We are having a little early winter weather and so are most of the other parts of the country. Many places in the southwest that hardly ever see snow have it, while some others have ice to contend with.
I’ll take snow anytime over ice as its less hazardous to driving conditions and power lines.
Many got more precipitation in the form of snow than they normally get all year.
Most folks have just radial tires and no snow tires because they never see that stuff, as evidenced by all the accidents on the highways.
This morning (11/25) I had minus six on the thermometer. It put a coating of ice on many of the bodies of water in the area.
Please be careful about going out on any ice this time of the year. It may seem safe but you never know without checking first.
There were still many mallard ducks and Canada geese feeding in the open water channel between First Lake and the pond this morning.
Casey Crofut called this morning to tell me there was loon in the road by the Northern Logger. I went down to check it out but it had flown away.
I saw where it had landed in the back yard and ran around there trying to get airborne.
It made several attempts back and forth across the lawn but there just wasn’t enough take-off space. It got down in the swamp a couple of times and walked back to the lawn.
It finally went up the side of the building out toward the road and got airborne.
I didn’t see the bird, but it was probably a red-throated loon as they can take-off from the ground or water after just a short run of less than 100 feet.
I had one a few years ago on Christmas Count morning in the driveway over by Rivett’s Marine.
That one wasn’t so fortunate as it had broken its wing on the power line while coming down for a landing. It had to be put down as the wing was shattered.
Speaking of the Old Forge Christmas Count, it will be done on Saturday, December 14.
Anyone who is interested in counting birds at their feeders or taking a walk in the woods looking for birds locally that day can give me a call and I’ll sign them up.
There may be a change in the weather—as fickle as it is these days—so those ducks and geese may still be here to be counted.
There are a few birds still out in the woodlands feeding on the beechnuts and cone crop that are still hanging on the trees.
I got a message from Tom Vawter who said the Winter Moth I talked about in last week’s column isn’t the one that’s making the holes in the maple leaves.
He checked it out and said it was the Maple Leaf Cutter Moths making the little round holes. They are specific to feeding on maples.
The Winter Moths were out flying around last week on a day when the temperature got just above 32 degrees.
There were a couple web sites that got left out of last week’s article if you wanted to get more information on these winter flyers.
I got to go fishing for steelheads on the Salmon River this week with Kerry Rogers. It was four degrees when I left the house at a dark 4 a.m.
When I met Kerry in Rome I asked if we were going ice fishing. He said it should be warmer on the river, and he was right as it was 22 degrees.
The river was running quite high and I had to learn how to catch these fish. Kerry was a good teacher. He put me in the right places with all the right flies, but I just couldn’t hook up.
I would fish a spot and then he would come in a catch a fish, so there is a technique that I just didn’t get.
He was using the same flies and the same pole and line as I was, but he was catching fish. The line froze in the guides of the pole most of the day.
I never did put on gloves as you are pretty active throwing and retrieving the line in the swift water. It got just above freezing while we were having lunch and that was about it.
Kerry caught three steelheads. One real nice one gave him quite a battle in the swift water, but he landed it for a few pictures.
He had a few other hits. I know for sure I had one good hit but missed that fish.
We only saw one other fisherman catch a steelhead, so I guess we did alright. It was a great day on the river.
I’m sure I’ll be back there and catch one the next time.
The bucks are chasing the does this week and I’ve seen a couple nice bucks in my travels.
I was across Third Lake Creek the other day and a doe came charging out of the woods on the other side of the brook.
She got half-way across the brook and smelled something she didn’t like.
The six-point buck wasn’t far behind her, but she switched gears and ran back in the woods on her side with the buck chasing behind her.
The little buck around the house has been following pretty closely to the doe that’s been around here all fall but I don’t think he has caught her yet.
Have a great Thanksgiving Day with your family, but that’s another story. See ya.