We (me and Evvy) began our hike off a woods road in Walpole and runs to Surry. There is a wonderful deer camp out there. A long retired travel trailer sits atop granite ledge. The spot boasts of a granite patio with large fire ring. There not one, but two outhouses. The "shitter" below is the deluxe version complete with house phone purely for aesthetic value, various shit house jokes on the wall, and fancy facade. I took great pleasure in escaping the massive swarms of black flies, to make a pit stop. The whole place has a magical feel to it. There is a path that leads down to a brook. A footbridge crosses a natural granite canal, then it takes you to an interesting spot. Now this looks like a place where sacrifices are made. Another fire ring, and places to sit.
Another path, referred to as the "Psycho Path", leads to a food plot. I decided to look around for deer stands. I found two, one on the ground permanently attached to the trunk of a tree. Another stand, a broken climber left on the ground to rust and die. I didn't look further, but I assume there are old stands all around the food plot. A nice play to hunt to be sure. In the past I have seen an 8 pointer in this area.
The Grand Shitter - a 5 cent fee is charged for seat sanitization.
House phone, grass toilet roll, and five cent fee.
After our thorough exploration of the camp, Evvy and I continued up the trail. I waited for Evvy to work her "antler locator" skills. Evvy was at first content to look for chipmunks, as they are her faves. So I just kept my out for anything that looked like bone.
I came upon a dead porcupine, first spotting the tufts of soft belly fur, entangled with tiny quills. At first, I thought I'd found a cat, because the fur was so incredibly soft. But no cat has quills over course. Then I found the dried up carcass laying there, about 15' away. The remains were complete with skull, spine and all four legs. But skin would have been useless to save. The perp, likely a Fisher, rolled it over and ate from the bottom side up. I scooped up the skull, and placed it inside a discarded milk jug I found.
We came upon a granite ridge. I had not seen this before in other hikes. The last winter wind storms, thoroughly cleared the trees from the ridge. Old Moose sign was everywhere, so I was hopeful we would find an antler. Evvy didn't come through with an antler, but she did find a scapula. It was the size of a large canoe paddle. So, since she was quite satisfied with her treasure, she would be unavailable for finding antlers.
On my own again, I searched and searched through "the pricker bushes", for the elusive antlers. But alas, it was not to be. I emerged with bloody scratches all over my legs. I'll tell people my cats went into a frenzy, and attacked me. The sun was setting, I was getting hungry, so we worked our way back to the truck. The search continues another day.
