Amazingly, the heat dropped like a rock today!! It got down to 72 degrees from the 80s yesterday… almost into the 60s. The deer are not moving in the areas I’ve been hunting. The leaves are also falling at a pace that makes it almost impossible to see sign unless it was just made.
I went on a 7 1/2 mile jaunt today after getting out of work at 1:00 p.m. I got drenched to the bone. I’m not sure if I got more wet from the sweat or from the moisture that was still on the trees and underbrush from the earlier rain.
Halfway into my journey, my GPS decided it no longer wanted to work. I guess it has finally run its course. While climbing a mountain, my signal got weak, and the unit lost its ability to communicate with any satellites. I figured it was just a momentary thing, but after trying to get it to reboot, I realized that is probably on its way to GPS heaven. I will probably have to upgrade to a newer version. It’s somewhat disheartening, because I’ve never used it much, and I have taken good care of it.
It seems that bears are all over this year. I’m not sure if that is what has slowed down the typical deer movement or if the extended summer weather is the issue. I did find one place where a deer had scraped in the last 24 hours, and it was in one of my typically good areas. Hopefully, that’s a sign that things are going to improve, but I’m not counting on it at this point in time. Tomorrow is the first day of Northern Zone NY muzzleloader season, then we will have seven consecutive weeks of hunting with firearms. Here are a few pictures of my day. There’s nothing like following a dirt road into fall.
A dirt road has a splendor all its own… something only a hunter can understand.
