Adjustments Have Been Made

So Wednesday morning I went out and scoped out my deer stand. I knew about the isolated apple tree, and brought with me a couple of blaze-orange items to hang in it and then back away to see what my best shooting lanes might be. But as I approached the tree, I came across very fresh deer tracks in the snow. I followed them, and they appeared to skirt the clearing heading south in what may actually be a regular route for them. So I now had two potential shooting lanes to scope.

I dropped my blaze-orange hat on the trail, and then went and hung the vests I'd brought (and dropped my gloves there in various spots for good measure), and then paced back to see just how I might be able to position myself.

I found the base of a tree that would break up or disguise my mass to deer approaching either along the path where the tracks were, or approaching the apple tree from the south, and which allowed very open shooting in either direction. The apple tree at 12:00, the path at 9:00. Great spot.

I then spent an hour or more scoping out my approach, making sure I'd be able to find it in the dark. And when occasionally I ran across a squirrel, I'd do my best to try to bring him down. And I am man enough to admit that they all got away from me.

Now, I shoot a .22 for squirrel, so when they're way up there in the tree, there's some skill involved. No scope - just me and the open sights. And they maneuvered well enough to never allow me a very open shot, and all got away clean, either by scampering to other trees that had holes in them, or, in one instance, by deciding that the treetop was no safe place and blazing down the trunk - even as I ran toward it to try to scare them back up - and then high-tailing it cross-country to where it doubtless knew there to be a rabbit hole. Because it dived under a brush pile, and no amount of stomping would dislodge it.

What I needed, was a dog. And as soon as I have one - one that is not old and deaf - I think I will teach it to chase squirrels. Because had I had a dog - a bull terrier, say - eagerly awaiting the squirrel at the bottom of the tree, he'd have stayed up. And I'd be frying him right about now.

So the land where I'm going to hunt is public, and there is the danger that some other yahoo will have scoped out the same spot, and will be sitting there - or maddeningly near - tomorrow morning. All I can do is get there earlier than they're willing to. The sun comes up around 6:00, so if I'm there by 5:00, I have to imagine that would make me the champion. But we'll see. I have all my gear already laid out in the front room - I'll probably sleep on the couch tonight so as not to bother Janneke.

And that is much more than enough about that.

T and Janneke are off watching a puppet show in Albany with T's friend Conor and his mother, Denise. Leaving me and Q here for the afternoon. Q's settled in to watch the Giants and the Redskins, and I'm doing this until my school website is up and running. I hope it comes up before too long - I have a standard sub document that I alter for any given day that I'm going to be out, and if I can get to the website, I can access it. If not, no - and I'll have to do the whole thing from scratch. Bla.

On the squirrel front, we've taken Auntie Jayne's advice and purchased a squirrel-proof feeder. The Yankee Dipper, I believe - curved little perches with a spring that will hold up the weight of a bird up to a cardinal, but buckle under anything heavier. And today we saw a squirrel try it, and by crackee, that thing works - plunk!, right to the ground. Here's some evidence:



What did I do with the old, non-squirrel-proof feeders? Take a gander:




Squirrels can't get up the aluminum siding, and can't scamper down from the roof. (He said, arrogantly.) And here, it's visible from the vantage point of the couch, looking out through the patio door. Nice. And the other one:



I resurrected from the pile at the side of the house the pole with the inverted-cone-shaped squirrel baffle that the previous owners left us, and hung from its top the suet, and bolted the other feeder to the flat platform on top.

See how the squirrels stare longingly from the closest possible leaping point, which is still just slightly too far away:



I have no sympathy whatsoever.

There's other news, but I'm about to get set composing from scratch a new doc for my sub tomorrow. (Bleah.) Still no response from the Lenox server. Man, I tell you, the timing of that couldn't have been worse. It was working yesterday! They had warned us that it might be down for a while during the vacation - but to wait until Sunday to have it go down?! Grr...