New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff
My New Rain Gauge was Nearly Full This Week. Twice
Monday 10/19/2020

Despite the wind and rains of this past week I was surprised in a drive with my wife up to her brothers camp in Alexandria yesterday how much color remains on the hills and mountains. We did see our first snow as Cardigan Mountain was sporting a fresh white cap. The great view from his camp showed lots of color still on the lower elevations but as you scanned up slope the trees turned gray and leafless. Despite a pretty strong breeze the sun had us down to short sleeves by mid day as we stayed outside to enjoy the view and sun drenched deck. We are well past peak color but there is still lots of color and I would encourage you to get out and enjoy our wonderful fall season.
Locally our fields are still nice and green. I am seeing plenty of acorns around here as well. I am hearing this year that abundance is spotty. At least around here the wildlife should go into winter in good shape with plenty of feed and will keep eating the acorns over the winter if the snow is not too deep or hard packed.
According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department bear biologist Andy Timmins the bear kill shot up considerably in October. As of October 13th 945 bears have been killed. Andy says we may very well break the old record kill of 1053 set just two years ago. With over 6,000 bears now estimated to be in New Hampshire that new record should be well within the number that can be taken. In fact the current Bear Management Plan calls for reducing bear numbers in parts of the state. This could move the numbers to where folks would like to see bear numbers.
We did get a real killing frost here Saturday night. And of coarse I forgot to bring in the few potted flowers still blooming. Hey it's late October and you just know you can only hang on to summer colors for only so long. Although now it looks like another warm up for the next ten days so if I HAD brought them in I could have milked another week of summer colors.
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2020-10-15
The NH Fish and Game Department releases the results of the current bear season (VIDEO)
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2020-10-20
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's latest Deer Kill Numbers (VIDEO)