The Great Outdoors
by Larry Whiteley
STUMP SITTING
The fall air is crisp as I start my journey up the trail. The sun starts peeking over the hills behind me. The curtain is rising and I’m not in my seat.
Finally, I see it. To some people it’s just an old tree stump where someone cut down a tree a long time ago. To me it’s like an old friend waiting at the end of the trail. I hurriedly remove my backpack, take out my thermos, and pour a cup of coffee. It’s stump sitting time.
From my stump I see a thin haze over the stream that winds through the valley. There’s a hint of smoke in the air from cabins and homes that dot the landscape. Crows call to each other on a distant ridge and a fox squirrel scurries through nearby treetops.
Below in the valley, turkeys have flown down from their roost and are feeding in the fields. A doe and her yearling have joined them. A buck watches from his hiding place. The kingfisher squawks as he flies through the mist over the creek. He’s probably fussing at a heron that’s fishing for breakfast.
The sun rises higher and the show begins. The gray of the morning is suddenly changed. My eyes feast upon the fall colors. The blue of the sky and white of the fluffy fall clouds add to the special touch of nature’s painting.
In today’s world, stump sitting can be an escape for a little while. Good stump sitting time only comes once a year, in autumn. Stump sitting helps you forget about work to be done, bills to be paid, politics and COVID. They are all washed away by the cleansing action of stump sitting.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
“Delicious autumn. My very soul is wedded to it and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” ~ George Eliot, Novelist and Poet
OLD BOONE’S FISHING TIPS
Due to cooling water in October crappie are usually in transition, so you’ll find them at different depths. Try the top edge of a drop off in 5 to 10 feet of water. Also, try free falling a jig bumping it into cover. Yes. you will lose jigs but you should catch crappie.
TOUGH CHOICES
October can be a hard time for me. When I am sitting in my treestand bow hunting, my mind will sometimes wander to how much I enjoy being on the water this time of year enjoying the cooler weather and the fall colors while I am catching crappie.
When I am out crappie fishing, I get to thinking about being in the woods in my favorite treestand. While I am catching crappie, I keep thinking a big buck is probably walking right under my stand at that very moment.
So, here is what I have started doing so I don’t have to make those tough choices. I hook my boat to my truck and go deer hunting in the morning until about 10 am. Then, I get out of the stand and since the lake is close by, I go crappie fishing until about 3 pm and then back to my treestand. It takes a lot of scent spray to keep deer from smelling crappie in the deer woods.
The only thing that can mess my day up is if I get a deer that morning and have to field dress it, cut it up and get it in the freezer. Or, the crappie are biting like crazy and they are all big. So, see what I have to go through in October and don’t you feel sorry for me?
