Too much park...

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Flushed with the success of the previous day, I was excited about returning to the park for more antler hunting and picture taking. I thought about all the places deer walked in the 800-acre park, how much of it was in deep ravines, and what the odds of finding something that had fallen from one of their heads and looked like the sticks and branches that lay everywhere on the forest floor. The ‘needle in the haystack’ thing came to me as I pulled on my boots and prepared to enter the woods. Add to that the fact that I’ve been hiking in the woods for 30 years and never seen an antler before. Of course, I wasn’t looking for them either.

I started hiking with no particular plan other than to crisscross areas of the park where I’d seen lots of deer. Seemed to make some sense…yet as I started doing this, noticing the prints going in every direction and what at first appeared to be randomly…I began to doubt I’d ever be so lucky again. I started to look for deer paths…trails they had made and seemed to travel in the greatest numbers. I followed these and after thrashing through one of many briar patches, came to the conclusion they moved with some invisible force bubble…something they’d probably ordered from ACME…that dissipated the prickly bastards. I needed to get one of those to continue this process.

At least I was getting in a decent workout, though I saw very little since I had to keep my eyes glued to the ground in front of and around me, which was still mostly covered with a thin, crunchy layer of snow. I crisscrossed a couple of creeks numerous times, climbed and fell on some mud-soaked slopes in and out of ravines and generally hiked randomly over a large section of the park along River Road between Ox Lane and the old Girl Scout Cabins…and without success.

I was working my way back towards my car after 2 hours of fruitless hunting, when I noticed what looked like a three-pronged branch protruding from the snow. A smile stretched across my wind-burned, frozen face as I realized I’d found my second antler. Now finally Holly would have what she needed to make my deer costume for next year’s ‘wildlife management’ hunt. She’d suggested a couple of years ago that I ignore the ‘park closed’ signs posted during that time and slip into the park from one of my many illicit entry points and run through the woods with a furry brown outfit holding antlers to my head. She thought it was pretty funny…though I’m pretty sure she was serious.

Naturally, this reinvigorated me and I spent another hour searching, going until darkness ended my quest. I’m sure I’ll go again tomorrow and keep going for the next week or so. I’ve found two antlers with four points, but I’m greedy and want one of the really big ones. It’s out there somewhere…so much park…so little time.

Hike duration: 3 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 90 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 750.