Once again I have neglected this blog. It is safe to say that it will remain idle until after the New Year.
I do want to wish everybody a wonderful holiday season and hope that you all stay safe.
The BWD will be back at the beginning of ‘09 with a new look and a new purpose.
take care…
This was probably the closest I have come yet to just walking away from the blogs - and not looking back. It had almost been as long in checking the game cameras as it has been since my last post. I finally did make it back to the camera over the weekend and out of the four hundred plus photos the game camera has taken since I purchased it, I finally got what I was after.
Now that I know where he is, I plan to take my regular camera on a hunting venture very soon.
The camera had 172 photos on it with over 1000 events. I believe the events are things it saw and didn’t take a photo of. All of the dates and times are wrong. I have found something I don’t like about these cameras. If you turn the power off or remove the batteries the date and time stops and has to be reset with each photo download. A person would think if you paid around 150 bucks for a camera - at the very least it could have some kind of backup to retain time and date.
I did get one other buck photo and I like it pretty good. Hunters call this a button buck. And the reason for that are the two little knots (buttons) on his head where his antlers will grow in. I think this young buck is already trying to make a statement with the ladies. 
He is the deer in the center.
Just in case anybody has wondered what has happened to me, the title says it all. I’m in the middle of taking some time away from all of the blogs.
We got our first snow last night which makes this prediction even more concrete. With Winter fast approaching, I’ll be spending less time on an ATV and more time at home.
I just wanted to post this to let you know I’m still kicking and I’ll be back to posting on a regular basis around the 1st of November.
With a couple nights of rain and colder temps, the fall colors are at peak in a few places. Mainly those places are the tops of the higher mountains and in the valleys of nearly all of them. Temperature plays a huge roll in changing the leaves and on top of say Ivy Knob nearly the entire summit is in full Fall colors. Whereas low outlying ridges are still completely green.
I’m planning one more overnight trip to the mountains this year just for the purposes of taking photos and enjoying the color change. It is absolutely beautiful in the mountains during color change and if you have never witnessed it firsthand, you don’t know what you’re missing. It is one of the simple pleasures to be sure.
Since my last post with game camera photos, I have moved the cameras a couple of times and I have captured a lot of animal photos.
The first area is in a hollow in Drews Creek. I was there ginsenging and came up on an area that looked as if it had been ravaged by wild turkey. You can tell where turkey have been by the large areas of ground where the leaves have been moved or disturbed. I decided to hang a camera in the area to confirm the presence of turkey.
I captured quite a few photos of turkey and even got a shot of another person ginsenging.
The next place I moved the camera to is by a deer feeder behind my friend Mountainsavers house. When the sun goes down he has a veritable zoo of animals snacking on the corn he provides for them.
In the photos you can barely see the feeder hanging there but this next photo gives a good indication of where the feed outlet is on the feeder.
And finally, my favorite out of this bunch. Deer are normally gentle creatures so needless to say I was a little shocked to see this doe showing her ass.
If you were waiting for the perfect time to get out and do some hiking, your wait is over.
I put the ATV away this weekend and hit the trails on foot. Plenty of sunshine, temps a little cool. and the foliage in the beginning stages of color change - perfect.
I actually went for more than just a hike but a hike down memory lane. I decided to hike to Peachtree Falls and get some pictures from the base of the falls. The trail I was on I hiked as a child fishing the many holes of water along the way.
The trail to the falls is just as scenic in some places as the falls itself. There are many highwalls in West Virginia. Most of them were created by the process of strip mining. Some were created by erosion and the passing of time. The high wall in the photo below was created by the Big Coal River which is visible in the photo. Nearly imperceptible is the trail winding along the base of the cliff.
About a mile after first hitting the trail it opens up temporarily at the spot where Peachtree Creek drains into the Big Coal River. We call it Peachtree Hole and as a child it is where I caught the biggest fish ever.
From there I turn north and follow the creek for about three quarters of a mile. Normally it can be a pretty taxing hike. But I was lucky in that the water is very low making the hike up the creek very easy.
It only took me arriving at the falls to make the entire journey with the trip.
If the old tale about bees building their nests in the ground as being an indication of the severity of the coming winter, this year is going to be terrible.
I’ve done a lot of hiking in the mountains and never before this year have I seen the sheer amount of yellow jackets nests in the ground. Any year previously the nests were a hazard but rarely encountered. This year it is best not to go in the mountains without keeping a weary eye open for the little yellow devils.
I can pretty much guarantee one thing, the bears are loving all of the nests they have to forage. In some cases I’m happy for the bears because when they find a nest, they uncover it. Where normally the entrance to the nest can be an unseen hole in the ground, bears make the nests much easier to spot.
I guess as far as winter is concerned, we will just wait and see. If you go in the mountains here in Appalachia, be careful of the bees. 
I’ve been spending a tremendous amout of time in the mountains. A couple of days ago while setting up a game camera, I was standing there waiting for my laptop to boot up when I thought to myself, now this is an office with a view.
I’ve moved the game cameras a couple of times since the last post. One of them I had moved to Martins Creek for a few days. I captured a number of bear pictures but every one of them was with the bear right at the camera. Basically all you can see is fur like in the photo below. I wanted to show this photo because of the unique appearance of this bear.
I found the strip of fur down the middle of its back a little odd.
I haved moved that camera away from there for the time being because of a lot of people out ginsenging. Best not to tempt people, it helps to keep an honest man honest. Anyway, I’ll put the camera back later in the year so hopefully I can capture an entire photo of this bear.
Along those lines - I used to love to hunt, being in the mountains at the break of daylight anxiously waiting for whatever game was in season. I love the entire ritual of hunting because it brings man back to nature. Tracking game, knowing the signs and habits - matching wits with mother nature. More often that not, mother nature prevails.
This year I’m going to start hunting again. The only fifference is that I will be shooting my game with a digital camera. I want to do the entire hunting experience, with a twist, right down to an early morning deer stand. Hunting is 99% for the experience and 1% for the moment. Instead of pulling the trigger I’ll be pushing a shutter release. Every other aspect will be the same. Should make for some interesting posts in the future.
Moving on - I have been telling friends, even sometimes total strangers, about the benefits of having black snakes around. I know a lot of people hate snakes. When most people encounter snakes their train of thought runs along one of two lines, kill it or run like hell. They do this without really thinking about the snake itself. I call it the serpent reaction.
Imagine the man who killed the harmless black snake only to be bitten by the deadly rattlesnake.
Thanks to Judy for these photos.
There you have it. One last time, some snakes are handy to have around. Case in point, the Eastern Rat Snake.
I’m going to finish this post with another photo from the game cameras. The brand of camera is Remington Ghost. In IR photo taking mode, it sure made this deer look like a ghost.
Until next time.
This post I decided to write while camping.
Right now it is about 9pm on Aug. 31 and I’m camping on top of the mountain in Drews Creek. If I had been following my plans I would be in Martin’s Creek down in the hollow instead of on top of the mountain but as plans are apt to sometimes do, somewhere along the line they changed.
My trips to the mountains now always begin with a visit to the game cameras. The Spring Hollow cam in Drews Creek is the one I like to make sure I get time to check because it has been the most productive. That camera is located 22 trail miles from my house. I had planned on checking the camera in Martin’s Creek first this time because it is only about half the distance of the other camera and I wanted to camp there because ginseng season starts tomorrow and that is a place I want to go seng hunting.
A quick note - I had been hearing thunder in the distance and it has now started to rain. This will be my first night weathering a storm in this tent. I was a little unsure about tonights weather when I left home this morning so I came prepared for mother nature. I brought rain repellant for the tent and I brought a tarp to sit the tent on so there would be extra protection for any water that may run under the tent. I also set up in an area with minimal large trees. There are a lot of small trees so they should help with a little protection.
Now back to why I am on top of this mountain, curiosity is why. I just had to see the photos from the Spring Hollow cam first. And since I was already over here I decided to camp here and go to Martin’s Creek in the morning then home tomorrow evening. I came out of Spring Hollow to the top of the mountain because it was still pretty early in the day.
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Unfortunately, since it can at times take me a little while to compose a post, the paragraphs above are as far as I got before the battery in my laptop died. So I’m finishing this post at home.
I think I got lucky with the storm. Turns out it was more bark than bite. Just a lot of thunder and few rain drops. I did get some more pictures from the Spring Hollow cam. The one bear I’m beginning to think has a den somewhere not far from the camera.
This weeks photos also cleared up a small mystery. I had been getting late night photos that showed what appeared to be two deer. I couldn’t be sure because all I could see were eyes.
Like the bear I believe these two deer, a doe and her yearling, also call this area their home. I’ve gotten a lot of pictures of the doe but this is the first picture with her yearling plainly visible.
The morning after camping, I went to Martins Creek to check the camera there and do some ginsenging.
It seems as if the second camera and bears are going to have a history. If you have read any of my recent posts you will know I moved one camera to Martins Creek after it was attacked by a bear in Spring Hollow. I thought when I moved the camera to Martins Creek I set it up next to a deer trail. Maybe I should have looked at the sign a little closer. The next two pictures aren’t real clear but there is no doubt what it is. Definitely not a deer.
This bear didn’t intentionally bother the camera but he just happen to go up the mountain right by the tree the camera is attached to.
I tracked the bear up the mountain for a little distance and ended up finding my first stalks of ginseng for the season. I was right about Martins Creek being a good place to ginseng. In short order I found about twenty stalks on the side of the hill above the camera.
Right at the moment I am getting my gear cleaned up and ready for another trip to the mountains. I plan on going back to Martins Creek early in the morning and camping until Thursday in order to do a more thorough search for ginseng. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
