Wet Afternoon at the Bear Wallow

Before you jump to conclusions: No, I did not fall in the bear wallow!

Rain had fallen for about 36 hours but turned to little more than a drizzle just after noon so I decided to head for the Big Woods. The hunting seasons for bear and deer are but weeks away and hunters are starting to head out, scouting for a good spot to search for their quarry. So it was time to retrieve the camera trap I’ve had at the bear wallow before some-less-than-honest person might come across it.

On the way to the bear wallow I got absolutely soaked (my boots would spend the night on the boot drier). Although many of the trees’ leaves graced the forest floor, there was still fall color to be seen: bright yellow on the tulip-poplar amid the oaks’ browning leaves which will be the last to fall –

Closer at hand some small beech amid the oaks –

And a scattering of fallen tulip-poplar leaves –

Although most of the American hornbeam leaves were yellow, some of their fallen leaves were a rich red –

Also showing a bit of red were the leaves of a small scarlet oak (although the leaves weren’t what I’d call scarlet) –

Closer to scarlet were the fallen leaves of the red maples –

By that time I was almost at the bear wallow – suddenly a woodcock, that had been less than 15 feet away, flushed and disappeared behind a clump of small white pine. Woodcock usually don’t fly far, but this one couldn’t be found again.

At the bear wallow the camera trap, its protective steel box and cable lock went in my pack and off I went: homeward bound. On the way I stopped to photograph some false turkey-tail fungus –

And more bright red, the leaves on a blackberry cane –

The topping the day’s cake was a 6-point white-tail buck that stood and watched me approach before turning and heading into thick cover –

At home I changed out of the wet clothes, then the camera trap’s memory card went into the computer to download the videos it contained, here are the best from October at the bear wallow –

I’ve visited bear wallow for at least 30 years and have had a camera trap there for nine years, never has there been so much vegetation in and around the pool. Is this a one time occurrence or a portent of things to come and a sign of our changing world?