Pennsylvania Game News - July 2011 - 8

cent, while the sunlight dances on the leaves of the trees. Some of the impressive oaks have been there for more than 150 years. While these beauties stand tall, the smaller beech and maple trees add their various colors to enhance the view. I prefer to approach the area from the southeastern end, especially if I’m squirrel hunting. A couple of the towering oaks usually house at least a half dozen or more squirrels apiece, where the woodpeckers have made many possible den sites. Then, if pheasant season is in, I like to proceed across the tussock-dotted terrain where the birds often roost for the night. Wild pheasants are here in abundance, mostly during the first and last hours of the day. An excursion through the moist ground is not easy, but it can be the most rewarding part of any hunt. I have to cross a narrow back road to gain access to a second part of the marshy area before heading into the woodlot. It has higher tussocks, because the cows do not ordinarily stay here. I’m sure I’ve walked by many birds and even countless rabbits by not always tramping through every inch of cover. And, finally, the woodlot. I usually travel down the fencerow to my left

first. There are some black walnut trees scattered along the brushy barrier, between the grassy pasture on the right and cut cornfield to the left. What a perfect place for a few squirrels to gather some food to take back to the larger oaks just ahead another 50 yards. A rabbit could go out at any time as well in this spot. Lots of groundhog holes offer a quick escape if the hunter is a little slow on the trigger. Speaking of groundhogs, these critters love the surrounding fields during any given summer. While they avoid the cornfields until the corn is ready for picking, the nearby alfalfa, soybean and clover fields offer succulent temptations to the varmints. The devastation they do to such fields allows me to have permission to hunt whenever I like. A nice little spring and stream begins in the northern section of the woodlot that eventually meanders down to where I am now and proceeds through the marsh and eventually feeds into Pickering Creek. There aren’t any sizeable fish to speak of here, but the fishing gets much better a mile or two farther down. I have just hiked another 50 yards or so, to where a tractor path crosses. I laugh as I see where the small steam breaks forth from some thick honeysuckle and briars. This is where both pheasants and deer have eluded hunters over the years. They sneak through the thickest parts well ahead of their pursuers and then either fly or run through a narrow patch of cover that leads to yet another thicket. Most hunters don’t even think to post a hunter here, or even proceed to the tiny thicket. It’s just as well. That leaves some breeding stock for the following year. Hiking farther into the main part of the woodlot, I stand amazed at the rather large beech
game news

Pennsylvania Game News - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2011