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Hunting again today and guess what I found…

Posted on October 10, 2009
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Jack Corzine has written 148 post in this blog.

I'm a 49 year old Union Ironworker who has numerous interests. Currently I am close to receiving my AAS in Network Administration in Security and am seeking a career change over to the IT field. I love to cook, love my wife and family, and love to live life as fully as I am able to and I try to reflect that in my writings here. Hopefully you will be able to take something from what I place here and put it to good use. Please feel free to comment on anything you wish to here, tell your friends about this website and come back for me. May the Lord God bless and keep you.

White-tailed deer
Image via Wikipedia

Hey, went hunting again this morning (in case you don’t already know, I bowhunt the elusive whitetail deer). Have been lucky enough to be able to hunt a fine piece of real estate situated south of Le Roy so it is not too far away from our house in Downs. I was afraid that I was going to have to hunt public lands only as I was unable to get on the land I traditionally hunted because it was full up. I really did not wish to hunt just public lands as they tend to fill up quite quickly and the deer get to be over-pressured which tends to mean that they go nocturnal for the most part. I don’t mind hunting public land once in a while but I usually do so only on days where it is inclement weather as this keeps the “weekenders” and “fair weather hunters” inside. So anyway, I scared a couple of deer up while walking to my stand and was not too concerned as this is pretty typical behavior as deer tend to start the day quite a bit before dawn. So I make my way to my stand and sit in it all day (first day for me this season in the stand, I’ve been in my ground blind since the beginning of season on Oct. 1). I have seen no deer this morning although I did hear quite a bit of noise in the timber but who really knows if it is deer or possibly the infamous 150 pound squirrels that populate the timber this time of year in central Illinois.

What I was witness to however was a couple of feats of predation that made my heart race and put joy in my life. The first was a wonderful viewing of a large owl taking some small mammal (not real sure what it was as it was still sort of dark outside). In case you don’t know, when owls sail past you they are silent due to specialized feathers on their wings that silence the air as it passes over them. So needless to say that as this owl passed over my head I had absolutely no clue that he or she was even there. That is until I saw this shadow pass over my head by about only 4 feet! Imagine if you will, quietly sitting in a tree stand 12 feet off of the ground contemplating how beautiful the morning is, when something the size of a small football with wings that stretch out about 4 feet or so passes soundlessly overhead. It startles you and amazes you all at the same time (you really have to remember that you are standing on a small platform quite a ways above the ground!). That was the first episode.

My second example was of a Harrier Hawk (I recognized this species as it is quite similar to the Red-Tail but without the characteristic red tail feathers). This hawk is known for it’s low angle of attack while looking for small rodents and it is exactly what happened today at about 9:30 a.m.. I watched as he (it had the typical coloring of a male Harrier) first flew from south to north in front of my stand and instantly wheeled in mid-air and dove for the ground in a violent and sudden move. The force of the impact was so strong that is sounded as if a full grown man had violently dumped to the ground from a height of a couple of feet. Now understand that a harrier hawk can’t weigh more than 4 or 5 pounds and this impact was LOUD! It was definitely an awsome sight to see!

But even more awsome was what I saw as I was leaving my stand and walking back to my vehicle. As usual I was checking out the ground for signs of recent deer activity. I noticed quite a few tracks that were not there when I ventured in to hunt that morning and even saw some racoon tracks as well as the following that got me quite excited to see. Anyone know what leaves this track?

unidentified animal track

unidentified animal track



Ok here’s one that gives you an idea of the size of the track. The track is about 2 1/2″ to 3″ in length.

IMAGE_00148

This last one is a comparison with some small deer tracks (I believe this deer to be a yearling fawn by the size of the tracks).
IMAGE_00147

Ok, I’ll let you off of the hook, this is a track of the Lynx Rufus or in common terms the Bobcat. Some may say that this is merely a dog track but there are distinct differences between dog and large cat tracks the most notable being that dog tracks (like fox tracks) almost always show the existence of the non-retractable claws. If not in a single track, most definitely in the multitude of tracks that I followed this morning. None of the tracks I found had any sign of non-retractable claw marks on them. Some others will say that there are no Bobcat in central Illinois anymore but according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources studies from hunters and naturalists have confirmed Bobcat sightings in 99 out of 102 counties in Illinois. The population of Bobcats are rising in our state and I for one am quite happy about it.

Well that was my adventure for today. Each new day of hunting brings me more wonders to enjoy and praise our Father God about. His creation is truly a wonder to behold and to enjoy. May you also find enjoyment in the outdoor activities that you participate in and hopefully soon I will be able to relate to you on my first harvest of the elusive White-tail of this season. Until then, happy hunting!

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