April 12, 2019

As I sit here in a forest meadow watching the sunrise and hearing the birds sing, it occurs to me that there is no greater place to experience God than in the nature that he created. I’m reminded of the book of Isaiah in the Bible where it speaks of the mountains, forests and trees crying out in praise to their heavenly maker. (Isaiah 24:1-13).
Off in the distance I can hear turkeys gobbling and down past them the shriek of a blue jay. Though I’m hundreds of yards away from whatever drama is unfolding there, I’ve spied enough coyote scat on my trek in to surmise that a crafty sleek canine is more than likely at the heart of it.
I’m pursuing game in a nature preserve, primarily I’m looking for deer fawns who are just being born into the world. I want to shoot them. The look of pure hate that I received from the barista at Starbucks when I told her that exact thing this morning was priceless. She glared at me venomously as I stood nonchalant in camouflage coveralls sipping a potent concoction of espresso, steamed heavy cream, and Splenda. I’m taking pictures of course, shooting those baby deer with a camera, but I let her draw her own conclusions as she filled my thermos with hot, dark coffee.
It’s that coffee that I’m enjoying now as I lie quietly, shrouded in camouflage and waiting to capture on film anything that happens by.
For any purist who happens to read this, I know that early April is a bit premature to expect fawns in Ohio. However, since I watch the deer population in this area pretty closely, I know that rut came pretty early in the fall on the preserve. There just isn’t any pressure on them out here. That being the case, I STILL haven’t seen any fawns yet, but that doesn’t keep me from looking.
This weekend I think I’ll go ahead and pitch my military surplus tent and start watching the trails in earnest, because many of these does are becoming edgy and antisocial. It shouldn’t be long now…