Thoughts of Spring and what it offers.
My apologies for not putting anything on for you all to read but, for the past couple of days I haven’t been feeling very well.
As I am laying around feeling like crap and hoping to get better soon I can not think of anything but what I am missing. Yes it is spring and yes it is not my favorite season but it does offer quite a bit to do in the outdoors.
Right now if I wasn’t sick or at work or with my family doing stuff I would be trying to spend as much time in the woods as possible. I would be shed hunting, I would be scouting, I would be checking areas that I would not normally be able to get into during deer hunting season.
Springtime offers a whole lot of opportunities to prepare for the upcoming season which we all know can show up before you realize it. During springtime I tend to do a lot of visual scouting whether I am driving around the area or hiking it. It is a good time to see what is about because all the foliage is not back yet so you can scan areas for greater distances without alerting anything you are there.
Springtime is a cooling down period or a calming period where the deer know that hunting season is over and they know winter is on the way out and better weather is on the way in. They know that food will be more abundant. They also feel safer about being in the open more for example, last night as I was coming home from picking my son up I happen to notice a small herd of seven deer just browsing out in the middle of an open field with plenty of daylight left.
If some of you are like me I usually secure my license and any permits I will be needing by now, for instance I purchased my hunting license on January 4th. and had my state land lottery application in the mail by the 5th. I guess I don’t like wasting any time.
Just remember as you are out and about doing your scouting or shed hunting or even just plain enjoying the outdoors it is always a good idea to let someone know where you are going even if you leave a well placed note. You can never be to safe and you never know when an unexpected accident might occur.
also, if you have a young child or know of one that is interested in the outdoors it might be nice to take them along and teach them what you know. It could only benefit them in the long run and possible secure our hunting heritage for generations to come. I know I have started to introduce my 5 year old son Tyler when he went on his first shed hunt with me not to long ago and I have to say he had a blast, as a matter of fact he didn’t want to leave the woods. I will be teaching him how to fish this year so I am looking forward to that as well.