Day one of Archery Season

Didn't hunt last year due to the arrival of Shorty.  No regrets (well...not many;), but I was sure looking forward to this year.  Still won't be what I'm accustomed to, with just one overnight trip in the schedule, but even an abbreviated season is better than none at all. 

Typical first day garbage, though.  Woke up at 4am, had my coffee, and packed all my gear into the car.

Well, almost all of it, as I realized when I hit the summit of the coast range during the first rain in weeks.  While conditions were perfect for stealthy roving, my license remained in the drawer by the front door, safe from loss, and apparently safe from use as well.

So my first day of hunting became a day of scouting.  I headed back a few miles toward town, and continued looking for likely places close to home, a concession I'd made with my wife in honor of Shorty still being small and labor-intensive.  I parked, and took my bow and the only blunt I had (which I soon lost) so that I could shoot a stump or two. 

Saw 4 does (no bucks), 3 covey of quail, and (on the way home) 3 separate flocks of turkey.  The turkey seem to hang out near the farms and homes, where there is a lot of easy feed and few predators.  In many years of roaming the surrounding public and private timberlands, I have never seen one outside of a town or township, where they occasionally make the paper as a nuisance, chasing chickens and crapping all over people's yards and porches.  I know a few folks that were participants in the re-introduction program with the turkeys.  I doubt they suspected at the time that the critters would voluntarily domesticate themselves.

All in all, other than the forgotten license and inaccessible turkeys, an encouraging start to the season.