a beautifull day scouting!

[adkmountainken]

i did some early morning scouting today for the upcoming hunt that i will be hosting. beautiful morning, not to hot, not to cool. as i hit a trail that would take me to the first stand site i found a little friend to welcome me. cute little fella!

found some good deer trails and sign in an area that i have had good luck in, also some good turkey sign.  it is just so refreshing being in the woods, all worries seem to just blow away with the wind. i proceeded to an area i wanted to check out just below a ridge where there is a nice shelf of beech. i had been keeping an eye open for bear sign and i believe i found the welcome sign! i always look close at large beech as you can ead alot from them, they scar easy and bears like to climb them and use them as sign posts for their territory. i found a beech on this shelf that had some scars from a climbling bear. on the back side was what looks like the small claw marks form the little feet of a cub.  it was a nice find!


for some reason i just got the feeing that this was an old sow that had raised many cubs on this mountain. i sat down and gave an offering of tobacco and offered a few words to brother bear.  at some time we will both be hunter and hunted but always know i will honor and respect you. a little farther up the ridge a feathered friend flew about and sang chearfully around me. towards the top on was clinbing hard as it was steep and i noticed i was eye to eye with a little fella with his home on his back. made me stop and think about him. we were a long ways from the road and here he was looking at me, me at him. i doubt another person on earth will ever look at this snail or even know he existed, yet he he was smiling at me. here is a pic of him, now many will know him yet if i had not been eye to eye with him he would have lived and dies without anyone ever knowing of him.



i reached the top of the rock ridge, a little sweaty now and glad to be on top! i made my way to the tree stand that i missed the doe from last year. the same ages old deer trail passed beneth it with much new sign. this trail has been here as long as i remember and i'm sure still will be when i leave this earth. i can still see the doe standing there 7 FEET AWAY, and i can still see my arrow passing over her back and quivering in the ground!! here is the stand.

i relaxed a little and smoked a pipe preparing for the hike down the ridge and back home. just before i was getting ready to leave i saw an odd looking tree stump 25 yards away. looked as if the ground was disturbed and fresh. ya ever get a quick chill when you find something unexpected?? well let me tell you i was looking at an old stump that had been torn to bits and was dug all around by a bear that had been there not so long ago!! i felt a little comfort as my hand felt for the top of my knife, just to be safe, thanks Drew!!! i took a couple pic's but they did not come out to good due to the color of the saw dust and dirt being to light. there were a couple good paw prints in the saw dust.

i then collected myself and thoughts and headed back down the mountain. it had been a good morning and i had a lot of company!

[bentpole]

Whew that was very refreshing Ken. I just came back from the Jersey Shore with the wife. Boy I would rather have been where you were for sure!Thanks for sharing.The season will be here soon.

[sticshooter]

Ken,  You sure do "walk in beauty"...
Thank you for the uplifting pic's!!
The photos & details are phenominal  

Shell (on hubby's login)

[LONGHORN]

Beautiful pics,thanks for sharing Ken.
Serge

[Lee Viv]

Great stuff, Ken.  Wish I could get up there some day and visit!

Lee

[Stone Knife]

Now I'm already getting excited.

[CheapShot]

Thanks for taking us along on your scouting trip. Great pictures. I just got back from a scouting/fishing trip in the Ocoee Mts. not far from my home. I got to get a camera to share some pics. and save some memories. Thanks again.

[woodchucker]

Thank You for taking us with you My Brother!!!!!

[adkmountainken]

Chuck,
     that tree is is exactly 1/4 mile from where you sat up on the ridge and where the bear ripped the tree is about 200 yards away!!

[woodchucker]

Good thing I'm bringing "Bear" Razorheads!!!!!  

[Killdeer]

A beautiful walk indeed, Ken! I was very pleased with the pic of the yellow-rumped warbler. They are one of the few that I might see all year around, though I am sure that you won't find that one there in your woods in the winter. Maybe he comes down and spends the cold season with me and mine! I will ask him this December.

The newts in my hunting area are different, too, we have the ones with black-ringed blaze orange spots on either an orange or olive green body. We also have these guys. This one crawled out from under the chestnut shelter a couple of years ago. I don't know his name yet.



Killdeer

[adkmountainken]

Killy, for lack of proper name hows about we name him Oscar!!!!   :D  sorry, couldn't resist that! i always admire your photo's. that warbler skirted about me for about 10 minutes, sometimes with in arms length. we had a nice conversation.

[drewsbow]

Very cool Ken , those pics are great :0)

[Killdeer]

Whoops, got caught with my eyes crossed. It woke me up last night, that is a  female American redstart  you got so close to, Kenny! Sweet singers and not so ubiquitous as the yellow-rump.

Mea culpa
Killdeer  

[bayoulongbowman]

COOL pics....thanks for sharing ..  Mark#78

[L.I.Hunter]

Great pictures ,beautiful country.Thanks for sharing.They made wish I was right there with you.

[Izzy]

Nice pics, I love those bear trees.Would you believe I found one in Cedar River that had a small sucker shoot running off of it that had been rubbed by a buck?Talk about a stand site.Thanks for the pics and glad you enjoyed your scouting, I could smeel the forest from your pics.

[Rusty Izatt]

Great pics Ken! Thanks for sharing. Looks like awsome country.

Rusty

P.S. Have a package heading your way today!!