Saturday, November 21, 2009

11/21/09 A REALL QIET OPENING DAY OF DEER SEASON

CLOSEUP OF PEARLY EVERLASTING FLOWERS
PEARLY EVERLASTING PLANTS

Saturday, 6:15 PM. The first day of deer season was a bust. I was on my stand way before daylight, and only saw one deer, at 10:00 AM, about 150 yards away, running through the woods like a racehorse. I don’t know if it caught wind of me or if something was chasing it. I don’t know whether it was a buck of doe. Except for a few blue jays the only other creature I saw was a fisher, about the size of a house cat, rummaging about in the leaf litter under my stand. It was a really quiet opening day, I heard a few faraway shots in the morning, and nothing in the afternoon. I sure hope it isn’t going to be a repeat of last year’s awful season!
The woods edges and roadsides are full of pearly everlasting, a plant about a meter high with attractive dried white flowers that hang on into winter. I think I identify it correctly as Anaphalis margaritacea, in the composite family. There are other somewhat similar plant species, in the genus Gnaphalium.