New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Awesome possum, slinky mink, prickly porky and more in store this week.

Monday 11/23/2009

I've been getting out hunting when ever I could this past week. Usually at least for an hour or two in the afternoon in my stand until dark. How wonderful it is to immerse yourself in nature with absolute sense of paying attention to all that is about you even if only for an hour. While my deer tally has been low this season with only three flags to be seen I have SEEN plenty. Last evening as I was perched in my tree stand for a couple hours on a rather warm afternoon I could hear something walking. Even with my hearing aids my hearing is not what it once was. I couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from and it sure sounded like it could be a deer. Eventually a porcupine came wallowing towards me and actually climbed a hemlock tree right next to me. And we shared our lofty perches for a while until he climbed down and wattled away after an hour or so. This morning it was a slinking mink that shot out from cover and slinked across the ground only to disappear quickly. Mink are always quick it seems. And last evening I was down at the edge of the Suncook River with neighbor Rick Hamlett on his deck with a nice fire warming us in his fire pit. After we hiked back up towards his house we decided to head out to his small barn to socialize with his chickens. It was in his barn that we spotted a young of the year opossum. Our first for around here with a live one though I have seen some dead ones on the highway a mile away.

Last Friday we cut up the deer my son killed on opening day. We cut up my son-in-law Derek's deer on Monday and Adam's deer on Friday. It was a true family event with the granddaughters milling about asking questions. Kate, at 5, was the most intrigued with the various parts. Not unlike her mom at her age and beyond who invariably wanted to know what was inside any game I was cleaning. The one who is the doctor now. In fact Katie climbed on my lap for a while to get a close up view as I sliced and diced the cuts. When she was very quiet I realized she had fallen asleep on my lap.

I did take some time one afternoon this week to hike back into the Suncook River evulsion site with some Friends of the Suncook River and a couple of scouts working on an ecology merit badge.

We had quite a rain storm this morning but it cleared quickly and warmed to near 60 degrees. Most of the fields are still green around here. November has been mostly mild and rain free. Not like the last two snowy Novembers as I recall. And not like the snowy days I had hunting Downeast Maine just two weeks ago. It was such a beautiful sight to see the snow coming down on the bright red blueberry barrens.