New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

A never ending summer/fall??

Monday 11/13/2006

What's with this weather. Not that I'm complaining really what with my furnace still in summer aestivation (that's a summer sleep versus winter hibernation). I've been hunting much of the end of last week and this weekend in more summer-like that fall-like temperatures. It just seems right to put on my red wool hunting jacket topped with my hunter orange vest to be out deer hunting. But, by 9:00 am, I'm soaked with sweat no matter how slow I hunt. Many fields are still green as summer as well.

Sure we've had a half dozen hard frosts. as would be expected in early October, but not a hard freeze to skim even a puddle yet it seems. It seems kind of nice, almost worth celebrating what with gas prices spiking to $3 a gallon this summer. This sure is easy on my home heating bill. But, just but, somewhere in the back of my mind is a growing worry.

Is this how global warming will really be. Is THIS global warming. Should I REALLY be worried? I'm betting a real old fashion winter will set my mind at ease, although the nice warm practically snowless winter last winter seemed kind of nice. We've had a couple of real tough winters since 2000 so we should expect more. Right?

Boy have the ticks been plentiful this fall. I collected a dozen samples of ticks from deer for a study by Southern Maine Medical folks during my deer bio check station duty. It was pretty easy pickings on most adult deer. Some of the fawns tended to have fewer and even a couple of the adults I checked closely while putting numbers in a dozen vials, had few or none. But a lot of deer had a lot of ticks. And they have been plentiful on me this fall. I'm certain when I grew up in Londonderry during the 60's there were NO ticks. We never found them on our dogs, let alone me. I spent much of my time in the fields and woods as a teen, but never had a tick on me.

There are lots of flying insects as well this last several days of hunting. I didn't notice any mosquitos, but moths, flies and a few butterflies were in good numbers, despite the frosts. It just seems more summer like than fall like. Winter, the shortest day of the year is just five weeks away. It just doesn't seem to me to be normal lately. We have seasons in New Hampshire, not a never ending summer. It is weird!