KY deer season 2020

[colonelpatterson]

I was quite unsuccessful on my hunt this year as was last. I have tried everything that is legal from salt blocks to apple molasses bait blocks to not even see any deer. I am not here to complain however. I have very mountainous eastern KY property with a river close by but on others land and a small town on said river. I took a week of work and hinted the whole time. My woods are thick and need groomed not the least these middle age but early onset arthritis bones need some trails/roads cut into the mountain to make life easier.

Anyway there is a spot I like to hunt up towards the top of my mountain. Its the only area not as thick in this bowl between 3 ridges. It has a fallen tree leaning on a live one. Said tree has a hole that holds water and in that spot the sun never really reaches it to evaporate the water. I'm sitting here waiting for a deer when around 4pm the forest comes alive birds erupt in song start yelling at each other and the squirrels start scratching for nuts in the leaf litter. I'm sitting as still as possible while all this is going on and look to my right to that little bit of water. I don't know why I sat about 5 yards from it but those birds came to that spot and just started bathing and grooming themselves right before my eyes. I could hear their feathers fluff as they bathed. Tag soup and lots of memories. Chloroblast my kit built muzzleloader has yet to be blooded. I need to take her after those squirrels.

 

[pilot]

Always fun to be in the right place at the right time for something interesting.

 

[appalichian hunter]

If you watch there is always something going on around you in the mountains, things like this for me is just as important as the actual hunting.

 

[Boomerang]

Time goes so fast when I'm out hunting in the woods watching God's creation.

 

[hanshi]

I'd say you had a wonderful day in the woods.

 

[oldwood]

Colonel..........Be careful, there's an old Southern Appalachian folk tale about stumps and such that hold water in the backwoods. It is said the Devil comes in the night and drinks from them. I read this in a story printed in Muzzle Blasts many years ago. Author's last name was White. He delves into family history including muzzle loading hunting........oldwood

 

[Walkingeagle]

You need that stump water to cure warts. Under a full moon while rotating and saying a verse out loud!
Walk

 

[oldwood]

Walk , the color of the moon might have something to do with stump water curing something too. Old timers said a red moon on the horizon just after sun down was a powerful indicator of coming bad fortune. Probably not a good time to apply any stump water cures with or w/o incantations..........oldwood

 

[Walkingeagle]

Agreed, however I was making a feeble attempt at humour with a snip from the original text of Tom Sawyer.
Walk

 

[oldwood]

Walk.........The stump water wart removal reference was great entertainment. I was fortunate enough to have spent time in the early 1950's as a young kid, with 80 + year old Preston Co. W.Va. backwoods mountain folk. Their homestead was 12 miles from the nearest hard top road along the Cheat River. As a child would do , I asked old Mrs B. why was the river named the Cheat River , thinking someone got cheated somehow. ? She thought for a moment and answered she was told as a child, many people had been "cheated " out of their lives there. Us kids asked why , and how? She said she didn't know. Well , one question precludes another one , this one wasn't answered until 60+ years later. One day I was perusing a Deleware Indian , to English dictionary and looked up the word "Cheat" , in Delaware Language. I was thunder struck. First , the word was pronounced "Chee--Ott." .......meaning, looking through a clear glass window. The Delaware word "Cheat" directly describes the glass clear water flowing in the Cheat River. As a kid I played along the river and noted how you could see the bottom just like looking through glass. Here comes the real connection of the Cheat River name to It's history. The Cheat River Valley contains the junction of two main , hundreds of year old Indian war trails at it's mouth where the Cheat joins the Monongahela River south of Pgh. Pa. The trail from the N.E. was the trail used by Iroquois, and the trail from the west and Ohio River was Delaware , Shawnee , and all the Great Lakes tribes. For hundreds of years those tribes used the Cheat River trail to invade their enemy Indian tribes across the mountains into the Potomac River valley. During the 1700's , any white colonials and others attempting to settle the Cheat Valley were easy pray for any war party on the war path there. Back to what Mrs. B told us kids , "she was told as a child , Lots of folks were "cheated " out of their lives along the Cheat , And so the River was named , and the old folks from there were not informed of the rest of the story , or more likely the story was forgotten. The Delaware 's named the river for it's clear water , and the white settlers maintained the Indian name , but took the name for a description of the many ghastly murders of settlers by Indians , thus in English translation , settlers were "cheated " out of their lives...... A puzzle solved, but only by accidental research from historical records. It only took 60+ years for the solution of a simple child's question. So sorry ,I really got off into the weeds , this time......................oldwood