Larry A. Smail's Blog

     Early Friday morning, I made the decision to head to state Game Lands 137 near New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I needed to walk some game land roads and take some photos; look for bear sign and maybe get a ringneck pheasant

Ringneck track and .410 shotshell for comparison

or a couple of squirrels. As often is the case, the hunt becomes secondary on my excursions.  

I spent half a day traveling roads; high walls and some woodland areas. I didn’t see any bear sign, but I did see a number of deer and a couple of grouse. I met up with a well-tender and we had a great conversation about, you guessed it…hunting!

     The fall foliage, although past peak, is still very beautiful to me. In fact, I think I enjoy the past peek woodlands better. The stark contrasts between the fall color and leafless trees is beautiful.               

Since I walked roads a lot I didn’t see nearly the ticks I have while staying entirely in the woods. However, I still removed about 20 of them throughout the morning. Todays’ experiment consisted of placing them in rubbing alcohol. This killed the little pests rather quickly! Another interesting sighting I have known about for a number of years is a great-blue heron rookery located on a high ridge.  The heron is a wetland bird standing rather tall on long legs. This nesting site is not near any water! Why the birds have chosen this site puzzles me. I have seen many nests and herons at times. The high winds of recent months may have removed some nests.  

Heron nests

The shotgun

  The firearm of choice this morning was an old Harrington and Richardson (H&R) .410 single shot shotgun. My father purchased this gun for me for $15.00 for my second year of hunting. The previous year I had used my Uncle Carl Smail’s .410 and my dad dcided I needed my own. The family had removed the firing pin from the gun sice a family member had been talking sucidal thoughts. They failed to mention that to my dad on the Friday he received it. The following morning I missed an easy shot on a grouse when a “click” was all that was heard. (Unfortunately the person managed to complete the deed at a later time.)  

   I used this gun for a number of years until my growth and a sear issue causwed me to lay it aside. A few years back my cousin, Donnie Smail repaired the gun and the first shot from it bagged a grouse.

Partridge berry

  Like I said the woods are beautiful and the great weatherfurther enhanced the day afield.  

Deer bed