New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Another 3.2 inches of rain, the Suncook River floods again.

Thursday 11/09/2006

Another rain event and another flooded Suncook River, or more interesting from my perspective, the farmer's corn field is partially flooded. This has been a bi-weekly event since the river changed coarse in May. I can't imagine the local dairy farmer will be planting his cow corn in this field much longer. The risk of it being killed by flood waters, or being inaccessible for harvesting are high. I'm sure many of his fields along the fertile land next to the river are the same. It is such a different river from my view of 27 and a half years.

I wrapped up my annual deer biological check station duty yesterday evening. The opening day of the regular rifle season was just like the opening day of the muzzle loader season two weeks ago, a wash out. It rained a cold rain all day. Although my checking results were double the opening day of muzzle loader when I checked 11 deer. Yesterday I checked 23 deer. Not the usual 30 plus of most opening days, bringing my total to 94 deer versus the 105 to 110 I check most years.

But over and over again the condition of this year's deer amazed me. I checked yearling bucks weighing 138 and 141 pounds, as I recall, and several more right in the range. Some buck fawns weighed 70 pounds or more and even most of the doe fawns were running into the 60 pound range. These deer were in the best condition I can recall in nearly 30 years of running a bio check station. My sense is the great acorn crop last fall with nuts available all through the snowless winter, an early spring green-up, with ample rain all summer to keep the deer on succulent forage, and some great areas of acorns this fall, have led to perfect conditions for our deer. At least in the southern section of NH. These deer have just been in awesome condition! The best I have ever seen.

I did weigh one buck at 207 last Saturday and another at 197 yesterday. A nice 12 pointer from Londonderry as well, if I remember right. There certainly were some magnificent deer despite the gloomy weather conditions. I hope to get out hunting with my son Adam for a couple days this week.

We are in for a few days of way above average temperatures with the mid 60's predicted for today. The several hard frosts had actually turned some of the local fields brown I noticed this week, yet the last several days of warm temperatures and rains has re-collored them a bit green again. So the grass was not quite dead yet and has recovered it's chlorophyll. But the tree are bare as can be. The only leaves left from my home office window is a couple of beech trees and some low red oaks that were spared the worst of the winds. Despite driving home well after dark from my check station last night with a warming rain falling, I didn't see a single frogs out. Maybe the next couple of days of warm temperatures will pull them out of hibernation for a few days as well. We'll see. I'm just waiting for the first bite of winter. Our Canadian brothers are sure to toss us a blanket of winter soon. Won't that surprise nearly everyone! NOT me!