Larry A. Smail's Blog

The dark woods trip for the first day of the muzzleloading season yielded the sounds of a Barred Owl. I thought to myself the day was already a good one. A half-mile farther and a Great-Horned Owl began hooting away. I continued walking through the woods quietly and the big bird continued hooting until a crow sounded off. I set a spell waiting for the light to get strong enough to begin sneaking around. Old Jeremiah was anxious to get out for a deer hunt. last year I did not hunt the early season. Jeremiah is my 62 caliber smoothbore flintlock. I try to keep any shots under forty yards since accuracy lessens  after that distance due to the barrel not having any rifling to spin the lead ball.                                

I walked tight along the woods line while walking a field’s edge. two deer were feeding at the other end of the field. Moments later I saw the backs of three feeding deer about sixty yards. I tightened my stance ten feet into the woods to await their movements. The deer slowly fed towards me stopping at thirty yards. I just didn’t feel like shooting. The “hunter mode” had not kicked in! I debated trying to remove my camera from my shoulder bag, but I figured with the sun aiming the bright rays directly upon me that any movements may be amplified allowing the deer to see the movement.

Sure there was plenty of limbs and vegetation to help hide me, but a shot was very much possible. The sun had cleared the treetops and the doe stared at me. I expected she may have seen something shining. After a few moments she turned and entered the woods I was standing in.  I turned left and could see the deer about twenty-eight yards into the woods. The instinct took over and I leveled the flintlock. I could not get a clean shot due to briars and limbs. One deer moved towards me to about eighteen yards. I held off hoping for a clean shot. Funny how the hunter mode happens. I passed up very good and easy shots and only decided to take a deer when no shots were offered. No regrets! Some of my hunting friends will understand!

   I saw a lot of squirrels this day and I searched for some sheepshead mushrooms and found none.  I would see three more deer. By mid-morning I was in my tee-shirt and by 11:15 I was heading home to work in the yard. It was a good day.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************On OIL CREEK & TITUSVILLE RAILROAD’S PERRY STREET STATION

  October 13, we rode a train at Titusville, Pennsylvania running along Oil Creek. We spent much time in the open car. We stopped by Drake’s

Laurie with Lori and Allen Leard

oil well site and could see hints of historic oil wells and derricks along the way. Edwin Drake, in 1859, built the first successful oil well in the world here.

Oil creek is a beautiful waterways producing a great fishery. We saw many fly-fishermen as we rode the train along the creek.

We saw a Bald Eagle very close while traveling for the rode. We saw a lot of Mergansers and Canada geese on Oil Creek. I included a few photos of the trip.

Oil Creek

Oil Derricks