The BackWoods Drifter

Growing up I used to spend a lot of time in the mountains. If hunting season wasn’t in I was hiking or senging (looking for ginseng). I especially enjoyed squirrel hunting. I remember a time all too well where you could judge how well someone has done in the squirrel season by how many squirrel tales were tied to the antennae of their truck.

At any rate I remember this one time a friend came to the house and got me to go hunting with him. I may have been around fourteen or fifteen at the time. We were headed towards a favorite hunting spot when we stopped on the ridgeline to take a breather and just have a look around. If we moved five feet left or right we could see the entire hollows opened up before us. It was the perfect place to watch for squirrels among the leaves on the ground and in the branches of the trees.

We were standing there and we hear something coming down the ridge toward us. You could tell it wasn’t very big because it sounded like it was swimming in the leaves. Both of us were standing there ready to meet whatever was coming head on. It turns out we weren’t prepared because what came into sight was a hilarious vision. Two fox pups were absolutely having the time of their life. The second one close on the heels of the first and nipping at the back of the legs of the first one.

These pups couldn’t have been a year old and still had the puppy look to them. The paid no more attention to us as if we were trees standing there. They did have the sense to dodge us and in just doing so they end up in a slightly bigger red and white ball as they go rolling over the ridge to our left. I thought it was probably the funniest damn thing I had seen to that point in the woods.

My friend and I both were laughing at the antics of the little fox pups as we watch them roll over the edge of the ridge. When we came to our senses both of us rushed to the edge to see the fox in the hollow. They were no where to be seen. It made no sense because we were close to the edge and looking over within seconds of the fox going over. They had apparently vanished. My friend asked me if fox climbed trees. At the time I thought that was a ridiculous idea and laughed in spite of myself. To me a fox climbing a tree would be like Old Blue climbing a tree. For some reason I could picture Old Blue scaling up the side of a hickory tree - that’s a pretty funny picture.

As I got older and thinking about the little fox pups, I tend to think the more likely reason for their apparent disappearing act is because we were in close proximity to the den and just didn’t know it. I would also hear stories later that made the idea of a fox in a tree not so far fetched. But until I see it with my own eyes - I’ll have to leave that one in the doubtful category.

Back then I considered the mountains a place of wonder and mystery. It was a whole other world where the laws of man counted for nothing. Fox pups still played in the woods in the same fashion as they have been since the dawn of time. I enjoyed trips to the mountains just for the solitude because in the mountains you could literally imagine yourself in any time in history. I miss the time when it seemed as if even the animals were more relaxed. Now you can go into huge areas in the mountains and you have no doubt what time you are in. The peace and quiet of the mountains takes on a whole new meaning. In a lot of places one would be lucky to hear a squirrel bark let alone watch two fox pups in careless play together. It is these simple things in life we will regret losing the most. Or, at least, I will.