Moving cautiously
November 17, 2014 by Mike Powell
I have seen these signs for a couple of months at my local marshland park and haven’t given them much thought. Yesterday, however, as I was wandering through a remote area of the park, I came across an above ground metal tree stand and the muscles between my shoulder blades began to involuntarily twitch a little.
My first thought was to climb up into the stand to check out the view from the higher vantage point. I resisted that impulse and began to wonder if I was risking my safety by traveling as often as I do off of the beaten path. Technically speaking, no part of the park is closed, but I must confess that I was not on an “established trail.”
This park is in a suburban area and one of the problems we face is an overpopulation of deer. Huntley Meadows Park explains the reason for the deer management program in these words:
“Over-populated deer herds eat large amounts of native vegetation, having a seriously negative effect on forest ecosystems. Native fruits, seeds, flowers and leaves essential as food sources for other wildlife are drastically reduced, or even eliminated. A park Huntley’s size should have approximately 60 White-tailed Deer-our most recent surveys indicate a herd of over 150. These over-populated herds are caused by the removal of deer’s natural predators (wolves, mountain lions, American Indians, etc.), and also the abundance of “free” food found in suburban yards. Archery hunters help replace absent predator populations and reduce deer numbers to more natural levels-this encourages a healthier forest ecosystem, with more plant and animal diversity.”
I probably will not curtail my photographic explorations, but I plan to be a little more cautious than I have been up until now—and I might even start wearing a hat or a vest that is bright orange.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Hunting is pretty popular here, although I live in a rural area. I’ve been considering purchasing some of the bright orange clothing as well. For the most part I’ve been staying in forest preserves because hunting is not allowed. On occasion they do bring in sharp shooters with night scopes to thin the herds around here though. I don’t like it , but I do understand the purpose for it.
If I ware you I would go to wal-mart and invest in an orange safety vest. I use one when I’m home in the smokey mountains and out in the woods…. better safe than sorry..:-)
Bright clothes may also attract the few remaining insects this time of the year.
Many years ago, when I used to trail ride in Chesterfield, County, Va. a friend of mine, Mike, used to bow hunt and set up decoy’s on his land (about 60 acres). He had marvelous riding/4-wheeler trails throughout his property. The paths provided us with an alternative to roadside riding, which was safer during hunting season, wearing blaze orange, or not. When Mike and his hunting buddies were target-shooting, he would put a chain up at the entrance of the trials letting us know they were in the woods and the trails were not safe to ride on. Mike left the decoys set up throughout the season. One of Mike’s decoys had lost his head, so Mike set the deer head on the ground beside the its body. Magi and I were riding through his paths one day, and Magi saw the decapitated deer. It’s a wonder I am here to tell you the story today. LOL. I had to chant to him—‘lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!’, while patting his neck to get him to remotely approach the plastic animal. Then I literally had to dismount, and PULL Magi to the decoy, then pat it and talk to it myself to get Magi to finally relax. Looking back,it was funny. At the time it was aggravating, because Magi had so many fears when we first teamed up. That little chant of ours was used on quite a few occasions in calming Magi’s nerves. But it all paid off in the end.
http://orples.wordpress.com/category/photos-of-days-gone-by/
Your post today obviously took me back to some very happy days. Thank you for jogging the memories. And yes, this time of year, you should always wear blaze orange when you’re in the woods. I know some hunters that will shoot at anything that moves.
We moved from rural Scotland to the suburbs of Philly just over a year ago and soon after we arrived we began exploring state parks. I was completely taken aback by the signs warning of hunting in the area, the same areas in which people were being encouraged to walk through. It made me feel quite uneasy, especially since we were trekking with our four young sons. Definitely need to wear bright colours.
Be careful out there – the vest sounds like a good idea.
I’ll have to dig through my running gear (I haven’t run for quite some time) and see if I can locate the orange mesh vest that I used to wear.
Great post, Mike. I used to hike and bird in upstate New York and sometimes encountered hunters. The signs, though warnings, always made me nervous, too. (I like your description of the twitch.)
A family of serious bow-hunters I chatted with once advised me definitely to wear a bright orange vest or hat or jacket when hiking during hunting season. They cautioned me that, although many hunters (like them) are knowledgable and follow the rules responsibly, there are always those that aren’t and/or don’t!
I always wear a hunter orange vest and hat at this time of year. It’s a good idea if you know that hunters are in the area. I also don’t stray too far off the trails.
It has not been long since had two hikers on established trails, wearing bright clothing, shot by someone who thought they were bears. I understand hunting when you need to; I refuse to understand how that can be a sport.