Larry A. Smail's Blog

Beautiful morning!

I exited my vehicle with a plan to enter into the woods of a mile long hollow and “still hunt” for bear. (Still-hunting is the style of hunting of moving along slowly and stopping to look and listen.) This hollow is very wide and has brushy areas; hemlocks and  rhododendron thickets. As I was walking towards the woods, three sets of vehicle lights could be viewed and turned into the site. An organized bear drive was being planned for daylight. I turned around and drove two miles north and went on an exploratory hunt. I was in a new area in the 287 State Game Lands.                                                                                    

The area I was exploring proved to be a site of many old strip mining high walls. I estimated this area was mined early into the last century if not before. The high walls have plenty of spruce, larch (Tamarack) trees, poplar and aspens.   I wondered why individuals left the areas this way in the past. I wondered even more why landowners seemed to allow it!

Larch cones

At one point I could barely hear the shouts of the drivers from the earlier mentioned drive for bear. They were so far I first thought I was hearing swans high into the sky. (I saw swans  flying. They appeared silver as the sun illuminated their white plumage.)  The drive produced no shots!  I heard two far off shots all day. I am suspecting the bear may be in the standing corn. There are many acres of corn in this area.                                                                                                                                      

Brilliant orange fungus

I saw some deer and squirrels. One deer had a very small set of antlers. I found joy with seeing many small birds too. Birds such as the golden-crowned kinglet; downy woodpeckers, doves and jays were viewed.

Long way to the river!

Noon was approaching as my circling proved to be within reach of the car. I decided to go back to where I was parked originally and walk back over to the river hill site I hunted last year on the first day. This hill overlooks the mighty Allegheny River and is very steep. As I walked along about 1/3 of the way down over, I found the trail to be only as wide as the deer trail I was on. Occasionally, I could see remnants of old mining or logging roads from ancient of times. I wondered how far I would go if I stumbled???

Steep hillside

Prior to reaching the river hill, I met a father and two teenage offspring. We enjoyed some great conversation before shaking hands and wandering away. Great to see his daughter and son learning about the great outdoors!

Mahoning watershed

At two different times I set down and did a little reading. The warm temperatures made climbing hills a little exhausting so a half hour rest was welcomed on two occasions. The book I am reading is “COMMON SENSE” by Thomas Paine. The book was originally written in 1776 during  the time of the breaking down of relations with Great Britain and the colonies. The man would not be surprised at what has happened in America today. He had it pegged!

Downy Woodpecker

On this hunt I saw a small, illegal buck and doe. I heard them long before I saw them. The two were coming along the steep hillsides. They managed to get along much better than I! I reached the vehicle around 3:15 and decided to begin the drive home. Laurie still has a lot of homemade buns around the house!

Reesdale Power Plant from across the river (Closing from EPA regs)

Before the sun…frost!

A very spring-like morning was to be for Pennsylvania’s first day of the black bear season. The temperatures as I began my jaunt up the hill hovered around 25 degrees. A heavy frost covered all vegetation. However, as soon as the sun peeked out from the eastern horizon the temperatures warmed rather quickly. The red and orange colors permeated the trees as the sun’s rays touched each limb and leaf.

Golden glow

My Remington 760 in a 30:06 caliber had been hinting for a walk for a couple of weeks now. This would be the day ! The plan for this first morning was simple. I was going to Cherry Run to familiar haunts and sneak around searching for a bear. I did not do any pre-season scouting, but I wanted to visit certain sites. The reason for this is simple too. Some of the steep slopes had been heavily timbered allowing for great bear habitat, but the main reason was to hunt this site before it becomes mined.

Steep country

The hills and hollows of this area are every bit as steep as those found in Potter County. The only difference is the elevation above sea level. They are not as high.                                                                                                               

Bear do travel in this area at times. My cousin saw three last August crossing a right-of-way line.  The hunt today failed to yield any bear or bear sign, but I had hopes. A corn field on the top had been harvested. These facts didn’t matter to me for I just wanted to spend some quality woods time in areas I love. I would be searching for old memories too.  A bear sighting would have been a plus although I knew my odds were very low.

Fox Squirrel

I heard some turkey roost talk as I edged uphill. Later on my return through the area I would walk into a flock of 8-10 birds. I wondered if my step-father, Bob could climb these hills for the rest of the turkey season later next week.

My walking would spend approximately 5.5 hours on this hill and through the hollows. I saw many deer including one buck. I watched one grouse fly far ahead of me flying along the horizon line. Other critters were a number of fox squirrels and a few gray squirrels. I saw a few chipmunks out and about because of the nice weather.         

I found myself become rather warm and by 10:30 I removed a sweat shirt. The temperatures were climbing and the clear, cloudless skies allowed for the sun to dry out the woodland floor rapidly. However, whenever I would find myself on the hill where the sun wasn’t filtered in the temps would be noticeably cooler.

Deer seeds…just add water!

Eventually, I had cycled around back to the area where I had originally entered the woods. I elected to head to the car and drive about a half of a mile and walk up and over another steep hill to a site I hadn’t been to in many years.

Remnants of an old stone fence

I heard a number of shots all afternoon. I decided because of the amount of shooting and the spacings between each shot that most were hunters sighting in their rifles in preparation for the upcoming buck season.

Chipmunk

I set up and called at a couple of sites. I thought maybe a hungry bear might come to my calling. If nothing else, possibly a coyote might venture in. The plan included a trek around this hill’s top and to travel back towards the car. I would call the hunt off regardless of the time I arrived.                                                                                      

The time was around 3:00 when I reached the vehicle. I headed home remembering Laurie was creating home-made buns this day. YUMMY!

Berries from native Green Briar