Pennsylvania Game News - August 2016 - 55

Golden Anniversary
To celebrate this golden anniversary of the column's launch, Gone for the Day will
appear in Game News throughout 2016. In order to accommodate the column, some of the
magazine's content might appear only online. This month, however, all columns appear
in the magazine and online. We hope you enjoy them, and the return of Gone for the Day.

pale brown.
Gene tells me this strangely colored
bird has been frequenting his place for
a week or so in company with his black
brothers.
August 19: Nature's ingenuity is
apparent almost everywhere. Last evening
at a miniature golf course, we saw an
example of how she has adapted certain
insects to feed from deep-throated flowers
whose nectar cannot be reached by bees.
In this case, the flowers were petunias in a
planter; the tipplers were slender-winged
sphinx moths that zoomed from flower to
flowers beneath the artificial lights. Their
tubular tongues, normally rolled up like
watch springs were unfurled and inserted
into the flower's corolla as the moth
hovered in midair. The nectar was sipped
through the tongue, like soda through a
straw. We caught one of the moths, and a
later measuring session established that its
fully extended tongue was a trifle longer
than its head-and-body length!
August 23: Why do some small areas
seem to have an abundance of bucks - or
at least a high ratio of bucks to does?
There's a small farm carved out of the
woods on The Ridge that seems to attract
more than its share of male deer in late
summer and fall, and this year is no
exception. Last evening I watched two
deer come out of the woods to graze in
an old clover field. The first was a fourAUGUST 2016

pointer with long, high antlers that nearly
touched at the tips. The other was a very
nice six-pointer. In a nearby overgrown
apple orchard I was treated to the sight
of an absolutely tremendous eight-point
buck - a perfect trophy rack in every way.
He hadn't seen me, but slowly worked his
way into some dense pines. Before he was
out of sight, another buck strolled by an
opening in the high weeds. Through the
binocular I could see only one antler - a
large one with at least four points - but
because of the dense weeds I couldn't be
sure he actually had two antlers.
Shortly after these two deer disappeared, I heard the dead weeds crunching
close at hand, and soon saw a fork-horn
moseying my way through the shoulderhigh goldenrod. I thought he might walk
right up to where I was crouching, but
instead he swung to the left and nearly
exploded with fright when he got my scent
a scant ten feet away. On my way to the
road, I saw two more deer - does, as far
as I could see.
The bucks' antlers now appear full
grown beneath their covering of velvet. A
few days earlier I felt the rack of a captive
eight-point buck. It was hard to the very
tips, and the velvet had a harsh, dry feel,
indicating that growth was completed.
The die is cast, sad to say. The four-pointer
in August will still be only a four-pointer
in hunting season.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - August 2016
