below Ft Loudon with former Green Wave, Dennis Shirran. We used shad to catch two good strippers in the 17 lb class and a few smaller ones. Dennis also caught a nice large mouth bass, and one of the biggest spotted bass I have seen. The white bass were breaking most of the late afternoon and evening. We started fishing later with Zara Spook pups and spinners with great luck.
Take someone fishing, Greg